How to refund to store credit on Shopify

Shopify can refund an order — or a processed return — to native store credit instead of the original payment method. Below: refunding an order, refunding a return, issuing credit without a refund, and how customers spend it — with Shopify's own button labels in bold. Steps as of August 2026, from the Shopify Help Center; the admin changes often, so re-check there before relying on the details.

Before you start

• Store credit is on by default. You control whether it shows as a payment method under Settings → Customer accounts, with the Store credit toggle.
• It needs the new customer accounts. Store credit isn't available for legacy customer accounts — shoppers redeem it signed in through customer accounts or Shop Pay. Check which sign-in experience your store uses before you issue any credit: a refund can't be reversed once you initiate it, so credit issued on a legacy-accounts store leaves the customer with a balance they can't spend until you switch.
• It isn't a gift card. Native store credit is attached to the customer's account and applied with a toggle at checkout — there's no code to send or enter.
• Permissions (Orders permissions unless noted): Refund to store credit to refund to credit; Refund to original payment method as well if you want the split option; Return to create returns; and the Store credit and Edit store credit staff permissions to issue or adjust a balance by hand.

Refund an order to store credit

Works for full orders, partial refunds, returned items, and cancelled orders. One ordering trap first: a return can only be created for fulfilled items that haven't been refunded, so if you want the return workflow — labels, tracking, restocking — create the return first and refund from there.

1. In Orders, open the order and click Refund.
2. Enter the quantities to refund (anything at 0 isn't refunded).
3. Restock items is selected by default — deselect it if the goods aren't back yet, or if you restock by hand.
4. In the Refund method drop-down, choose Store credit — or Original payment & store credit to split it.
5. If you're refunding to credit, click the calendar icon to decide whether the credit expires, and pick a date if so. Shopify's own caution applies here: countries regulate store-credit expiry differently, so check the rules where you sell before setting one.
6. Optionally refund shipping in the same dialog, leave Send a notification to the customer selected (it's on by default), and click Refund.

Refund a return to store credit

When the returned item arrives back, you process the return and issue the refund:

1. Open the order and click Process return in the Return in progress card.
2. Select the items you received, and optionally Restock at a location.
3. In the Issue refund section, choose Now and click Process and refund — or choose Later and click Process return to settle up separately.

Shopify's July 2025 changelog for this flow says the refund method is chosen right there: “In the ‘Refund now’ section, select ‘store credit’ as the refund method,” with the option to set an expiry and to split across original payment and credit. The Help Center's step list for processing a return documents only the Now / Later choice, so if your admin doesn't offer the method there, take the Later route: the outstanding balance shows on the order and you refund it with the order-refund flow above, which is documented step by step.

Issue store credit without a refund

For goodwill gestures, incentives, or topping up a balance:

1. In Customers, open the profile, and in the Store credit section click Edit.
2. Under Adjustment select Credit (multi-currency stores can pick the currency), enter the Amount, and choose No expiry date or Set expiry date.
3. Click Review changes, optionally tick Notify customer, and confirm with the Credit {Amount} button — it carries the amount, so it reads like Credit $25.00.

The balance updates on the profile and logs in the customer timeline. The same Edit dialog also debits a balance if you ever need to reduce one — a separate adjustment, not an undo.

How customers spend it

• Signed in through customer accounts (or Shop Pay), the balance appears in the Payments section at checkout — they toggle Apply store credit. Only the full available amount applies; partial application isn't offered.
• It works on the online store, POS, and Shop — not other sales channels, and not on draft or edited orders (for an admin-created order, send a checkout link instead).
• If a customer holds credit in more than one currency, only the balance matching the checkout's currency is shown — issue credit in the currency they actually check out in.
• Credit can go toward a subscription's first purchase, but not toward its recurring renewals.
• Shopify documents a limit of less than $15,000 USD issued on a single customer account. And for stores created on or after May 12, 2025, orders that include store credit are charged third-party transaction fees on that portion — Shopify states an exception for Shopify Plus stores using Shopify Payments.

Fixing mistakes

No refund can be cancelled or reversed once you initiate it in the admin — store credit included. If the customer later wants cash instead, the documented route is to over-refund to the original payment method. It applies to orders processed through Shopify Payments, and needs the Refund to original payment method → Over-refund orders previously refunded to store credit permission:

1. Open the order and click Refund.
2. Click the lock icon beside the original payment method to unlock it.
3. In the Override refund amount dialog, select Allow for over-refunding and click Apply.
4. Enter the amount and click Refund.

This pays the customer a second time — it doesn't claw back the credit. If you also need to remove the balance, debit it on the customer profile as a separate adjustment.

Keeping track

Under Analytics → Reports, the Finances category includes Store credit transactions and Outstanding store credit balance. You can also segment customers by balance and upcoming expiry.

Where this gets repetitive

Everything above is you, in the admin, per return: self-serve returns collect the items and a reason, and the refund method is yours to pick afterwards — the shopper is never asked whether they'd rather have credit, and any incentive to choose it is a separate manual issue on their profile. That's the gap a returns app built around store credit closes: the shopper is offered store credit — with a bonus you set — next to the refund at return time on a self-serve portal, and the credit is issued to their account when you mark the item received, or at submission if you switch on instant credit. It's free right now, every feature included, and stores that install during the founding window keep it at no charge for as long as Return Wise stays installed. For whether to steer toward credit at all, start with store credit vs. refund; for the strategy side, see how to offer store credit.