Credits

Sell prepaid balance your customers spend across the venue, use bonus credits as a built-in discount, and issue gift cards, with full control over expiration and VAT.

Credits are a virtual currency at your venue. Customers buy a balance up front and then spend it like cash on the things you sell. This smooths out payments, improves your cash flow, and gives you a flexible tool for promotions, compensation, and gift cards.

A credit product simply defines how much a customer pays and how many credits they receive in return. Because you set that ratio freely, credits double as a discount mechanism: sell 50 credits for 40 and the customer effectively gets a 20% bonus that they can only spend with you.

What customers can pay for with credits

Credits are accepted across the venue, including:

Reservations and recurring reservations
Memberships (when the membership allows credit payment)
Session cards
Service bookings
Pro Shop products

Credit products themselves cannot be bought with credits. When a customer pays for a basket, Thril checks that every item allows credit payment; if any item does not, the whole payment falls back to another method.

Credits are not spent automatically. The customer chooses to pay with their credit balance at checkout, just like picking any other payment method, so a balance never disappears without them deciding to use it.

Two kinds of credit product

Static credit product. You set a fixed price and a fixed number of credits, and you choose the ratio. This is how you build tiered top-ups (for example 30, 50, and 100 credit packs) and bonus offers where larger purchases give better value.

Dynamic credit product. The customer chooses how much to load (any amount from 1 to 25000), and the ratio is fixed at 1:1, so the credits they receive equal the money they pay. This is the right choice for a simple "top up any amount" balance product.

Credit expiration

Each credit product controls how long the credits it grants stay usable, which is a handy lever for both promotions and tidy accounting. There are three options.

No expiration. Credits from this product never expire.
Expiration period in days. Credits expire a set number of days after they are received. For a normal top-up the clock starts at purchase. For a gift card it starts when the recipient redeems it, so every recipient gets the same usable window.
Expiration date. All credits expire at the end of one fixed calendar date, regardless of when they were bought. This is the right choice for a campaign that must end on a deadline.

When a customer holds credits with different expiry dates, the soonest-expiring batch is always spent first, and credits with no expiry are spent last. The transaction history shows an Expires column for each batch.

Gift cards

Enable Allow purchasing as gift card and the product can be bought as a gift. Gift cards can be purchased by people who are not logged in: they only provide contact details at checkout, with no Thril account required. The recipient redeems the code to add the credits to their own account, at which point any day-based expiry begins.

Staff can also issue and track gift cards from the product's Gift cards tab, where each issued card shows its credit value, status, and expiration. Use Download PDF to save a printable gift card to email or hand over in person. When you issue a gift card manually you choose its VAT treatment (see below), with a simple rule of thumb: standard VAT on use if the customer paid for it, non-taxable gift if you are giving it away.

The product also has an Allow purchasing for self option, which controls whether the product can be bought as an ordinary top-up as opposed to a gift only.

Example credit product configurations

Tiered top-ups with a bonus

Type: static, three products at 30, 50, and 100 credits
Ratio: small discount that grows with size (for example 100 credits for 80)
Expiration: none
Good for: encouraging larger prepayments and rewarding bigger buyers

Open balance top-up

Type: dynamic, 1:1
Expiration: none
Good for: letting customers load exactly the amount they want

Holiday gift card

Type: static, with Allow purchasing as gift card on
Expiration: expiration period in days (the window starts when the recipient redeems)
Good for: a giftable balance where every recipient gets a fair, equal usage window

Campaign credit with a deadline

Type: static, generous bonus ratio
Expiration: fixed expiration date at the end of the campaign
Good for: a time-limited promotion that must not leave credits floating afterwards

Availability and status

A credit product can be sold in the current venue only or, if it suits you, made available across all venues in your company. Only products set to active appear for purchase. Deleting a product is permanent, but it does not remove credits customers have already bought.

Credit purchases are generally VAT 0%, which makes credits an efficient way for customers to use, for example, leftover sport benefits before they expire.

Manual credit adjustments and VAT

Staff can adjust a customer's balance directly, for example as compensation, a campaign, or goodwill. When adding credits you must choose how they should be taxed, because this determines whether VAT is charged when the credits are later spent.

To adjust a balance, open the customer's Credits tab, choose Add or Subtract, enter the amount, and for additions set the credit type and an optional expiration date (leave it blank for credits that never expire). Then create the transaction.

The credit type is one of two options:

Option	What it does	VAT handling
Standard VAT on use	Spending these credits adds the VAT amount to the payment	VAT is calculated at checkout when the credits are used
Non-taxable gift	Spending these credits does not add any VAT to the payment	Treated as a tax-free gift or discount. No VAT is calculated when credits are used

Which taxation model fits common situations

Use Standard VAT on use where credits should carry VAT when redeemed. Use Non-taxable gift where the credit is a genuine free benefit with no VAT applied later.

Situation	Recommended treatment	Reason
Credits given as compensation after a damage incident	Non-taxable gift	The credits are compensation, not a sale, so they are treated as a tax-free gift.
A booking is cancelled and refunded as credits	Standard VAT on use	The original VAT is refunded, after which the credits are redeemed again with VAT applicable at the time of redemption.
The venue gives credits to a customer as a gift	Non-taxable gift	No payment from the customer, so it is treated as a discount or benefit. No VAT needs to be charged on redemption.
The customer purchases credits (balance top-up)	Standard VAT on use	The credit purchase itself is not taxable. VAT is applied when the credits are used for services.
The customer pays 100 but receives 120 worth of credits	Standard VAT on use	The added value is a marketing bonus, not a separate tax-free product. VAT is applied on redemption at the full service price.
With a membership, the customer receives 50 worth of credits	Non-taxable gift	The credit portion is a benefit included in the membership price and is not sold separately, so it is treated as a gift or discount.
The customer pays outside Thril (for example at the counter by card or Epassi)	Primarily standard VAT on use, but at company discretion also non-taxable gift	If the outside charge can avoid VAT at the time of payment, choose standard VAT on use. This should always be the primary option, as it ensures the correct VAT is ultimately applied. If counter payments already include VAT, the company may at its own discretion record the credits as a tax-free gift, but this risks the correct VAT never being recorded, which Thril does not recommend.

Thril aims to enable fully lawful VAT handling, but cannot guarantee it if a company also sells credits through payment channels outside Thril (such as legacy POS systems) that charge VAT at the time of payment. We recommend selling credits through Thril, which applies VAT correctly at the time of use.

In short, your choice when adding credits decides how they are treated later: Standard VAT on use charges VAT only when the credits are spent, while Non-taxable gift keeps them VAT-free like a discount.

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