Is it possible to set up a customer credit limit with a registration system?

[TLepley]

We are using Shopify for a youth camp and when the youth register on our registration system their parent indicates how much they would like to spend in the camp store.  We would like to then set up each camper as a customer with a line of credit based on how much their parents paid for.  Then as they purchase items throughout the week of camp, we can process it through Shopify and it reduces the amount of money they can have in there account.  Please tell me this is possible!!!!  🙂

[Skye]

Hi, @TLepley.

Welcome to the Shopify Community! Thanks for posting.

This sounds like a tricky situation. I do not believe it can be done natively in Shopify without the child using a physical gift card. 

What you can do to allow parents to purchase "credit" is to set up gift cards, but rename them "store credit." The credit would need to be associated with a physical card, as the Shopify Point of Sale cannot look up gift cards by customer name. You can look up the gift card balance in the Shopify Admin by searching a customer's name, however you can't apply it to an order. This is enabled for the security of the card holder.

If the children are not old enough to carry a gift card responsibly, another option is to keep the physical gift cards at the checkout. This way they can be sorted and labelled alphabetically for the staff member to pull up and use when the child makes a purchase.  I've attached a link where you can order physical gift cards for your convenience.

Are you currently using Shopify POS? Or are you in the process of setting this up? If this option works for you, I definitely recommend purchasing the supported Socket 2D barcode scanner. This will make the process easy for your staff members to simply scan each gift card!

[TLepley]

Thanks Skye.  We are using that particular scanner with our POS.  So if we purchased physical cards then we would just scan (enter) the card number in the system?  I assume we can import the data from camp registration program and then under their customer accountorder the card and use “cash” to purchase the card (the parents already paid for the camp credit through their registration). Then we would have the record of the card and physical card in hand if I’m correct. Sorry this is so confusing!

[Skye]

Hi, @TLepley.

If I understand correctly, that is correct! Is the payment for the store credit included in the registration of the camper? If yes, then you could create manual orders for each camper and their gift card. You can do this in person at check in, or ahead of time via your Shopify Admin. 

In order to add the data from the registration, you would most likely need to adjust your registration data to match our CSV format for customer information. Here is our help guide for importing customer lists.

If you need any help with the step up process, we do have a dedicated retail team that can walk you through the steps! You should be able to pull up the direct phone number from your Shopify POS app.