How to Let Customers Buy Products With Points Only in WooCommerce

This is the technical reference for buying products with points only. It documents the exact settings, the discount calculation, the redemption lifecycle, and the hooks available for customization. It applies identically to both Points and Rewards for WooCommerce and Loyalty Program for WooCommerce, which share the same points engine.

For a plain-language overview aimed at store owners, see the blog article How to Let Customers Buy Products With Points Only in WooCommerce. For the reward-catalog setup specifically, see Redeem Points for Free Products.

Two Redemption Paths

Path	Mechanism	Scope
Points-only products	A product flag converts the product price into a points cost paid at checkout.	Per product or per variation.
Pay with points at checkout	A virtual cart discount coupon generated from the points the customer chooses to redeem.	Whole cart, up to the cart total.

Checkout Redemption: How It Works Internally

When a customer redeems points at the cart or checkout, the plugin does not create a real WooCommerce coupon post. It generates a virtual coupon whose code is prefixed with loyalty_points_, stores it in a transient and the WooCommerce session, and materializes it on the fly through the woocommerce_get_shop_coupon_data filter.

• The coupon uses a fixed cart discount type and is applied before tax.
• It sets individual_use = false and carries no product, category, or sale-item restrictions, so it discounts the whole cart.
• Two filters (woocommerce_apply_with_individual_use_coupon and woocommerce_apply_individual_use_coupon) force the points coupon to coexist with individual-use coupons, so points stack with normal coupons.

Discount Formula

The discount value for a given number of points is:

discount = ( points / conversionRate.points ) * conversionRate.value

The result is then capped at the cart total. If includeShipping is off, the shipping total and shipping tax are subtracted before the cap, so points discount goods only. When the discount is capped at the cart total, the points charged are recalculated (rounded up) to match the capped amount, so the customer is never over-charged points for a zeroed-out order.

Settings Reference

All values below live in the option wpgens_loyalty_points_settings.

Key	Type	Default	Purpose
conversionRateEnabled	bool	false	Master toggle. Checkout redemption is disabled until this is true.
conversionRate.points	int	1	Points side of the ratio.
conversionRate.value	number	1	Currency value for those points. Default ratio is 1 point = 1 currency unit.
conversionRate.minPoints	int	1	Minimum points a customer can redeem at once.
conversionRate.maxPoints	int	1000	Maximum points redeemable per order. This is the main cap on how much of an order points can cover.
conversionRate.includeShipping	bool	false	Whether points can discount shipping as well as goods.
autoOpenPointsRedemption	bool	false	Auto-expands the redemption panel at checkout.
showPointsRedemptionOnCart	bool	false	Shows the redemption panel on the cart page, not only checkout.

Enabling a Full Order Paid in Points

There is no dedicated 100 percent toggle. A full order paid in points is an emergent result of three conditions: conversionRateEnabled is true, maxPoints is high enough that it no longer binds, and the customer holds enough points. Raise maxPoints so that the cart total and the customer balance, rather than the cap, become the limiting factors. With the defaults (1:1 ratio, maxPoints = 1000), the most any order can be discounted is 1000 currency units.

Redemption Lifecycle and Order Meta

1. Customer applies points. The virtual coupon is added to the session (classic checkout via AJAX, block checkout via the Store API handlers handle_apply_points_discount / handle_remove_points_discount).
2. On the order-review stage the discount is validated again through woocommerce_check_cart_items.
3. Points are deducted from the balance only when the order is processed, on woocommerce_checkout_order_processed (classic) or woocommerce_store_api_checkout_order_processed (blocks).

The following meta is written to the order for reporting and refunds:

Order meta key	Value
_wpgens_loyalty_points_redeemed	Number of points spent.
_wpgens_loyalty_points_discount_amount	Currency amount discounted.
_wpgens_loyalty_points_user_id	User whose balance was charged.

When includeShipping is enabled, the shipping portion of the discount is applied as a negative fee via woocommerce_cart_calculate_fees rather than through the coupon.

Hooks and Filters Reference

Hook	Type	Signature	Use
wpgens_loyalty_can_apply_points_at_checkout	filter	($can_apply = true, $user_id, $points, $conversion_rate)	Gate redemption. Return a WP_Error to block it with a message. This is the primary hook for custom caps (for example, limit by cart subtotal).
wpgens_loyalty_calculate_points_discount	filter	($discount_amount, $points, $conversion_rate)	Adjust the computed discount, for example to apply a product-level multiplier.
wpgens_loyalty_points_redeemed_at_checkout	action	($user_id, $points, $amount, $order_id, $order)	Run custom logic after points are redeemed on an order.
wpgens_loyalty_show_points_redemption_block	filter	($show)	Show or hide the redemption UI programmatically.

A worked example of capping redemption per order using wpgens_loyalty_can_apply_points_at_checkout is documented in Limit Points Redemption Based on Cart Total. Redemption UI is also role-gated through the allowed-roles setting.

Points-Only Products

Points-only products are configured on the product itself, not in the global settings. Open a product, go to the Loyalty Points tab in the Product data box, and tick Points-Only Purchase. The points cost defaults to the product price times your conversion rate, or you can set a custom rate for a fixed cost. Variable products expose the same checkbox per variation.

See Redeem Points for Free Products for the complete product-level walkthrough.