Points expiry lets you automatically expire customer points after a period of inactivity or after a set time. This encourages customers to stay active in your loyalty program and creates healthy urgency around earning and redeeming points.
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Expiry dates can appear in supported loyalty widgets and account experiences, depending on your onsite visibility settings and whether an expiry date is available. For the account widget, enable the expiration message in its onsite settings. You can also send automated email reminders before points expire.

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Rivo offers two ways to expire points. Choose the method that best fits your program:
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Each batch of points has its own expiration date. By default, this is the date the points are approved plus your configured number of months. An earning rule or a manually assigned date can override that period. If a customer earns 100 points today and 200 points next month, each batch has its own expiration date - the 100 points expire first, then the 200 points.
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This is a “first in, first out” approach: the oldest available points are used first, and each batch expires on its assigned date. Custom expiration dates can change which batch expires first.

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All of a customer’s points expire at once when their expiration date is reached. The entire balance resets to zero.
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The expiration date is based on the customer’s last activity. Every time a customer earns (or redeems, depending on your settings) points, the clock resets and a new expiration date is set.

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Once enabled, Rivo displays when you turned on expiry. In bulk mode, it also displays when points will start expiring.

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Points expiry can be powerful, but it is not right for every program. Use it when it supports your customer experience and business goals.
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If you are unsure, start with a longer expiration period and shorten it later based on customer behavior.

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Your expiration period sets the tone for your loyalty program. Shorter windows create urgency; longer windows feel more generous.
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When using Bulk points expiry , the expiration date resets every time a customer is “active” in your program. Here’s how activity works:
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Enable the Earnings only option if you want only earned points to count as activity. When this is turned on, redeeming points does not reset the expiry clock - customers must actively earn new points to keep their balance from expiring.
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This is useful if you want to encourage ongoing engagement (like placing orders), not just spending down existing balances.
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When using the Latest version of bulk expiry (recommended), you can choose to exclude certain types of points from being considered as activity. This means earning these types of points will not reset the expiry clock:

By default, expired, birthday, and anniversary points are excluded, since they are automatic/system-generated and don’t represent fresh customer engagement.

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When using Bulk points expiry, you can choose between two versions:

We recommend using the Latest version for all new setups. If you’re currently on Legacy, you can switch to Latest at any time.

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You can send automated email reminders to customers before their points expire. This gives them a chance to earn or redeem before losing their balance.
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Two email notifications are available:

To enable these:

You can enable one or both notifications. Delivery depends on customer eligibility, contact details, email preferences, and your messaging settings.

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Customers can view their points expiration date in several places:

When first enabling Latest bulk expiry for customers with older balances, contact Rivo Support if the displayed expiry date differs from the expected date based on their last qualifying activity.

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In addition to points, you can also set up expiration for store credits using the same settings page. Credits expiry has its own settings and supports two methods:

Configure credits expiry separately under the Credits Expiration section on the same Settings > Expiration page. Bulk credits use their own activity rules; do not assume the points Earnings only setting applies to credits. Shopify store credits are expired by Shopify using the date assigned when each credit is issued.

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The guidance below applies to Rivo-managed credits. Before using Bulk credits expiry for a promotion, contact Rivo Support to confirm it is available for your store. Shopify store credits keep the expiration dates sent to Shopify when issued; changing Rivo’s method or using Rivo’s bulk date-update tools does not rewrite those dates.
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Changing between Per credits event expiry and Bulk credits expiry does not rewrite expiration dates that were already assigned to credits. The method you save changes how Rivo processes the remaining balance and how it assigns dates to new credits:

While Bulk is selected, the customer’s balance follows the Bulk calculation rather than the individual dates previously assigned to credit amounts.
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Suppose you normally use Per credits event expiry , temporarily select Bulk credits expiry for a promotion, and switch back after September 30:

Selecting Bulk does not make all promotion credits expire on September 30. The Expiration settings accept a number of months, not a specific calendar end date.
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To apply September 30 to eligible existing credits, use the expiration-date update steps in How to bulk expire customer points or credits. This is separate from changing the expiration method and is available only while Per credits event expiry is enabled. You can update future dates and, if needed, include eligible credits that do not yet have an expiration date; an expiration date that has already passed cannot be changed.
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For a new manual credit adjustment for one customer, the customer profile can show an option to set a specific expiration date. See Adjusting customers’ points balances. This sets the date for the new adjustment; it does not change expiration dates on credits already issued.

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You set expiry to 6 months with per-event mode. In this example, points are approved immediately and no custom expiration dates apply:

Each batch of points has its own independent expiration date.
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You set expiry to 12 months with bulk mode:

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Same setup as above, but with Earnings only enabled:

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Do points earned by guest shoppers expire?
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Yes. If your Program Participants settings allow Guests to earn points, those points follow the same enabled expiry method and period as Members’ points:

There is no separate account-creation deadline for guest points. Points earned as a Guest are already in the customer’s balance and can expire before they become a Member. Becoming a Member does not restore expired points, so customers need to use their points before they expire.
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For redemption eligibility and account-page visibility, see Understanding Guest vs Member status in Rivo.
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What expiry period can I set?
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You can choose one month or more before points expire. The default is 12 months.
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When exactly do points expire?
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Rivo processes expirations daily. With the Latest bulk version, a balance remains available through its expiration date and processing follows your store timezone.
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What’s the difference between the two expiration methods?
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Per points event expiry expires points individually - each earning event has its own expiration date, and unspent points expire on their assigned dates. Bulk points expiry expires the entire balance at once when the expiration date is reached, resetting the customer’s balance to zero.
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Will customers know their points are about to expire?
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You can enable a warning 30 days before and a last-chance reminder 3 days before points expire, subject to customer eligibility and messaging settings. Expiry dates can also appear in supported widgets and account experiences when their visibility settings allow it.
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Can I set up points expiry and reward expiry separately?
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Yes. Points expiry (this feature) controls when a customer’s points balance expires. Reward expiration controls how long a redeemed reward (discount code) stays valid before it can no longer be used. These are two separate settings.
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What happens when I first enable points expiry?
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It depends on which expiry method you use:

What happens if I change expiry settings later?
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Changing the expiry period (for example, from 12 months to 6 months) updates future expiry calculations, but it does not create new activity events. In per-event mode, expiry dates already assigned to existing points events are not automatically rewritten. If you turn expiry off and then on again, Rivo records a new enabled date. Turning expiry off does not clear dates already assigned to individual points events; those points may still expire. Contact Rivo Support before relying on that switch to preserve previously dated points.
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Can I expire only certain types of points?
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With the Latest version of bulk expiry, you can exclude specific point sources (birthday, anniversary, manual, referral, and review points) from being counted as activity. However, the points themselves will still expire when the customer’s overall balance expires - the exclusion only affects whether earning those points resets the clock.
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Does points expiry also affect store credits?
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No. Points and credits have separate expiry settings. You can configure credits expiry independently on the same settings page.