SB&R — referral coins that pay up the chain

Cost modelling

A five-order sequence, at the default rates.

Three levels, paying 10%, 5% and 2% of order subtotal, capped at 50, 35 and 20 respectively. Figures are in your store's own currency — one coin is one unit of it, whatever you sell in. The sequence traces a single chain from a cold acquisition to its fourth referred order.

Day 1

Customer A places a 2,400 order, acquired through paid media. No chain exists yet, so there is no payout. On payment, a referral link is issued to her account.

Order subtotal2,400

Reward cost~~nil — no chain~~

Day 4

Customer B orders 1,800 through A's link. A is one position removed and so earns at level 1: 10% of 1,800 is 180, above the 50 level-1 cap. The cap governs.

A · L1 · 10% of 1,800 = 180capped → 50

Day 9

Customer C orders 3,200 through B's link. Two positions now earn: B at level 1, and A at level 2, having introduced the customer who introduced the buyer.

B · L1 · 10% of 3,200 = 320capped → 50

A · L2 · 5% of 3,200 = 160capped → 35

Day 15

Customer D orders 700 through C's link. On a smaller order the percentages bind before the caps do, so reward cost scales down automatically. A now sits at level 3, the last configured level.

C · L1 · 10% of 70070 → capped 50

B · L2 · 5% of 70035

A · L3 · 2% of 70014

Day 21

Devraj refers Esha. Chandni, Bilal and Devraj all earn. Asha earns nothing — she is four hops back, and you set the chain to three. This is the ceiling doing its job: the chain does not quietly grow into a pyramid behind your back.

Asha · L4 · beyond chain depth 30

Totals

Five orders totalling 9,900 carried 339 in reward cost — 3.4% of revenue, incurred only against completed orders. Customer A accrued 99 in store credit from a single purchase and one shared link.

339

Design principles

Purchase-gated, capped, and redeemable only in your store.

Programs that issue referral links on signup pay for traffic that was never going to convert, and drift toward recruitment economics. SB&R makes a completed, un-refunded order the sole condition of entry.

Purchase precedes participation

By default, referral links are issued on payment rather than at signup — you can open this to any signed-in customer if you prefer. Either way, earnings require a completed order, and a refunded order reverses the rewards it generated.

Exposure is bounded

You define chain depth, the percentage paid at each level, and a hard cap per level. Nothing is paid beyond your configured depth, and your maximum cost per order is knowable in advance.

Rewards are store credit

Coins discount a future order in your store, subject to a redemption cap you set. They are not withdrawable, not transferable between stores, and hold no value outside your business.

Implementation

Operational within the hour.

No onboarding call, no approval queue, no development work. The program applies from your next paid order.

Install

Installed through Shopify in a single step. The trial begins immediately and requires no payment details.

Configure

Set chain depth, per-level rates and caps, and your redemption limit. Defaults are pre-populated at 3 levels · 10/5/2%.

Publish to your theme

Two links open your theme editor with each block already positioned. Saving in the theme editor is required for either to appear.

Run

The next paid order issues its first referral link. The program requires no ongoing administration.

Controls and safeguards

A referral program is an accounting system.

Outstanding coins are a liability on your business. If the ledger cannot be reconciled, you are settling claims nobody can substantiate. The following are enforced at the database level, not in application code.

append-only ledger

Every coin earned, redeemed or expired is a single immutable row. Corrections are reversing entries, never edits; the database rejects updates outright. Any balance can be substantiated from its history.

refunds claw back

Refunded and cancelled orders reverse the rewards they generated. If the recipient has already redeemed them, the reversal is declined rather than forced: balances are never driven negative, and the shortfall is recorded for review.

no circular chains

Customers cannot form a referral loop that pays both parties indefinitely. The relationship is rejected at the point it would close a circle.

percent of subtotal

Payouts are calculated on order subtotal, excluding shipping and tax, so a customer selecting expedited delivery does not increase your reward cost.

whole rupees, always

Amounts are stored as integers in hundredths of a unit, never as floating-point decimals, and the same way in every currency. Large volumes of small payouts reconcile exactly.

fails closed

Where configuration is unavailable or invalid at checkout, no discount is applied. The failure mode is a customer paying full price, never an unauthorised discount.

Pricing

One flat fee. No revenue share.

Billed by Shopify and added to your existing Shopify invoice. We do not handle your payment details and we take no percentage of your sales.

Monthly

$31 / month

Billed by Shopify and added to your Shopify invoice. If Shopify invoices your store in a local currency, it converts the charge from US dollars at its own rate, which carries Shopify's 1.5% currency exchange fee — the same way it handles every other app charge on your bill. Shopify shows you the exact amount before you approve anything.

One day free from the moment of installation. No payment details required to evaluate it.

Everything included

Unlimited orders, customers and referrals — no volume tiers
Chain depth configurable to 10 levels
Per-level rates and caps set by you, changeable at any time
Redemption applied by Shopify's own discount engine at checkout
Automatic reversal on refund and cancellation
Optional coin expiry to limit outstanding liability
Billed by Shopify, on the invoice you already receive
Cancel from inside the app or by uninstalling — no notice period, no retention process

Common questions

Points raised during evaluation.

How does this differ from a multi-level marketing scheme?

The distinction is structural. No reward is payable for recruitment, whether or not you require a purchase before issuing a link. Every payout is triggered by a completed, un-refunded order for a physical product, and the chain terminates at your configured depth.

There is no joining fee, no purchase requirement to maintain eligibility, and no earnings from any source other than sales. If sales ceased, all earnings would cease — which is the test a recruitment scheme fails. That said, the structure sits close enough to regulated territory that we recommend your counsel reviews it before launch.

What is the maximum cost per order?

At the default rates, 105 units of your store currency — the sum of your three level caps — and only on orders arriving through a chain at full depth. Smaller orders cost less, since each level applies a percentage before the cap binds.

The sequence above ran at 3.4% of revenue with the chain at full depth throughout. Both rates and caps are yours to set; the calculator at the top of this page will model your figures.

What currency are coins denominated in?

Your store's. One coin is one unit of whatever currency you sell in — one dollar in a US store, one rupee in an Indian one, one yen in a Japanese one. Coins have no currency of their own and no exchange rate is ever applied to them.

The rates and caps you configure are read in the same units, so a cap of 50 means 50 of your currency. Your subscription is billed separately, in the currency Shopify invoices you in.

How does this interact with existing discounts?

Configurable. Redemption can be set to apply only where no other discount is present, to apply only where it exceeds the alternative, or to combine. The default is the most conservative: coins defer to your own campaigns rather than compounding with them.

What happens to outstanding balances on uninstall?

Tracking ceases immediately; no further coins are earned or redeemed. Balances are retained for 90 days so that reinstallation does not erase customer credit, then deleted. Earlier deletion on request.

Can outstanding liability be capped over time?

Yes. Expiry is disabled by default. Enabled, coins expire oldest-first after a period you set, which prevents outstanding liability accumulating indefinitely.

Does this support guest checkout?

No, and it cannot. Balances attach to a customer account, which a guest does not have. A guest order arriving through a referral link generates no payout. If guest checkout accounts for most of your volume, this will underperform — worth establishing before you commit.

What store data does the app access?

Store domain, name and contact email; Shopify customer identifiers and their balances; order numbers and totals. No names, addresses, telephone numbers, payment details or browsing history. No data is sold or shared with third parties. Full policy below.

What is the cancellation process?

Uninstall from your Shopify admin. Shopify cancels the subscription at the same time. No notice period and no retention process.

Support

Direct contact, one business day.

Email admin@microkorant.in — responses within one business day, Monday to Friday, 10:00–18:00 IST.

Rewards not accruing

Open SB&R in your Shopify admin; the status banner states the cause. An expired trial and a lapsed subscription present identically on the storefront but are distinct conditions.

Cancellation

Uninstall from your Shopify admin. Shopify cancels the subscription concurrently. No notice period and no correspondence required.

Data on exit

Uninstalling halts tracking immediately. Balances are retained for 90 days so reinstallation does not erase customer credit, then deleted. Earlier deletion on request.

What we hold, and why.

SB&R is built by Korant. This policy covers the SB&R Shopify app and this website. Last updated 20 August 2026.

From your store

Your .myshopify.com domain, store name and contact email, and an encrypted access token. Tokens are encrypted at rest with AES-GCM, so a database leak is not a store takeover.

About your shoppers

A Shopify customer ID, optionally an email address, and their coin ledger. No names, no addresses, no phone numbers, no payment details, no browsing history. We do not build shopper profiles and we do not sell or share anything with anyone.

About your orders

Order number, subtotal, currency, and any discount our app applied. Enough to pay a referral chain correctly and to reverse it on a refund. Nothing about what was in the basket.

Where it lives

Supabase (Postgres) and Cloudflare Workers. Payments are processed by Shopify — we never receive or store card details.

How long

For as long as the app is installed, then 90 days. Shopify's mandatory deletion requests are honoured: a customer redaction strips every identifier within 30 days and keeps only anonymous accounting.

Your rights

Access, correction, export or deletion — email admin@microkorant.in and we will action it within 30 days.

Coins are not money

Coins are a discount mechanic. They are not cash, not transferable between stores, not withdrawable, and hold no value outside the store that issued them.

One purchase pays everyone who brought them here.