Concept

Refunds and course access

When you refund an order in Shopify, Alva Courses withdraws access to exactly the line item you refunded — not the whole order, and not anything the customer paid for and kept. Refund in Shopify as usual; nothing has to be done in Alva Courses.

A full refund of one line

Refund every unit of a course line item and that course's access is withdrawn. If the same student holds the course from another line that has not been refunded — a second purchase, a bundle, a gift — they keep it.

Partial refunds do nothing

Refunding part of the quantity on a line leaves access alone until the rest follows. So does a refund where you type your own amount instead of refunding items: Shopify records that as an order adjustment, the value no longer follows from the quantities, and Alva Courses will not read it as a withdrawal. Remove access by hand in that case.

Orders with more than one course

Each line is settled on its own. Refund one course out of a four-course order and the student loses that one and keeps the other three. Refunds that arrive in several parts are added up per line, so a course goes only when its own line is fully covered.

What happens to their coursework

Nothing is deleted. Progress, quiz attempts, submitted answers, your feedback, grades and any certificate already issued are left exactly as they were — only the entitlement is withdrawn. So if the customer buys again, restore access and their history is still there.

What students see

The course card in the storefront is marked as removed, and opening it shows "You no longer have access to this course" with a line inviting them to contact the store if they think it is a mistake. As with deadlines, the withdrawal shows in your admin immediately and starts refusing access once enforcement is switched on for your store — see set a course deadline.

See also

See add or remove a member, change a student's deadline, or keep coursework after removing a member.

Last updated 2026-09-07