Retention guide
How to set up expiring store credit on Shopify
Give customers a deadline to use their credit, increasing redemption and cleaning up your liability ledger.
Why expiry helps
Unexpired credit sits on your books forever as a liability and customers forget they have it. A 6- or 12-month expiry creates urgency and reduces stale liability.
Step 1. Pick a window
Industry standard: 6 months for post-purchase rewards, 12 months for bulk-issued campaigns, 90 days for limited-time promotional credit.
Step 2. Track expiry in your CSV
Bulk Store Credit ships expiry tracking as a per-row field in the CSV bulk issuer on the Pro plan. Add an expiry date column, upload, and the app stamps each balance with its expiry.
Step 3. Override per issue
Different campaigns benefit from different windows. A flash promo might be 90 days, a loyalty thank-you 12 months. Set the date per row on the CSV, no admin toggle needed.
Step 4. Customer-facing reminders
The email notification at issue time includes the expiry date. For stores that want additional reminder cadences, contact us on the Pro plan and we will wire it into your flow.
Step 5. Legal check
Some jurisdictions (California, parts of EU) restrict expiry on gift cards and store credit. Confirm with your legal team before setting expiry on credit issued in those regions.
Keep reading
More guides you might need.
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