Store credit in the Shopify account: the new balance display and what it needs to work

Since November 12, 2026, the store credit balance is visible inside the Shopify customer account - it appears in the account header on every page. At the same time, signed-in customers who have not ordered yet now see personalized product recommendations from your catalog.

Both changes work without theme code and without apps. There is one condition that is easy to miss, though: store credit does not work on legacy customer accounts.

What changed in the Shopify customer account?

Since November 12, 2026, the Shopify customer account shows two new elements: the store credit balance in the account header across all pages, and personalized product recommendations for signed-in customers who do not have a single order yet.

The Shopify changelog puts it directly:

"Store credit balance now shows in the customer account header on every page." - Shopify Changelog

The difference is practical. Until now a customer only saw their credit in the account details section or at checkout - too late for the credit to influence the decision to buy. Now the balance follows the customer through the whole account and works as a reminder that unspent money is sitting in your store.

What is Shopify store credit and how do you issue it?

Store credit is a Shopify payment method that lets a customer pay with credit they hold in your store. The toggle in Settings > Customer accounts is on by default, and credit is issued manually on the customer record or by refunding an order.

To assign credit to a customer:

1. Go to Customers and select the customer.
2. In the Store credit section, click Edit.
3. Choose Credit, set the currency and the amount.
4. Optionally set an expiry date, tick the option to notify the customer, and add an internal note.
5. Save.

The second route is a refund. Open an order under Orders, click Refund, and send the money to store credit instead of the card. This works for full refunds, partial refunds and cancelled orders. For most merchants this is the interesting part: offering credit instead of a cash refund keeps the revenue in the store, if the customer agrees.

Shopify documents the full set of limits and permissions in its store credit documentation. Issued credit is tracked under Analytics > Reports > Finances, where separate reports cover store credit transactions and the outstanding balance.

What are the limits of Shopify store credit?

Store credit comes with several hard limits: you can issue less than 15,000 USD to a single customer, the full available amount is applied at checkout (a partial amount cannot be selected), and the customer only sees the balance whose currency matches the checkout currency.

What else is worth knowing before planning a campaign:

• Channels - it works in the online store, Shopify POS and the Shop app. Not on draft orders or edited orders.
• Subscriptions - credit applies to the initial purchase only, not to recurring bills.
• B2B - credit added to a customer profile works in D2C only; for B2B the credit is tied to a company location.
• Expiry - set per issuance, with no store-wide default. If a customer holds several credits, the one expiring soonest is debited first.
• Internal notes - once saved they cannot be edited or deleted, and the customer never sees them.

Who sees the personalized product recommendations?

Personalized product recommendations in the customer account are shown only to signed-in customers who do not have a single order yet. Shopify selects the products from your catalog itself - there is nothing to configure and no product list to curate.

That is exactly the audience that usually falls through the cracks: someone created an account but never bought. Their account used to be an empty page. Now it becomes another entry point into the catalog. The practical conclusion is simple - check that your catalog product images and titles look clean outside the storefront too, because they are now shown here as well.

What should you do if your store still uses legacy customer accounts?

Store credit does not work on legacy customer accounts - Shopify states this directly. Legacy accounts have been deprecated since February 26, 2026: they receive no new features and no technical support, and Shopify said the final sunset date would be announced later.

That makes both of this week's improvements one more reason to move to new customer accounts. If you have already updated the sign-in page, the move is usually simpler than it looks - we covered that page in the new Shopify sign-in page design.

Where to start

With two weeks to go before Black Friday, the most useful order is:

1. Check which version of customer accounts you run - Settings > Customer accounts. On the legacy version, store credit simply does not exist for you.
2. Check that the store credit toggle is on and that the staff who will issue credit hold the matching permissions.
3. Decide on your refund policy - whether you will offer credit as an alternative to a cash refund, and at what value.
4. Agree on expiry periods up front, because there is no store-wide default and you will set one manually every time.
5. Review the catalog - recommendations appear automatically, so weak images or unclear titles are now visible in one more place.

If you want the credit and refund logic configured together with the rest of your store settings, that is part of our store audit service.

Frequently asked questions

Need customer accounts, store credit and refund logic sorted before the season? Get in touch - we will help you configure them.