Using the Shopify API to Credit Merchants for App Charges

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of another small improvement to Shopify’s app billing system: the Application Credit API. This new API allows you to credit merchants for charges they incur while using your Shopify app. Find out: How the API works, complete with a sample POST request Common limitations of the Application Credit API How you can start using this new API to improve your app's merchant support

Today, we’re excited to announce the launch of another small improvement to Shopify’s app billing system: the Application Credit API.

This new API allows you to credit merchants for charges they incur while using your Shopify app. We made this API so that developers can solve customer service challenges, or give credit to a merchant with an active recurring application charge. It means that the Shopify app billing system is more flexible than ever before, and supporting a Shopify app has gotten a little bit easier.

“We don't often need to provide a credit to merchants, but when we do the Application Credit API is quick and easy,” said Matt Stubbs, founder of app developer Yellow Robot. “It was painless to integrate with our internal tools, and merchants see the credit where they expect it — on their Shopify invoice.”

How it works

Your app can credit a merchant by sending an authenticated POST request to the new/admin/application_credits.json endpoint. In the body of the request, your app can include the amount of credit you want to issue.

Sample request:

If the credit was successful, then Shopify’s response will have a 201 status code. The credit will then be reflected on the merchant’s invoice, and will go towards any app charges they have in the future.

Limits

The Application Credit API does have some limits. It’s currently only possible to issue app credits for charges that happened in the past 30 days, and developers cannot create more credits than they have in receivables at any point in time. In order to grant credit to a merchant, the store must have your app installed.

Get started

The Application Credit API is available today for all public Shopify apps. You can learn more from the documentation, and create test application credits by setting the test property to true.

Have questions or feedback? Leave us a comment below, or join us in the Shopify API forums!

Want to learn more about building apps for Shopify? Check out our comprehensive list of articles on Shopify App Development and the Shopify API.