Use Points instead of Dollar Value for product "price"

Shopify Apps

Topic summary

Goal: Display and transact products in “points” instead of currency on a Shopify store, with customers spending assigned point balances rather than paying money.

What was tried:

  • Theme/currency format tweaks to replace USD and decimals with “Points.”
  • Manual payment at checkout to simulate zero-dollar payment.

Key blockers:

  • Checkout reverts to the store’s currency; dollar signs/amounts still appear despite storefront formatting.
  • No identified app that fully replaces currency with points through checkout.
  • Grammar issue when formatting currency as points (e.g., “1 points”).

Desired functionality (unmet):

  • Deduct points from a user’s balance at checkout with no payment captured.
  • A points-only catalog that supports any product, not restricted to vendor marketplaces.

Context/motivation:

  • Organizations seeking alternatives to gift cards (tax/withholding complications) and finding existing points platforms (e.g., Nectar) limited and hard to reconcile.

Status:

  • No solution found; original poster abandoned the approach due to checkout currency limitations.
  • Multiple users requested updates or alternatives, including non-Shopify options; the thread remains unresolved and open.
Summarized with AI on January 9. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Is there an app that would allow me to assign point values to products instead of $ values?

2

Hi @Chrissyking

You could do that with some custom coding here, but keep in mind that once the products are at checkout, they will revert back to the original currency. Let us know what you’re trying to achieve here.

3

That is what I am running into. I am able to change the formatting of the “price” to remove the decimals and replace USD with “Points”, however in the checkout it still shows as $. I am creating a site for my client where the user will not pay for the product but he wants to show a value for each item in points. Each user would be told they have 5 points to “spend”, the checkout would show a manual payment method to allow them to checkout without a credit card. We would monitor the point totals after the order was placed to ensure someone did not “overspend”. Hopefully that make sense.

1 Like
4

Hello. Did you ever figure out how to do this? I also would like to create a points store instead of using currency. I would also like to have the points deducted from someone’s account/point balance and no payment taken.

1 Like
5

Unfortunately I did not. I was able to make it look like points throughout the site but once you get to check out I could not figure out how to remove the USD $ symbols.

1 Like
6

Did you figure out what to do if a product was only 1 point? I updated the Currency format in settings to achieve the “points” pricing, but it lists 1 point items as “1 points” plural. Thanks in advance!

7

I did not. I scraped the idea because I could not figure out how to not show the currency symbol in check out.

1 Like
8

I don’t understand why this isn’t a widely available thing. It’s been 3 years since my organization went remote. At first, we were giving away gift cards to people left and right - as prizes, for purchases when folks didn’t have a corporate card, etc. Then we were told to stop because the IRS required that we deduct withholding taxes from people’s paychecks for the total value of gift cards. I couldn’t convince our CFO to just cover people’s withholding taxes so that they wouldn’t get a paycheck that was like, “Congrats on winning that $20 GC to HEB and also, we’re taking out X% of that on this month’s paycheck for the taxes :)” (but I’m not a finance person, so I’m sure I was missing something).

Since then, I have been looking high and low for alternatives, but the best we’ve been able to do is Nectar, which is so limited. All of the points-based platforms require purchases through their vendors only, and their invoicing is archaic. (They charge you for points redeemed only, and you can’t tie the redemptions back to anything). I just want to be able to make a catalog of whatever items we want folks to have access to, issue points to them, and let them choose what they need. It shouldn’t be this hard.

1 Like
9

Hey, did you manage to solve this problem on shopify or on any other platform? Im trying to achieve the exact same thing for a client. All that they would have to do is add a points option to the Currency drop down. Such an easy solution.