How it works
Each credit type has its own name, its own balances per user, and often its own price or exchange rate. Deductions name the type they draw from, so spending one never touches another. Products use separate types to price very different resources, to keep free promotional credits apart from paid ones, or to run a loyalty points system next to paid credits.
More types mean more for customers to understand, so most products keep one primary paid type and add others only where the separation earns its keep, for example when one resource is far more expensive or must never be bought with promotional credits.
Example
A video app has "render minutes" sold at $0.20 each and "bonus credits" granted for referrals that are worth less and expire. A user with 30 render minutes and 50 bonus credits renders a 10-minute video from render minutes, leaving 20 render minutes and all 50 bonus credits untouched.
Credit type in Cred
Credit types belong to a project and carry a USD-per-credit exchange rate used for custom-amount checkout. Each user holds a balance per credit type, swap pairs can convert between them, and a credit type can optionally be deployed as an ERC-20 token.
Managing Credits docsRelated terms
Questions
- How many credit types should a product have?
- Usually one or two. Add a type when two resources need separate balances or rules, not just separate prices; different prices can be handled by deducting different amounts of the same type.
- Can users convert between credit types?
- Only if you allow it. A swap with a fixed rate and optional fee lets users exchange one type for another atomically.
- Can promotional credits be a separate credit type?
- Yes, and it is a common reason to add a type. Keeping free credits apart lets you expire them, exclude them from swaps or cash-out, and report paid and free usage separately.
