Refund a Shopify order as Loopz store credit

This guide explains how to issue a refund to a customer as Loopz store credit directly from the Shopify admin, instead of returning money to the original payment method. The customer receives one or more Loopz gift cards that can be used on their next purchase; the Shopify order is marked as refunded without charging back the original card.

Who should read this

Merchants using the Loopz Gift Cards Shopify app who want to turn a customer refund into store credit. No Loopz dashboard access is required to issue the refund. Everything happens from the Shopify order page.

Before you start

• The Loopz Gift Cards app must be installed and connected to your Shopify store.
• The order's payment must already be captured. An order whose payment is only authorized can't be refunded as store credit until you capture the payment. See how the refund works for each order status below.
• Recording items as returns needs Shopify's returns permission. Stores connected to Loopz before the return option was added may not have granted it yet, in which case the Mark as return checkbox doesn't appear. Contact Loopz support and we'll help you update the app's permissions.
• Your Loopz program must have at least one card design. If you don't see any options in the card design picker, create one in the Loopz dashboard first.

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Issuing a refund as store credit

1. Open the order in Shopify admin

Navigate to Orders in the Shopify admin sidebar and open the order you want to refund.

2. Click More actions → Refund as Loopz store credit

At the top-right of the order page, open the More actions dropdown and choose Refund as Loopz store credit.

3. Select what to refund

The refund dialog opens with three main areas. The screenshot in this step is order #1133, which has been fulfilled. Orders that haven't been fulfilled yet and orders whose payment is only authorized work a little differently, as described after the steps.

Line items to refund

Every refundable line item is listed with its unit price and a quantity selector. When an item had a discount of its own, it shows the discounted price with the original price struck through below it, and hovering the price names the discount. Order-level discounts are listed under Discounts below the subtotal. By default, all refundable units are pre-selected. Use the quantity dropdown to reduce or zero out any line you don't want to include in the refund.

Line items that have already been fully refunded previously show a Refunded badge instead of a quantity selector and can't be selected.

Record items as a return (optional)

Under each fulfilled line item, Mark as return records its units on the Shopify order as a return instead of a plain refund. Shopify then lists them under the order's returns, and they count in your returns reports. It's checked by default for physical products, and it's only offered for units that have been fulfilled.

A line item marked as return shows two more options:

• Restock: puts the returned units back into inventory at the location they were fulfilled from. It's checked by default. Uncheck it for items that can't be sold again, such as damaged ones, and Shopify records them as not restocked.
• Return reason: why the customer returned the item, such as Customer changed their mind or Damaged or defective. Shopify shows it on the return and in your returns reports. It's Other until you pick one, with the note you enter as the reason's details.

Include taxes and shipping (optional)

Below the line items you'll see optional Include taxes and Include shipping checkboxes, each showing the amount available to refund. Check a box to include that amount in the refund total; the applied amount appears in the right-hand column and is added to the Total refund line below. Both boxes start unchecked on a fulfilled order and checked on an order that hasn't been fulfilled yet.

Taxes are calculated per-line-item and scale with the quantity you select, so reducing a line item's refund quantity automatically reduces the tax component.

Shipping is refunded at what the customer paid for it after discounts, less any shipping already refunded. With both boxes checked, the tax charged on shipping is refunded too.

If your store's prices include tax, you won't see an Include taxes checkbox. The tax is already part of what the customer paid for the items and shipping, so it's always refunded with them. A Taxes (included) line shows how much of the refund is tax.

In the example, the store's prices include tax. The Milk Frother is returned and restocked because the customer changed their mind. The Coffee Tamper came back damaged, so it's returned without being restocked. Its own 10% discount shows as $13.50, with the original $15.00 struck through, and Include shipping is unchecked because the order has been fulfilled.

4. Pick a card design

On the right-hand side of the dialog, the Store credit details section shows a card design picker. We auto-select the design your program is configured to use for store credit; if you want to issue the refund against a different design, choose one from the dropdown. The preview thumbnail updates to show the selected card's artwork.

Use the Note (optional) field to add an internal note. The default note reads "Refund for Shopify order #"; anything you type here replaces that default and is attached to every gift card created for this refund.

5. Confirm the recipient

The Store credit recipient section is pre-filled with the customer's name, email, and phone from the order. You can edit any of these before submitting. The store credit will be sent to whatever contact details are saved here.

A customer needs either an email or a phone number to receive store credit notifications. If only one is present that's enough.

6. Review and submit

The Total refund row at the bottom of the line items section shows the final amount: selected line items + (taxes if checked) + (shipping if checked). The Refund button label at the top-right of the dialog shows the same number for a final confirmation.

Click Refund to issue the store credit.

7. Success

When the refund completes, the dialog switches to a success view showing:

• A confirmation banner telling you the store credit was issued and to whom.
• One row per gift card that was minted, with the amount, status badge, timestamp, and a View gift card button that takes you to the Loopz dashboard gift card detail page (you're automatically signed in).

Click Done to close the dialog.

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How the refund works for each order status

What the refund dialog offers depends on whether the order has been fulfilled and whether its payment has been captured. The three examples below are orders from the same store, whose prices include tax.

Fulfilled orders

Order #1133 has been fulfilled, so the customer has the items, as in the dialog in step 3. Each item can be marked as return, restocked, and given a return reason. Include taxes and Include shipping start unchecked, since the customer received what they paid for. Check them to refund taxes or shipping too.

Orders that haven't been fulfilled yet

Order #1132 hasn't been fulfilled, so nothing has reached the customer. Its items can only be refunded, not marked as return, and Include taxes and Include shipping start checked, so the refund covers everything the customer paid. This store's prices include tax, so only the shipping checkbox shows. The order's XMAS2026 discount code is listed under Discounts, and the total refund of $54.39 matches the order total.

Loopz doesn't restock items that are refunded without a return, so adjust their inventory in Shopify if needed.

Orders whose payment is only authorized

Order #1131's payment has been authorized but not captured yet, which happens when your payment provider captures payments manually. There's nothing to refund until the payment is captured, so the dialog only shows a message. Click Capture payment on the order, then open Refund as Loopz store credit again.

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Viewing past refunds on an order

Every order has a Loopz store credit refunds block on its details page. This block shows every refund-as-store-credit action that's ever been applied to the order, each with:

• The refund amount
• A status badge (Completed, etc.)
• The timestamp the refund was issued
• A View gift card button that deep-links into the Loopz dashboard

If the order hasn't been refunded as store credit yet, the block shows an info message pointing you to the More actions button, since there are no past refunds to display.

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What the customer receives

After the refund is submitted:

1. Shopify marks the selected line items as refunded. The customer's original payment method is not charged back. The money stays with the merchant.
2. Loopz creates one or more gift cards for the refund total, funded by store credit.
3. A notification is sent to the customer's email (or SMS if they only have a phone number on file) with the details of their new store credit balance.
4. The customer can redeem that credit at their next Shopify checkout via the Loopz gift card flow.

If a refund is larger than $2,000 (or the equivalent in your shop's currency, which is Shopify's per-gift-card cap), the refund is automatically split across multiple gift cards. The customer receives notifications for each card; all cards show up on the order's refunds block and in the success dialog.

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Scenarios and edge cases

Order already fully refunded

If every line item on the order has already been fully refunded, whether via previous Loopz store credit refunds, native Shopify refunds, or a mix, the dialog shows a "This order has already been fully refunded" banner and lists the previous Loopz refund actions. Nothing new can be issued from this state.

Partial refunds

You can issue several partial refunds on the same order over time. The dialog will only let you select line-item quantities up to what's still refundable. Each partial refund creates its own gift card(s) and appears as its own row on the order's refunds block and in the order's refund history.

A refund fails mid-way

If Shopify is temporarily unavailable while the refund is being processed, the system is designed to recover safely:

• If some gift cards were created but not all, retrying the refund with the same configuration will only create the missing cards (no duplicates).
• If all gift cards were created but the Shopify refund step failed, the status shows Gift card created refund failed. The customer still has the store credit, but the Shopify order will need to be marked as refunded manually or on the next retry.

Contact Loopz support if you see a persistent failure status on a refund.

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FAQ

• Does the customer's original payment method get refunded? No. Money stays with the merchant. The customer receives store credit of equal value as one or more Loopz gift cards.
• Can I refund an order that was paid with a gift card? Yes. The refund issues fresh store credit to the customer regardless of the original payment method.
• What happens if the customer has no email or phone? You need at least one. Update the recipient section in the dialog with valid contact details before submitting.
• Can I delete a store credit refund? No. Once issued, gift cards are live balances. If a refund was issued in error, contact Loopz support.
• Why is my refund split into multiple gift cards? Shopify caps gift card balances at $2,000 (or the equivalent in your shop's currency). Refunds larger than that are automatically split into multiple cards so the customer still gets their full refund amount.