By default points never expire. If you want them to, choose one policy for the programme; a boost can carry its own, and the boost wins.
The policies
In the Expiry card under Settings → Programme rules, choose When do they expire?
| Policy | What it means |
|---|---|
| Never (default) | No deadlines. |
| A set number of days after earning | Each batch of points has its own date, counted from the day it became spendable — not from the order. |
| At the end of the month, quarter or year | Points expire when the period ends, with a guaranteed Minimum life (days) (30 by default) so points earned on the 29th are not lost on the 1st. The period ends at midnight in your programme's time zone. |
| When the member stops shopping | Nothing has a date. A member who has not earned or redeemed for the set number of days loses their whole balance; any earn or redemption resets the clock. |
| After a number of days set per tier | Like a set number of days, but the number depends on the member's tier when the points become spendable — so higher tiers can keep their points longer. |
After how many days sets the number for the second and fourth policies. Under More expiry options you choose the Period and minimum life, the days per tier (one box per tier, plus Members without a tier (days); leave a tier blank to use that number, or enter 0 so that tier's points never expire), and Remind members (days before) (30, 7 and 1 by default).
A boost's own Expires after (months) (under More options on the boost) overrides the programme policy for points from that boost. While any such boost is live, the landing page no longer says points "never expire" — it tells members that some offers carry their own expiry date.
When the clock starts
Points that are held (waiting for a return window, or for approval) have no expiry date yet. The date is set when they are released. So a 365-day policy with a 30-day return window gives members 365 days of spendable life, not 335.
What members see
- The member's wallet shows "₹X expire within 30 days — use them soon." whenever something is due.
- Expired points appear in their history as their own "expired" line.
- The programme's landing page explains the policy in plain words, generated from your settings — including your reminder days, but only while the reminder email is switched on.
- If you switch on the Points expiring soon email under Settings → Emails, members are reminded on each of your reminder days. It is off until you turn it on. Members can also switch notification emails off for themselves (see Member email).
- Reminders go out for points that have a date. With When the member stops shopping nothing has a date, so the reminders are dated to the day the balance would lapse — the set number of days after the member's last earn or redemption.
The sweep
A nightly job (04:00 UTC, 09:30 in India) expires what has fallen due. Each expiry is its own ledger line — "₹X expired" — attached to the batch it came from, so the member's history and your liability figures always agree. Members redeem their soonest-expiring points first (Spend which first? under Settings → Programme rules, in Advanced), which is the setting that loses members the least.
Points that come back
When points come back to a member — a voucher is voided, a redemption is refunded, a debit is undone — they go back into the batch they were spent from and keep that batch's date. If that batch has already expired, they come back as a separate credit that lasts for a 30-day grace period, and that credit expires on its own date too. A manual debit uses up the soonest-expiring points first, exactly like a redemption, so the sweep never takes the same points twice.
A paused programme (Emergency stop) expires nothing until it resumes.
If your plan doesn't include expiry
Points expiry is a plan feature (see Plan & billing). On a plan without it:
- Nothing expires. The nightly sweep skips your programme, and your policy is kept for later.
- Members are told nothing about expiry — no reminder emails, no "expire within 30 days" in the wallet, and the landing page and programme terms don't mention it.
- Points earned while the plan has no expiry get no expiry date. A date-based policy (a set number of days, end of period, days per tier) therefore never expires them, and that stays true after an upgrade. An inactivity policy (When the member stops shopping) dates nothing anyway: once expiry is back, it covers the member's whole balance, points earned while it was off included.
Points that already had a date before the change keep it. If that date passes while expiry is off, nothing happens. When your plan includes expiry again, members get a notice period: nothing expires sooner than 30 days after the nightly job first sees the change, or your furthest reminder day if that is later. Members get the usual reminders during that time, dated to the end of the notice period. Points dated after the notice period ends keep their own date. Under an inactivity policy, a member who has not earned or redeemed for the set number of days loses their balance at the end of the notice period, not before, and is reminded first; everyone else keeps counting from their last earn or redemption. Nothing expires all at once on the night of the upgrade.
Can expired points come back?
Not automatically. If a member should not have lost them, credit them again from their member page — that is a new grant with a new expiry. One case is handled for you: a refund that returns points from a batch that has since expired gives them back as a fresh grant with a 30-day life.
See Earning rules for release timings and Analytics & finance for how expiry appears in the monthly figures.
Time zone
Dates, "per day" limits and month ends follow your programme's time zone (Settings → Programme rules → Time zone). A Shopify store's programme starts on the store's own time zone; others start on India Standard Time for rupee programmes and UTC otherwise. See Your programme's currency. Changing it affects what happens from then on — points already given keep the expiry date they were given with.