Warning? Invoice "Grand Total" and Store Credit observations
mindsong
Posts: 1,712
(title changed and update below)
Hi all,
Since I can't reproduce it right now (no store credit left...), I'm hoping to raise awareness of the possibility that the DAZ Shopping cart will (now?) show you a total price with any store credit automatically applied, leaving a sloppy shopper like me to think that the posted total price is simply composed of my product prices and store discounts (with any credit being applied later as an explicit action) at checkout. Again, I may be wrong, so just be wary/careful.
My recollection is that there was always a checkbox for applying gift-cards/store-credit presented in an obvious manner near the cart's final out-of-pocket total, where you could choose to explicitly and intentionally use any available credit for that particular purchase. Sure, money is money, but sometimes being able to control how it's allocated over time is useful.
Perhaps I'm wrong, but having just bought a number of on-sale utilites, the price seemed good, so I went with it, expecting to use some credit later on for a quarterly DAZ+. Except, apparently, I just spent it... lol.
(To those who might think it's a newbie error, I'm pretty sure I've covered a few DAZ salaries over the years via my buying, so... :^p
My instinct is the shopping cart mechanism has recently changed, and seemingly in a manner that helps me spend, rather than helps me manage my spending. Noting that the kinda-recent 'added to the cart' pop-up has no "Total in Cart" posted along with the bright red "Total Saved" amount kind of confirms my cynicism (sp?), but of course, I could be wrong about all of this.
Either way, Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware).
I'm keeping the products, but I guess I have to pass on the DAZ+ for another few months. As they've figured out, when I save more, I spend much more, so ... when I save less... I spend less. Works for me.
(But today's $5 perk was appreciated)
best,
--ms
Update: While I've always thought the DAZ invoice layouts, labels, and math were rather odd (since 2011), something was still bothering me about how this particular order-in-question went down, given the auto-store-credit mode they apparently now use in the shopping cart checkout process.
What I noticed, is the real total transaction amount (the value that actually changed hands, regardless the form of the funds) is never available to the customer if they use store-credit in the transaction.
With respect to the"Grand Total" in the shopping cart, store-credit is calculated more like a discount or coupon. That is, once store-credit is active in an order, nowhere on the shopping cart interface, (or in the resulting order invoices) does the actual total transaction value that includes all of the transaction elements appear.
In this case, I thought I was spending $49, and it turned out I spent $77. Ooops. While it was still a good value for me, I now believe it wasn't a completely transparent transaction - both as it occurred and as recorded in the invoicing, given that there was no visible calculated presentation of the value I was actually transferring to DAZ in return for the products. While properly calculated in the overall transaction, this important number is not available to me on their interface or in their invoicing if store-credit is involved.
When no store-credit is in use, the Cart and Invoice "Grand Total"s happen to be a correct representation of this real total transaction value, and fortunately, this is the usual case for most users.
The only way I can see to find out how much value (cash+credit) you are surrendering for your products, is to temporarily disable the store-credit, and the "Grand Total" should reflect the actual total transaction amount. Manual math must be used if you are working with a DAZ invoice (online or email).
--ms
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2025 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
It's been like this for a few months. If you don't click the "SAVE FOR LATER" link under the line which shows your remaining balance after this purchase, it is assumed that you want your store credit applied to the purchase. I mean why wouldn't you?
Anyway, you have a choice.
Hey thanks for posting that detail - appreciated.
I honestly don't remember seeing that, but I'm kinda losing it, so...
I suppose it's a clear-enough way to manage the credit, and it's roughly what I recall - location and all. The last time I used credit/gift-card, I'm pretty sure there was a check-box to opt in, not a link to opt out.
To your question: As I self-limit my spending here, occasionally something will cost more than that limit, and having a gift-card 'buffer' in the store can help keep my 'books' clean, so controlling the distribution of an occasional gift-card purchase is useful to me.
thanks again,
--ms
(e: clipped unneeded quote detail)
It has automatically taken from store credit for a while now & you must uncheck the box if you don't want to use it. Before you had to check the box to use it.
tnx for confirming. no biggy here, I'll just be more careful (and interface-defensive) when I (less frequently) visit the site.
While I may be going senile, this isn't one of the indicators - apparently it actually did change.
--ms
Quick bump:
I updated my initial post title and original post with the essence of what was bugging me about this particular order/transaction. (more of a puzzle than complaint...)
I thought I was spending $49, and it surprised me to find out I spent $77. urg. "What the heck?"
While it was still a good value for me, I now believe it was an accurate, but not a completely transparent transaction - both as it occurred, and, as recorded in the invoicing.
My observation is that the real total transaction amount (the value that changed hands) is never available to the customer as an explicitly distinct posted total, if the customer uses store-credit. With respect to the Grand Total, store-credit seems to be treated much like a discount or coupon. In this way, once store-credit is active, nowhere on the shopping cart interface, or in the resulting order invoices does the actual total transaction value that includes all of the transaction elements appear.
Yes, it can be calculated by hand, but... this is a shopping cart... wondering how much I actually owe, in total, via all funding sources, isn't an unreasonable expectation.
Of course the actual cart/invoice totals do match the actual transaction amount if no store-credit is involved.
The quick test would be to drop something in the cart apply store credit, and see if you can actually find a distinct and calculated 'transaction total' that includes any/all funding sources that would be transferred... not there. Maybe someday.
--ms
I get a final total that shows what will be taken from stor credit on both the item page and the final checkout page. I suspect you checked out just as a sale edned, and so the price changed.
I think the complaint here is that in a transaction involving store credit, the total amount of the transaction does not appear anywhere on the checkout page.
Consider the following purchase. Item list price $9.99, 30% off sale, 5% state tax, and the buyer has $4.57 in store credit available. The checkout page will appear as follows:
Subtotal: $9.99
Discounts: -$3.00
Tax: $0.35
Store Credit: -$4.57
Total: $2.77
The number that doesn't appear anywhere in that summary is $7.34, the actual total that the store credit is being applied to.
Thanks for actually reading the post murgatroyd314,
And *yes*, I *can* add the store credit to the grand total, now that I get how DAZ accountants see things, maybe even in my head on a good day...
That the store credit (that I don't use much) is automatically applied (a recent change), makes the "Grand Total" different from the amount due with no clear presentation of the order total amount...
So, that same sequence on a more complicated order, looks something like:
Subtotal
$221.70
Discount
$146.90
Store Credit
$28.60
Tax
$2.96
Grand Total
$49.16
At casual glance, how much is the order actually going to cost me? $77 or $49?
So, the actual order total... well... not really obvious is it?, unless you know how DAZ does it.
I could subtract the 146 from the 221, to get the 77, then subtract the 28 to verify that it's roughly 49... I could.
Or, just above the Store Credit line, add a line something like 'Order Total', and rename the 'Grand Total' line to 'Amount Due' or similar. I would also place the 'Tax' line above any payment details as well.
Again, per above, the first thing I care about is how much the order is costing me, the second, is how to allocate that amount from my various buffers.
That most orders don't use store credit makes this a non-issue for most, since the Grand Total *happens to be* the same as the amount due. That's the habit I trusted. Ooops on me.
With store credit active, the Order Total, which is easy to calculate and post, is not present, and would be useful.
lesson learned,
--ms
You can click the Save For Later link under the store credit to see the cash cost. I usually have enough credit to cover the order so it's either all cedit or all cash (when credit isn't applicable) rather than a mix, which is why I didn't follow.
sure, you can. shouldn't have to.
whatever.
--ms