How Cashback Works
How cashback is worked out, what it is based on, and when it is paid (and when it is not), so you can pick a percentage with confidence.
In short: cashback is a percentage you choose that turns into site credit for the customer when their order completes. The short version is "earn credit for every £1 spent", but cashback is actually worked out from what the customer actually pays at checkout, and there are a few cases where that matters. This page walks through them so there are no surprises.
If you have not set a percentage yet, see Set Up Cashback first. This page explains what happens once it is switched on.
What the percentage is applied to
Cashback is calculated from the final amount of the order, not the original ticket value. In plain terms, the customer earns your percentage of whatever they actually pay at the checkout. That distinction shows up in three everyday situations.
When a discount coupon is used
The coupon comes off first, then cashback is worked out on the discounted total. So a 10% coupon combined with 10% cashback gives less cashback than the full ticket price would suggest, because the customer is paying less to begin with. For how to create these, see Promos & Discounts.
When part of the order is paid with existing credit
If a customer pays for part of an order with site credit they already hold and the rest by card (a partial payment), cashback is calculated on the card portion only, not the whole order. A customer who covers most of an order with credit they already have will earn very little new cashback on that order.
When the whole order is paid with credit
If a customer pays for the entire order using their wallet balance, cashback is calculated on the full order value. This is worth noting alongside the point above, because it means a full credit payment earns more cashback than a part credit payment for the same basket. It is a quirk of how the two are handled, so it is good to be aware of it before you set a high percentage.
Wallet top-ups earn cashback too
When a customer adds funds to their wallet, that top-up goes through the checkout just like any other order, so it also earns cashback at your set percentage.
That has a knock-on effect worth planning for. A customer can top up their wallet (earning cashback on the top-up), then spend that credit on competitions (and earn cashback again on any card portion of later orders). With a generous percentage, this can hand out more credit than you intended. Factor top-ups into the rate you choose rather than thinking only about ticket sales.
Cashback is paid once per order
Cashback is granted a single time, when an order completes. A customer is never paid cashback twice for the same order, so you do not need to worry about double payouts.
Cashback is not taken back if you cancel or refund
This is the most important point to understand. If you later cancel an order, cancelling removes the tickets and lets you optionally reverse any instant win site credit and refund the order value to the customer's wallet. It does not remove the cashback that order originally earned.
So if you cancel an order and tick the option to refund to site credit, the customer keeps both the refund and the original cashback. If you want to remove the cashback as well, you need to adjust the customer's wallet manually.
To adjust a customer's balance by hand, see Add Site Credit to a Customer's Account for where the wallet controls live. The same screen lets you remove credit as well as add it.
Choosing your percentage
With all of that in mind, a good rate is one you have tested against the situations above, not just the headline ticket price. Before you commit:
Decide how cashback should sit alongside any coupons you run, since the two stack and reduce each other's effect.
If you allow wallet top-ups, account for cashback being earned on those too.
Remember that cancelling or refunding an order leaves the cashback in place, so build a little headroom into the figure.
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