Reversal Levels
Exact reversals, refunds, and claw-backs — derived from the ledger, never chosen by the caller — plus the discretionary debits behind penalties and adjustments
When a sale changes after the fact — an order comes back, a redemption is refunded — the points must follow. You tell the platform which transaction to reverse (reverse points) and how much; it works out the right way to do it from the transaction's history.
You State What, the Platform Decides How
- A clean undo. If the original transaction is untouched — full amount, points never spent — it is unwound as if it never happened. A reversed earning vanishes from the lifetime totals; a reversed redemption puts the very same points back, with their original use-by dates.
- A refund. Refunding part of a redemption gives the customer fresh points for the refunded amount, spendable immediately.
- Taking points back. Reversing an earning whose points were already spent means the customer's balance must give them up. If the balance covers it, it is deducted; if not, your configured shortfall behavior decides what happens — see below.
The response names the method that was used, so your systems can log it:
Reported as | What happened |
|---|---|
Exact reversal | A clean undo |
Refund credit | Fresh points for a refunded redemption |
FIFO debit | Points taken back from the balance, oldest first |
Partial debit | Everything available was taken; the balance stopped at zero |
Negative debit | The full amount was taken; the balance went below zero |
What You Configure
Setting | Your options | Default |
|---|---|---|
Oldest points first | On — an earning whose points were already spent may be reclaimed from the customer's balance, oldest points first / off — such reversals are refused and handled as a business exception | Off |
If the balance is short | When a permitted take-back exceeds what the balance holds: Refuse the debit (the reversal fails, nothing moves) / Take what is available (stop at zero) / Allow a negative balance (take the full amount; the balance goes below zero) | Refuse the debit |
Lowest balance | With a negative balance allowed, the lowest a take-back may drive the wallet to | No floor |
Choose… | When your business… |
|---|---|
Oldest points first off | Never wants customer balances touched after points are spent — returns are settled commercially instead |
Refuse the debit | Wants take-backs only when fully covered — partial situations escalate to a human |
Take what is available | Wants to recover what exists without ever putting a customer in debt |
Allow a negative balance | Wants returns fully reflected — customers can owe points, settled automatically from future earning |
These live under Settings → Redemption → Taking points back → Reversing a redemption in the app.
Penalties and Adjustments Follow a Second Policy
Not every debit is a reversal. Staff can apply a penalty or a manual adjustment to a customer — a goodwill correction, a disputed bill — each with a reason and an operation code that keeps repeats harmless. These follow a separate policy — Removing points by hand, next to the reversal one — with the same three choices, so you can forbid take-backs on returns while still allowing staff to correct a balance. See Managing Customers.
When a Balance Goes Negative
With the negative option, a customer can owe points. The debt settles itself: the next time they earn — or receive a bonus — the new points pay it down first and only the remainder becomes spendable. They cannot spend their way deeper while in debt.
Why the platform decides the method
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