Rewards - Redeeming points should adjust pre-tax subtotal (just like as coupons) else over-taxing customer and over-paying afiliates (16)

Completed

Jeremy Roberts

• January 08, 2015 13:31

Reward redemption is happening POST-tax, only reducing total amount due (not reducing the pre-tax subtotal). But in most states, the reward points redemption should be just like a coupon code, and reduce the PRE-TAX sub-total. For example: Sub-total $100.00 taxable 8.875% $8.88 is correct BUT currently: if 1000 points are redeemed ($0.01 per point) it should reduce the pre-tax sub-total by $10.00, to $90, and the tax should be $7.99, not $8.88 But since the rewards module is applying the points discount post-tax (as a payment method), the customer is paying too much sales tax. This will be a REAL problem if the customer redeems points that are equal to the entire order ($0 balance due) - but they have to pay tax on the un-discounted amount? Happy customers, not! This will also be a BIG problem for affiliate tracking - since affiliates get paid on the pre-tax subtotal - so the store would be over-paying the affiliate if the customer redeems their points. Substitute 5000 points redeemed and now we're getting into numbers that will hurt. Bad customer relations (nobody likes to overpay taxes), bad affiliate relations (why did you claw back that commission?) and lower conversions, if the customers see they are taxed on "nothing". FINALLY, if the national sales-tax initiative becomes a reality, this will hurt all merchants, unless it's corrected. Granted, in some jurisdictions, a "manufacturer rebate" must occur post-tax, but not for store discounts. The merge code: ##ORDERDISCOUNTEDSUBTOTAL## should be the basis of the reward discount, and the post-rewards redemption should be a child of this. Everyone agree? I'm giving this 3 votes.

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• Official comment

  

  AmeriCommerce Developer

  • January 08, 2015 13:31

  We've added this behavior in our 2015.3 release. For new stores and those not already using reward points it will be the default behavior. Otherwise you can turn this on. Read more here: http://www.americommerce.com/release-history/FEATURE-2015-3-Option-to-Apply-Reward-Points-Payment-as-Pre-Tax-Discount
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  John Koontz

  • January 09, 2015 09:29

  Yes, please. I agree this should be fixed. We are planning on going down the rewards path and this is an important fix. We may hold off on it until this is done.

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