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Stripe Credits let you reward referrers or referred leads by applying a billing credit to their Stripe account balance. This credit is automatically applied to their next invoice, reducing what they owe on future subscription payments, usage charges, or other Stripe-billed services. It is not a cash payout — the recipient does not receive money directly. Instead, they receive a credit that offsets their future charges with your business.
This makes Stripe Credits ideal for subscription-based or usage-based businesses that want to reward referrers with discounts on their own account, rather than sending cash.
Prerequisites
- You must have an active Stripe account connected to Referral Factory (see How to connect Stripe to Referral Factory)
- The reward recipient must be an existing customer in your Stripe account, since the credit is applied to their customer balance
Setting up a Stripe Credits reward
Step 1: Create a reward and choose the recipient
Go to Rewards in the left sidebar, click Manage Rewards, then Add Reward (or edit an existing draft reward).
Select who the reward is for:
Then choose the reward type: Fixed Amount or Commission Amount (Stripe Credits are available for Fixed and Commission reward types only).
- Referrer — the person who made the referral
- Lead — the new customer who was referred
Step 2: Configure the reward amount
First, ensure Fraud Protection is toggled on (recommended). This ensures rewards are only given for qualified referrals.
Then set the monetary reward configuration:
Choose the reward frequency:
- Reward On Every — how many qualified referrals trigger a reward (e.g. every 1 qualified referral)
- Currency — select your currency (e.g. USD)
- Amount — the credit amount (e.g. $10)
- One-time reward per qualified referral — the referrer receives the credit once for each qualified referral. Best for one-off sign-ups or fixed incentives.
- Ongoing rewards per qualified referral — the referrer receives a credit every time the referred customer pays. Credits stop if the customer stops paying. Best for subscriptions, memberships, and recurring revenue models.
Step 3: Select Stripe Credits as the issuing method
On the issuing method screen, select Stripe Credits. Other available options include Issue Yourself, Tremendous, PayPal, Webhooks, Zapier, Make.com, and N8n.
Then configure:
Click Activate to make the reward live.
- Reward Name — give your reward a descriptive name (e.g. "Referrer Credit")
- Auto Issue Rewards — enable to issue credits automatically without manual authorization (off by default)
- Reward Limit — set a cap on the number of credits a user can receive (off by default)
How Stripe Credits rewards are issued
When a referral qualifies and a reward becomes due:
![Rewards Due tab showing the "user is not currently synced" message]](/images/help/31fb777f519f80fca731c3aca5fe4b71.png)
- Go to the Rewards page and open the Due Rewards tab. You will see pending rewards listed with the Issuing Method shown as Stripe.
- Click on the reward to open the Rewards Due For These Referrals modal. This shows the referrer details (name, email, total value) and the referred users who triggered the reward.
- If the referrer is not currently synced with your Stripe account, you will see a warning: "The user is not currently synced with your Stripe account." Click Sync with Stripe to match the user.
- If the user cannot be found automatically, a prompt will appear to Sync By Email Address to search for them in Stripe by email.
- Once synced, a confirmation message appears: "Great news! We found this user in your Stripe account." Click Done.
- With the user synced, the modal now shows the referred users with their qualification date and reward value. Click Add To Cart to queue the credit for processing.
- After issuing, the reward appears in the Issued Rewards tab with a status of Issued and the issuing method shown as Stripe.
Understanding Stripe Credits vs. cash rewards
It's important to understand that Stripe Credits are not the same as cash rewards:
| Stripe Credits | Cash rewards (e.g. PayPal, Tremendous) | |
|---|---|---|
| What the recipient gets | A billing credit applied to their Stripe account balance | Actual money sent to their account |
| How it's used | Automatically offsets their next invoice or subscription charge | Recipient can spend or withdraw the money freely |
| Requirement | Recipient must be an existing customer in your Stripe account | Recipient only needs a PayPal or Tremendous account |
| Best for | Subscription/SaaS businesses rewarding existing customers with discounts | Rewarding anyone with a direct monetary incentive |
If you want to send actual cash payouts to referrers, consider using PayPal or Tremendous as your issuing method instead.
Important notes
- The reward recipient must already be a customer in your Stripe account before the credit can be issued. If they are not, use the Sync with Stripe flow described above to match them.
- Stripe Credits are applied as a credit balance on the customer's Stripe account. Referral Factory does not hold or disburse funds — the credit is issued through your connected Stripe account and automatically applied to the recipient's next invoice.
- Credits are tracked in Stripe's immutable ledger, giving you a full audit trail of all credit transactions.
- You can view all issued rewards (including Stripe-issued credits) in the Issued Rewards tab.