Transaction Types Explained — How Points Flow In and Out

What Is This?

Every time a customer earns or spends points, Pixalink creates a transaction record. Each transaction has a type that tells you why those points were added or deducted. Understanding these types helps you read your Point History and know what's happening across your loyalty programme.

How It Works

Points flow in two directions — in (earned) and out (spent or deducted). Here's how the transaction types fit together:

flowchart LR
    subgraph earn ["Points In (+)"]
        direction TB
        P["Purchase"]
        EP["Earn Point"]
        R["Referral"]
    end

    subgraph spend ["Points Out (−)"]
        direction TB
        PRR["Point Reward Redeem"]
        RF["Refund"]
    end

    earn -->|adds to| B["Customer's
Point Balance"]
    B -->|deducts from| spend

Points In (green badges)

These types add points to a customer's balance:

• Purchase — The most common type. Created when a customer buys something at your POS. If the customer's loyalty tier has a point multiplier, it's automatically applied. For example, with a 2x multiplier an RM50 purchase earns 100 points instead of 50.

• Earn Point — Points added outside of a direct POS purchase. This includes credit wallet conversions, integration-based earning (e.g. Bukku invoice syncs), and other secondary earning methods.

• Referral — Points awarded to the person who invited a new customer. When the referred customer signs up, the inviter automatically receives their referral bonus.

Points Out (red badges)

These types deduct points from a customer's balance:

• Point Reward Redeem — Created when a customer uses points to claim a reward. The points deducted match the reward's cost. This also appears when you manually deduct points.

• Refund — Created when a POS refund is processed. Pixalink calculates how many points to take back based on the refund amount. Works for both full and partial refunds.

In your Point History table, each row shows the Amount (with + or −), a coloured Type badge (green for in, red for out), the Reward Name if applicable, the Space (outlet), and any Remarks. You can filter by Type, Space, Reward, or Date Range.

Your customers can also view their own point history in the Customer Portal — they'll see each transaction with the date, type, and points earned or spent.

Real-Life Example

Wei Lin runs a bubble tea chain called Tea Lab with three outlets. On Monday morning, she opens Admin Panel → Loyalty Program → Point History and filters by the past week.

She sees mostly green Purchase badges — customers earning points with every drink. She spots a few red Point Reward Redeem entries where regulars traded points for free toppings, and one Refund from Thursday when a wrong order was refunded at the Bangsar outlet.

Wei Lin also notices three Referral entries — her refer-a-friend programme brought in new customers last week.

Good to Know

• Purchase is the only type that benefits from tier multipliers — other earning types add exact point amounts
• Transactions can only be edited within 15 minutes of creation
• Refunded transactions are automatically excluded from your customer's active point balance
• The Revert type may appear in very old records — it's a legacy type that is no longer used. Voided transactions are now handled differently.
• The Review type may also appear on older records — it is no longer actively used

Need Help?

Reach out to our support team — we're happy to help you understand your point history.

What's Next?

• How to Record Points for a Customer — manually add points from the admin panel
• How to Set Up Point Earning Rules — control how many points customers earn per purchase
• How to Set Up Point Expiry Rules — set when earned points expire