Prepaid Credit vs. Account Credit: What's the Difference?
Prado offers two types of credit that your customers can use at checkout: Prepaid Credit and Account Credit. While both apply as a payment method toward orders, they work differently and serve different purposes.
Prepaid Credit
Prepaid Credit is a membership-style feature that lets your customers purchase credit upfront — often at a bonus rate — to use toward future orders.
How it works:
- You configure credit tiers in Admin > Settings > Marketing > Pre-Paid Credits (e.g., "Pay $80, get $100 in credit")
- You can create multiple tiers at different price points to encourage higher-value purchases
- Customers can purchase Prepaid Credit through your online shop or at your POS
- Each purchase includes a renewal date, making it ideal for subscription or loyalty-style programs
- You can enable or disable the feature at any time from Admin
Where to track it:
-
The Prepaid Credit Insights page in Admin shows:
- Total customers with active Prepaid Credit balances
- One-time vs. repeat purchasers
- Breakdown by tier
Best for: Driving upfront revenue, increasing customer retention, and building a membership or loyalty program.
Account Credit
Account Credit is a general-purpose balance that gets added to a customer's account through various activities — not purchased directly by the customer.
Common ways Account Credit is added:
- Referral redemptions — when a customer or their referral redeems a referral reward
- Refunds — when a refund is issued as store credit rather than back to the original payment method
- Manual adjustments — when you add credit to a customer's account directly through Admin (e.g., for a service recovery or goodwill gesture)
Key differences from Prepaid Credit:
- There are no tiers or pricing — it's simply a balance that accumulates
- Customers do not purchase Account Credit themselves
- There is no renewal date associated with Account Credit
Best for: Referral programs, handling refunds as store credit, and one-off customer service adjustments.
How Both Work at Checkout
Regardless of type, the checkout experience is the same for your customers:
- If a customer has a Prepaid Credit or Account Credit balance, they can apply it as a payment method at checkout
- If the credit balance doesn't fully cover the order total, they can pay the remainder with another payment method (credit card, etc.)
- Both credit types are treated as payments, not discounts — meaning they won't affect your discount reporting or skew your revenue numbers
Reporting
Both credit types appear as separate payment tenders in your order reports, so you can easily distinguish how orders were paid:
-
Prepaid Credit payments are labeled separately from Account Credit payments in:
- Order detail views in Admin
- Order CSV exports
- Google Analytics purchase events (tracked as distinct payment types)
Quick Comparison
|
Prepaid Credit |
Account Credit |
|---|---|---|
How it's added |
Customer purchases it |
Earned via referrals, refunds, or manual adjustments |
Configuration |
Admin > Settings > Marketing > Pre-Paid Credits |
Automatic (referrals/refunds) or manual via Admin |
Tiers/Pricing |
Yes — customizable tiers with bonus rates |
No — flat balance |
Renewal Date |
Yes |
No |
Checkout behavior |
Applied as a payment method |
Applied as a payment method |
Treated as |
Payment |
Payment |
Best use case |
Memberships & loyalty programs |
Referrals, refunds & service recovery |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a customer have both Prepaid Credit and Account Credit on their account at the same time?
- Yes! The two credit types are tracked separately. If a customer has both, they can choose which to apply at checkout, and each balance is managed independently.
Does Prepaid Credit expire?
- Prepaid Credit includes a renewal date, which is set based on your tier configuration. Check your settings in Admin > Settings > Marketing > Pre-Paid Credits to review how renewal dates are applied to each tier.
Does Account Credit expire?
- No. Account Credit remains on a customer's account until it's used at checkout.
Can a customer use both credit types on the same order?
- Yes. A customer can apply both Prepaid Credit and Account Credit to a single order. If the combined balance doesn't cover the full total, they can pay the remainder with another payment method.
Will credits show up as discounts in my reporting?
- No. Both Prepaid Credit and Account Credit are treated as payment methods, not discounts. They won't appear in your discount reporting or affect your gross revenue figures.
Can I manually add Prepaid Credit to a customer's account?
- Prepaid Credit is designed to be purchased by the customer through your shop or POS. If you need to add credit manually for a customer service situation, Account Credit is the better option — you can add it directly from the customer's profile in Admin.
Can I issue a refund as Account Credit instead of back to the original payment method?
- Yes. When processing a refund, you can choose to issue it as Account Credit, which adds the amount to the customer's balance for future use. This is a great option for retaining revenue while still making the customer whole.
How do I know which customers have credit balances?
- For Prepaid Credit: Use the Prepaid Credit Insights page in Admin to see all customers with active balances, broken down by tier.
- For Account Credit: Check individual customer profiles in Admin to view their current Account Credit balance.
Can customers purchase Prepaid Credit as a gift for someone else?
- This depends on your store configuration. Contact our team if you'd like to explore gifting workflows with Prepaid Credit.
I turned off Prepaid Credit. What happens to existing balances?
- Disabling the feature prevents new purchases, but customers with existing Prepaid Credit balances can still apply them at checkout until the balance is used or the renewal date passes.
Need more help? Send us an email at support@getprado.com, and we'll be happy to assist you!
