Credits is an optional private account-balance system within your site. Purchases debit a customer's available balance, and completed balance refunds credit it back. It is separate from credit and debit card payments, which you set up through Stripe.
Use this guide only if your site offers account balances. For a standard card checkout, you can leave Credits off.
If you are setting up payments for the first time, start with Getting started with payments in Cedros.
Before you begin
You need Cedros Pay installed and active, permission to manage its settings, and a product or paid-content page that offers Credits at checkout.
Prepare a customer account with an existing credit balance. Use the same account to sign in, check its balance, and make the test purchase. An administrator's account may have different access and a different balance.
Turning on Credits enables the payment option; it does not add credit to customer accounts. Arrange a funded test account with your administrator using your site's established process. The Credits tab is not a top-up form.
Use a separate test site when preparing the flow so you can check successful and unsuccessful purchases without affecting customer balances.
Turn on Credits
- Open Extension Settings → Pay hub → Credits.
- Turn on the Credits switch.
- Wait for autosave to finish and resolve any displayed save error.
- Reopen the tab and confirm that Credits is still on.
The Credits tab has no payment keys to enter and no Check setup action. Continue with a buyer test after saving.
If the tab is missing or you cannot change it, ask your site administrator to check Pay activation and your permissions.
Make Credits available at checkout
In Monetization → Catalog → Products, review the item customers will buy. Confirm that it is active and has the intended price and currency.
Return to Pay hub → Overview and review the setup checklist. If Activate checkout appears, follow its confirmation when you are ready to enable checkout on that site.
If you use country-specific payment options, open Pay hub → Availability. Include Cedros credits for the intended customer group or fallback, then choose Save availability. See Review availability and activate checkout for the full steps.
Open the product page as your test customer and look for the Credits option. Check each checkout you plan to offer; payment choices can differ between pages.
Check the available balance and total
Confirm that the customer's available credit covers the full amount shown at checkout, including any applicable shipping, tax, or other charges. The credit balance must use the same currency as the purchase.
For example, a checkout total of USD 12 requires at least USD 12 in available credit. A balance of USD 10 is not enough to complete that purchase with Credits.
If some credit is reserved for another transaction, the available amount can be lower than the total balance. Use the available amount when checking whether the customer can pay. Ask your administrator to check it if your customer page does not display it.
Credits pays the complete checkout amount. Do not promise customers that a shortfall will automatically be charged to a card. If their balance is insufficient, they can use another payment option offered by that checkout or follow your site's process for obtaining more credit.
Test a purchase and its result
Use a customer account with enough available credit, then complete the actual purchase flow.
- Sign in as the test customer and record the starting available balance.
- Open the item, select Credits, and review the final amount and currency before confirming payment.
- Wait for the result, then check the updated balance. Confirm that the deduction matches the purchase amount.
- Open Monetization → Transactions as an administrator. In the Transactions tab, set Method to Credits and find the payment. Match its amount and status to the test; check the associated order where applicable.
- Return as the customer and confirm the promised result, such as the confirmed order and its promised delivery.
Also test an account without enough credit. The purchase should not complete or grant paid access. Check that its balance was not deducted. Open the page while signed out as well, and confirm that the customer must sign in before spending account credit.
Test each distinct purchase flow you intend to offer. A working product purchase does not establish that subscriptions, appointments, or every paid-content page can accept Credits.
Review a deduction or refund
If credit was deducted but the page shows an error or no confirmation, check the existing payment under Monetization → Transactions before asking the customer to try again. Keep the payment reference and compare the customer's balance with the purchase record.
If the payment succeeded but content remains locked, confirm that the customer is signed in to the account that paid and that the purchased item provides the expected access. Investigate that purchase before collecting another payment.
Completed Credits refunds return funds to the customer's credit balance. Where refunds are available, Monetization → Transactions → Refunds includes a Credits refunds history. This history is read-only; use your site's supported refund process to request a refund, then check its completed status and the customer's balance. An order cancellation alone is not proof that credit has been returned.
Troubleshoot a missing or failed payment option
- Credits is missing: check that the switch saved, checkout is active, Availability permits Credits, and the particular buyer page supports it.
- The customer is asked to sign in again: sign in with the account that holds the credit, then return to the purchase.
- There is a balance but payment is declined: check the available amount, any reserved credit, the checkout total, and the currency.
- Credit was added but the page still shows the old amount: refresh the customer page after the balance update completes. If it remains wrong, ask your administrator to check the account and transaction.
- The balance changed but the purchase result is unclear: find the existing Credits payment before starting another checkout.
- A refund is missing: check whether the refund is completed and belongs to the same customer account and original payment.
For help, provide the public page URL, time of the attempt, payment reference, amount and currency, and the visible error. Do not include passwords or sign-in tokens. See Getting help and reporting a problem.