Wallet System for WooCommerce Pro

Refunding to a card costs time, a fee and a customer

It is the least glamorous use of a digital wallet and by a distance the one that most pays for itself.

Think about a refund as it works today. The customer asks for twenty back, you issue the refund through the gateway, the money takes between three and ten days to reach them, the fee on the original sale often does not come back, and the customer walks away with their money to somewhere else.

The same case with a wallet: you credit the twenty immediately, with no fee and no waiting. They are happier because they have it now, and you have lost neither the money nor the customer, because that balance only gets spent in your shop.

Wallet System for WooCommerce Pro builds that wallet layer into the online shop.

What it brings

• A wallet for registered customers, with balance usable on any purchase.
• Adding or removing funds in bulk, useful for campaigns or compensating a group of customers at once.
• A transaction history viewable and downloadable.
• Email notifications when the balance changes.
• Refunds straight to the wallet, without going through the gateway.
• Cashback of a percentage of the purchase to the wallet, working as a loyalty programme.

Cashback to the wallet is loyalty in disguise

It is the feature that most changes customer behaviour, and it is worth understanding why it works better than a discount of the same value.

A five per cent coupon has to be remembered, found and typed. Hardly anybody does. A balance of five in the wallet is there, in plain sight, every time the customer opens their account, and it produces a different feeling: it is not a discount being offered to you, it is your own money going unused.

That psychological difference is real and it is why returned balance converts into a purchase far more often than an equivalent coupon. And as always with balance, the customer almost never spends exactly what they have: they spend above and cover the difference.

What to settle before switching it on

The balance is not yours. When the customer loads money, that is an outstanding obligation in your books and not income. It only becomes a sale when they spend it. Your accounting should reflect that from the first transaction.

Refunding as balance is an option, not an imposition. Where the customer has the right to have the amount returned, they can insist on their money. What works is offering balance with a small bonus: plenty of people prefer it if they come out ahead.

Expiry is delicate. With real money the customer paid, setting a short period can be considered unfair depending on the country. With loyalty points there is considerably more room, and that is why it sometimes pays to build loyalty on points and keep the wallet for refunds and prepayment.

Requirements

It needs WordPress and WooCommerce, and registered customers: the wallet is tied to an account, so it does not work with guest checkout.

Alternatives in the catalogue

If as well as the online shop you have a counter, the wallet should work in both places: the OpenPOS and TeraWallet integration does exactly that, with a single balance for the premises and the website.

If what you are after is loyalty without holding money, which carries fewer strings, WPLoyalty builds points, rewards and a referral programme, and Points and Rewards for OpenPOS takes the points to the physical till.

And if what you want is a third party gifting an amount to somebody, that is not a wallet but a gift card, which additionally brings you new customers rather than retaining the ones you have.

Frequently asked questions

Does it work with guest checkout?
No. The balance is tied to a registered customer account.

Can I refund an order to the wallet?
Yes, and it is its most profitable use: it is immediate and does not go through the gateway.

What is cashback to the wallet?
Returning part of the purchase as balance, which works as loyalty and gets spent more than a coupon.

Does the balance count as income?
Not until it is spent. Before that it is an outstanding obligation.

Can I load balance to many customers at once?
Yes, it allows adding or removing funds in bulk.

Can I set an expiry?
With real money that is delicate depending on the country. Points give more room for it.