Order Points Settings in Reorbit

These settings apply only to points earned on orders. Points for reviews, referrals, signing up and birthdays are never rounded differently, never held, and never taken back — whatever you set here.

What is it?

Your earn rules decide how many points an order is worth. These four settings decide how that number is worked out, when the customer can spend it, and what happens if the order comes back.

They live on Settings → Earn points, below your rule list, and they apply program-wide — to every rule that pays on an order, including points per dollar, order-count bonuses and order-value goals.

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Before you start

You need at least one earn rule that pays on an order for any of this to have an effect. If your program only pays for reviews, referrals and signups, none of these settings do anything.

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How order points are calculated

Field	What it does
Rounding	Order totals rarely land on a whole point. This decides which way the remainder goes — up or down. New stores round up.
Count tax toward points	Off by default: most stores reward what the customer spent with them, not what they collected for the tax authority.
Count shipping toward points	Off by default, for the same reason — shipping is usually a cost passed through rather than revenue.

Worked example

A store paying 1 point per $1 spent, on an order of $84.50 plus $7.10 tax and $9.00 shipping:

Settings	Points calculated on	Customer gets
Both off, rounding up (the default)	$84.50	85 points
Both off, rounding down	$84.50	84 points
Both on, rounding up	$100.60	101 points

The gap between the first and last row is 16 points on a single order — about 19% more points for the same revenue. That is the real cost of counting tax and shipping, and it is why both start off.

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When points become available

Hold order points for (days) delays when a customer can spend the points from an order. 0 means spendable as soon as the order is paid.

This is aimed at one specific problem: someone spending points and immediately refunding, which happens within minutes. A few days covers it — 3 is what we set new stores to. It is not meant to cover your returns window; a refund weeks later is handled by Refunds and cancellations instead.

What a hold does and doesn’t touch:

• Only points from orders are held. Points for reviews, referrals, signing up and birthdays stay available immediately.
• Held points don’t count toward VIP tier progress until they’re released.
• A refund releases them early, so the order can be settled in full.
• Changing the number only affects orders placed from now on. Points already held keep the release date they were given.
• Customers can see the hold. Held points show on the loyalty widget as a pending figure with the date they become available, so nothing looks missing.

If your store was set up before this setting existed, your hold is 0 and your shoppers have never been subject to one. Stores created more recently start at 3. Neither was changed retroactively — so two Reorbit stores can behave differently here with nobody having touched the setting.

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Refunds and cancellations

Take points back when an order is refunded or cancelled.

• A partial refund takes back the same share of the points — refund half the order, remove half the points.
• A cancelled or fully refunded order reverses the whole award.

When it’s on:

• Customers can spend points before a refund arrives. When that happens Reorbit takes back what’s left of their balance and stops there — a balance never goes below zero, and the shortfall is not carried forward or charged against future points.
• Nothing is removed retroactively. It applies to refunds processed from now on, including refunds of orders placed earlier.

When it’s off, a refunded order keeps its points. The refund is still recorded on the customer’s timeline, so the history stays complete.

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Choosing between a hold and taking points back

These two settings are your two answers to the same risk — a shopper earning points on an order they then send back. They solve different halves of it, and you can use either, both, or neither.

	Hold order points	Take points back
Covers	Spend-then-refund, which happens within minutes	Genuine returns, weeks later
How it feels	Withholds value the customer never had — the gentler lever	Removes value the customer already had, after the fact
Customer notices?	Yes, but as a pending balance with a date — it reads as normal	Yes, and this is the one setting here they may query
Cost	Delays gratification for every buyer, including honest ones	Nothing, until a refund happens

A common setup is a short hold plus taking points back: three days stops the fast abuse, and the refund setting covers the slow case, while most customers never notice either.

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Tips and best practices

• Leave tax and shipping off unless you have a reason. Turning them on is a permanent ~15–20% increase in points issued for the same revenue.
• Keep the hold short. Three days does the job. A two-week hold buys almost nothing extra and makes your program feel slow.
• If you turn on taking points back, say so in your program terms. It is the only setting on this screen a customer might contact you about.
• Round up. The cost is under a point per order, and rounding down on a $84.50 order to hand out 84 points reads as stingy for no real saving.
• Changing the hold doesn’t fix the past. If you need existing held points released sooner, that isn’t something this field does.

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FAQ

Does the hold apply to points for reviews and referrals?

No. Only points from orders are ever held. Reviews, referrals, signups, birthdays and anniversaries are available immediately no matter what this is set to.

A customer spent points, then refunded the order. What happens?

If taking points back is on, Reorbit removes what’s left of their balance and stops there. Their balance never goes negative, and the shortfall isn’t carried forward or charged against points they earn later.

Do held points count toward VIP tier progress?

Not until they’re released. A refund releases them early so the order can be settled in full.

I changed the hold from 0 to 3 days. What happens to existing orders?

Nothing. The change only affects orders placed from now on. Points already awarded keep whatever availability they were given.

Why do tax and shipping default to off?

Because most stores want to reward what the customer spent with them, not tax collected on behalf of an authority or shipping passed through at cost. Turning them on is a real increase in the points you issue — see the worked example.

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Related

• Earn points — the rules that decide how many points an order is worth in the first place.
• VIP tiers — held points don’t count toward tier progress until released.
• Points per Amount Spent — the rule these calculation settings most affect.