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. Orders still in an authorised-only state (authorise/capture payment gateways before the capture step) can't be refunded as store credit yet — capture the payment first. See Order payment not captured.
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.
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:
Line items to refund
Every refundable line item is listed with its unit price and a quantity selector. 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.
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.
Taxes are calculated per-line-item and scale with the quantity you select — reducing a line item's refund quantity automatically reduces the tax component.
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.
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 — no past refunds to display.
What the customer receives
After the refund is submitted:
Shopify marks the selected line items as refunded. The customer's original payment method is not charged back — the money stays with the merchant.
Loopz creates one or more gift cards for the refund total, funded by store credit.
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.
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 — 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.
Scenarios and edge cases
Order payment not captured
If the order's payment status is Authorised (an auth/capture gateway has authorised the payment but the merchant hasn't yet captured it), the refund dialog shows an info banner explaining that the refund can only be issued once the payment has been captured. Capture the payment from Shopify first, then re-open the dialog.
Order already fully refunded
If every line item on the order has already been fully refunded — 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.
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.