Referrer rewards vs referee discounts
This article's section starts at 0:28 in the video.
Every referral config has two sides that are easy to mix up: what the referrer (the customer sharing the code) earns, and what the referee (the friend using it) gets. This page explains who receives what, in what form, and when.
The two sides at a glance
Who gets it
The customer whose code was used
The new customer placing the order
What it is
Store credit (Shopify-native, spendable at checkout)
A discount code applied at checkout
Value types
Percentage of Order · Fixed Amount
Percentage of Order · Fixed Amount
When it's applied/issued
After the referee's order is processed (see below)
Immediately, at the referee's checkout
Currency
Converted to the referrer's own currency
The referee's checkout currency
Expiry
Set by the config's Expires after value
Follows the shared referral discount
Where it shows
Widget balance, account balance, "referral reward credited" email
The checkout discount line
The referrer side: store credit
Under Referrer Reward you set a Cashback Type (Percentage of Order or Fixed Amount) and a Cashback Value.
Percentage of Order pays a share of the referee's eligible order amount. Say the referee places a $60 order and the reward is 10%: the referrer earns $6 in store credit. What counts as "eligible" follows your global cashback base settings (total vs subtotal, shipping, credit/gift-card deductions); see How referral rewards are calculated & tracked.
Fixed Amount pays the same flat credit per successful referral regardless of order size, e.g. $10 per friend.
The reward is store credit, not a coupon: it lands on the customer's Shopify store-credit balance and appears as a payment option at their next checkout, alongside any cashback they've earned.
When it's issued: the reward is triggered by the referee's order. If the order isn't captured or fulfilled yet, the credit can sit as pending first and releases when payment is captured or the order is fulfilled. Refunds claw the reward back.
The referee side: a discount code
Under Referee Discount you set a Discount Type (Percentage of Order or Fixed Amount), a Discount Value, and a Minimum Order Value.
The referee doesn't receive credit or wait for anything: the referral code itself is their discount. They paste the referrer's code into the discount field at checkout and the discount applies on the spot, provided the order clears the minimum order value and any other conditions (Referral conditions & limits).
Because the discount is a code on the order, it's also what makes attribution work: DollarBack knows who referred whom because the code was used. No code on the order, no referral.
If you run the Dollarlabs Ultimate Discounts app, you can hand the referee side over to one of its discounts instead of the built-in percentage/fixed options. See Referral + Ultimate Discounts integration.
Choosing values that work together
A common pattern is asymmetric: a fixed, easy-to-say discount for the friend ("give $10") and a percentage reward for the referrer ("get 10%"), so the referrer's upside grows with bigger referred orders. Whatever you choose, remember the referrer reward is also capped by your global Maximum cashback per order setting.
Verify it works
Place a test referee order with a referral code, then check both sides: the discount line on the referee's checkout, and the referrer's credit in DollarBack admin → Analytics → Referral (and in their widget balance once released).
Common issues
Discount applied but no referrer credit → the order may have been fully covered by store credit or gift cards, or the reward is still pending; see How referral rewards are calculated & tracked.
The code was rejected at checkout → conditions; see A referral wasn't tracked.
The referrer expected a coupon, got credit → expected behavior; the referrer side is always store credit.
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