Frequently Asked Questions

Oshi is a Bitcoin rewards and loyalty platform that helps businesses increase customer retention and lifetime value. Your customers earn real Bitcoin rewards when they shop, refer friends, and engage with your brand - creating a powerful loyalty loop that keeps them coming back. Unlike traditional points programs, Bitcoin rewards have real value from day one.

Bitcoin rewards have real value that customers can save, spend, or withdraw immediately - unlike points that expire or lose value. Bitcoin is scarce money that tends to appreciate over time, creating stronger emotional attachment and higher engagement. Customers love that they're building long-term wealth while shopping with your business, which drives repeat purchases and loyalty.

Most businesses are up and running within 30 minutes using our integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, Square, Stripe, and other platforms. We provide detailed documentation and dedicated onboarding support to ensure everything is configured correctly for your specific business needs.

Not at all! We handle all the Bitcoin complexity behind the scenes. You simply set your reward rates and rules - we take care of the Bitcoin infrastructure, Lightning Network transactions, and customer wallet management. Your customers get a seamless experience, and you get detailed analytics on customer behavior without needing any technical Bitcoin knowledge.

No, we focus exclusively on Bitcoin. We believe in Bitcoin's foundation - it's time-tested, proven, and lasting. Other cryptocurrencies come and go, but we wouldn't want to build your business's long-term customer engagement strategy on quicksand. Bitcoin represents the hardest, most durable money ever created. Our laser focus on Bitcoin allows us to build the best Bitcoin rewards platform possible.

Yes! Many businesses switch from platforms like Smile.io, Yotpo, or LoyaltyLion. We can help you migrate customer data and transition smoothly. Your customers will appreciate upgrading from expiring points to real Bitcoin rewards. We'll work with you on a migration plan that minimizes disruption and maximizes customer excitement about the upgrade.

You fund the rewards your customers earn, just like traditional cashback programs. You load your rewards balance in your merchant dashboard, and rewards are deducted from this balance when customers claim them. The difference is that Bitcoin rewards have real, lasting value that drives higher engagement and better ROI on every dollar you invest in customer retention.

You can fund your rewards balance using a debit or credit card. Setup is simple and straightforward - just add your payment method once and you're ready to go. You can make one-time loads or set up automatic recharges to ensure you never run out of rewards and your customers always get their Bitcoin rewards without interruption.

You set a minimum balance threshold and reload amount in your dashboard. For example, if your balance drops below $20, the system automatically reloads $50 worth of rewards to your account. This prevents any rewards interruptions and ensures your customers always receive their Bitcoin rewards. It's completely set-it-and-forget-it - you can configure auto-recharge settings once or stick with manual one-time loads, whatever works best for your business.

No, rewards balances cannot be withdrawn by business owners. These funds are designated as customer rewards - they can only be claimed and withdrawn by your customers. This is because Oshi is a rewards platform, not a Bitcoin exchange. Your rewards balance is specifically for funding customer loyalty and retention.

If a customer doesn't claim their rewards within 30 days of earning them, those unclaimed rewards automatically return to your business rewards balance at no additional cost. This means you're not permanently losing funds for rewards that customers never claim - they simply replenish your balance and can be used for other customers. Not everyone who receives rewards will claim them, and that's okay - those funds come back to you.

When a customer receives a refund or initiates a chargeback, we automatically reverse the associated Bitcoin rewards. This protects you from reward fraud and ensures you're only paying rewards for completed, legitimate transactions. The reversed rewards return to your rewards balance immediately.

The 30-90 day holding period (you set the length) protects your business from refunds, chargebacks, and fraudulent transactions. During this period, customers can still see and redeem their rewards with you for discounts, but they can't withdraw the Bitcoin to their wallet yet. This ensures that by the time rewards become withdrawable, the transaction is final and you're protected from any reversals.

Yes! A single Oshi account can manage multiple stores, and the rewards balance is unified across all of them. This makes it easy to manage rewards for multiple locations or brands from one dashboard. If you need completely separate rewards pools and balances, you can create multiple accounts, but most businesses find the unified balance more convenient.

When customers redeem Bitcoin rewards for coupons at your store, those redeemed amounts return to your rewards balance. This creates a self-sustaining loop: you fund rewards, customers earn them, they redeem them for discounts, and the balance replenishes. Combined with unclaimed rewards returning after 30 days, this significantly reduces the net cost of your rewards program while driving repeat purchases.

You control your purchase reward percentage in your merchant dashboard. We generally recommend starting with 1-5% based on your profit margins - this is typically lower than customer acquisition costs but drives significantly higher retention. You can set a custom amount that works for your business and adjust it anytime based on performance data. Higher rates drive more engagement but cost more per transaction.

The Bitcoin payment bonus is an additional reward you can offer customers who pay with Bitcoin. For example, if your base reward is 2%, you might offer an extra 1% bonus for Bitcoin payments, giving them 3% total. This incentivizes customers to pay with Bitcoin, which helps you earn Bitcoin too while saving on payment processing fees. You can pass these fee savings back to customers through the bonus, creating a win-win situation.

When a customer makes a purchase, if they've opted in to marketing communications during checkout (newsletter signup, news and offers, etc.), they'll receive an email immediately after purchase with a link to claim their Bitcoin rewards. The email is branded for your business. When they click to claim, they're taken to their rewards portal where they can engage further with your loyalty program. Once they've claimed their first reward from you, future rewards are automatic - they don't need to claim again.

If a customer doesn't opt in to receive marketing communications during checkout, they won't receive the Bitcoin rewards email and won't be able to claim rewards. However, there is a mechanism for you to manually issue rewards to customers even if they didn't opt-in initially. This lets you handle exceptions or reward VIP customers on a case-by-case basis.

Rewards are visible to customers immediately after purchase - they can redeem them right away for discounts and offers at your store. However, the withdrawal holding period (30-90 days, you set this) prevents them from withdrawing the Bitcoin to their personal wallet until that period expires. This protects you from refunds and chargebacks while still giving customers immediate value through redemptions.

We have multiple fraud protection mechanisms: the 30-90 day holding period prevents quick cashouts before chargebacks, automatic reward reversal on refunds/chargebacks, velocity limits to detect unusual activity, and machine learning to flag suspicious patterns. Plus, customers must opt-in to marketing to receive rewards, creating an initial barrier to casual fraud. These protections ensure you're only rewarding legitimate customers.

After customers make a purchase, they automatically get access to a personal referral link for your business. When they share this link and someone makes a purchase, the referrer earns Bitcoin commissions (you set the rate) and the new customer gets bonus rewards. This turns your customers into a distributed marketing team, driving new customer acquisition while you only pay for completed transactions. It's performance-based marketing built into your loyalty program.

You control both the referrer commission and the referee bonus in your dashboard. Common setups: give the referrer 10-20% commission on the first purchase, and give the new customer 5-10% bonus rewards. You can also choose to offer lifetime commissions (at reduced rates) to reward your best promoters. Test different rates to find what drives the most referrals for your business.

Referrals are automatic - any customer who makes a purchase can share their link and earn commissions. Affiliates are curated partners who apply through your affiliate signup portal and get approved by you. Affiliates typically get custom discount codes and can have customized commission rates. They're usually influencers, content creators, or active promoters who will dedicate effort to marketing your business.

Your business gets a dedicated affiliate signup portal where prospective affiliates can apply. You can configure it to auto-approve affiliates or require manual approval. When someone applies, both you and the applicant receive email notifications. The application includes their email, website/social platforms they'll promote on, and other relevant details. From your affiliate management dashboard, you can approve, deny, or edit commission percentages for each affiliate at any time.

Yes! You can edit affiliate commission percentages at any point from your dashboard. This flexibility lets you reward top-performing affiliates with higher rates or adjust commissions based on performance. You have complete control over your affiliate program economics.

With lifetime commissions enabled, affiliates earn Bitcoin rewards not just on the first purchase from their referrals, but on all subsequent purchases too. You set both the first-purchase commission rate (typically higher, like 10-20%) and the ongoing commission rate (typically lower, like 2-5%). This creates long-term partnerships with affiliates who'll keep promoting your business for years because they earn passive Bitcoin income from their network.

Yes! You can assign custom discount codes to affiliates in your merchant dashboard. This is perfect for influencers who prefer sharing codes with their audience (like 'INFLUENCER20' for 20% off). The affiliate still earns Bitcoin commissions on these sales, and you can track which codes drive the most revenue.

First-purchase commissions (10-20%) drive quick referrals and new customer acquisition. Lifetime commissions (2-5%) create long-term partnerships with your best promoters who'll keep promoting your business for years. Many businesses use a hybrid: higher rates on first purchase, then reduced lifetime rates. Test both to see what works for your business model and margins.

Social engagement rewards are only available to customers who have already made a purchase with you. After buying from your store, customers can earn additional Bitcoin by following and engaging with your social media profiles on X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Nostr, and more. You set the reward amount for each platform (e.g., 500 sats for an X follow). This keeps customers in your orbit, builds a high-quality social following of actual buyers (not random followers), and costs significantly less than paid social ads.

Limiting social rewards to paying customers ensures you're building a following of engaged, qualified customers rather than reward-hunters who'll never buy. These followers have already proven they like your products by making a purchase. They're much more likely to engage with your content, make repeat purchases, and become brand advocates. This creates a high-quality, valuable social following for your business.

You can offer engagement rewards across X (Twitter), Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Nostr. Choose the platforms that matter most for your business. You don't need to offer rewards on all platforms - focus on where your target audience spends time. You can enable or disable platforms and adjust reward amounts anytime from your dashboard.

Social engagement rewards typically cost $0.25-$1.00 per follower (you set the amount), which is significantly cheaper than paid social ads. Plus, these are customers who've already purchased from you, so they're much more likely to engage with your content and make repeat purchases. This creates a high-quality social following of actual buyers rather than random followers.

VIP tiers let you reward your best customers with higher reward percentages based on their lifetime spending. You set the tier thresholds (e.g., Bronze at $100, Silver at $500, Gold at $1,000) and the reward multipliers for each tier. As customers cross spending thresholds, they automatically advance and earn higher percentages. This gamification drives customers to spend more to unlock the next tier.

Most businesses use 3-5 tiers. Too few tiers don't create enough progression motivation. Too many make advancement feel impossible. A good structure: Bronze (achievable quickly to hook customers), Silver (regular shoppers), Gold (loyal customers), Platinum (top 5% VIPs). Set thresholds based on your average order value and desired purchase frequency.

Start conservative and adjust based on data. Example structure: Base 2%, Bronze 2.5% (+0.5%), Silver 3% (+1%), Gold 4% (+2%), Platinum 5% (+3%). Your top-tier customers are your most valuable - they're worth investing more in. The increased rewards pay for themselves through higher purchase frequency and larger order values from engaged VIPs.

Customers see their tier progress in their rewards portal and the Oshi app. We send notification emails when they advance to a new tier, celebrating their achievement and reminding them of their new higher reward rate. This creates positive reinforcement and encourages continued engagement with your business.

VIP tiers are based on cumulative lifetime spending with your business. You set the spend threshold for each tier in your dashboard (e.g., $100 for Bronze, $500 for Silver, $1,000 for Gold). As customers cross each threshold, they automatically advance to the next tier and their reward percentage increases. The progress is visible in their rewards portal, creating gamification that motivates customers to spend more to unlock the next level.

Customers see their current VIP tier, reward percentage, and progress toward the next tier directly in their rewards portal and the Oshi app. They can see exactly how much more they need to spend to unlock the next level, creating clear motivation to make another purchase. This transparency and gamification is a powerful driver of repeat business.

We have integrations with Shopify, WooCommerce, Square, Stripe, and Zaprite. Setup is straightforward and well-documented for each platform. We also provide webhooks and a REST API for custom integrations if you use a different platform or have specific requirements.

If you don't see your e-commerce platform or POS system listed, reach out to us! We're always looking to add integrations that businesses want. Our team will work with you to either build a native integration or set up a custom solution using our API. Many platforms can be connected through our API even without a pre-built integration.

Yes! Our Pro plan includes full API access. You can use our API to create custom reward opportunities, integrate with any platform, build unique customer experiences, or automate workflows. The API is fully functional - you can issue rewards, manage customers, track redemptions, and more. You still get the rewards portal and all platform features, but with complete programmatic control.

When you connect your e-commerce platform, Oshi automatically syncs customer purchases, order data, and reward eligibility in real-time. We use secure OAuth connections and only access the data needed to calculate and distribute rewards - we never store payment information. Everything syncs automatically, so you don't need to manually manage reward distribution.

Absolutely! If you have a custom-built or headless e-commerce system, you can integrate Oshi through our API. You'll have full control over when and how rewards are issued, while still getting access to our rewards portal, customer management, and analytics. Our API documentation makes it straightforward to implement, and our team can help with technical questions.

No! Oshi works with any payment processor. Our integrations connect to your e-commerce platform or POS system, not your payment processor. This means you can keep using Stripe, Square, PayPal, or whatever payment solution you're already using. We simply track purchases and issue rewards - we don't touch payment processing.

We'd love to feature your business in the Oshi app where Bitcoin enthusiasts discover new places to shop and earn rewards. Getting featured is subject to approval - we review businesses for product quality, customer service, and alignment with our community values. Most businesses are accepted. Being featured exposes your business to our growing network of Bitcoin shoppers actively looking to spend.

We look for businesses with quality products or services, good customer reviews, professional branding, and values aligned with our community. We want to feature businesses that will provide excellent experiences for Bitcoin shoppers. The approval process is quick - usually within 24-48 hours. Rejection is rare, but we reserve the right to curate our marketplace to maintain quality.

Customers receive branded reward claim emails after purchases, tier advancement notifications when they reach new VIP levels, referral success notifications when someone uses their link, and periodic engagement reminders if they have unclaimed rewards or opportunities. All emails are branded with your business name and colors. Customers can unsubscribe from reward emails anytime, but most don't because they're receiving actual value.

Yes! You can customize the rewards portal with your logo and custom messaging. All reward emails are branded with your business name. Your customers will see a cohesive brand experience from purchase to reward claim to engagement opportunities.

When customers redeem Bitcoin rewards with you for discount coupons, they're making another purchase - driving repeat business. The redeemed amount also replenishes your rewards balance, making your program more self-sustaining. By offering compelling redemption multipliers, you create a powerful incentive for customers to come back and shop again rather than taking their rewards elsewhere.

The redemption multiplier lets you make rewards significantly more valuable when customers redeem them with you instead of withdrawing. For example, if your base reward is 1% and you set a 10x redemption multiplier, customers effectively get 10% off when they redeem with you. Here's how: a customer spends $100, earns $1 in Bitcoin (1%), but that $1 can be redeemed for a $10 coupon (10x value). This drives repeat purchases - customers are incentivized to come back and use their rewards rather than withdraw. You configure redemption options to drive the behavior you want.

We generally recommend making redemptions available after a customer's first purchase to drive that critical second purchase. For example, they earn 1% on their first order, then can redeem those rewards (at a multiplier) on their second order. This creates a built-in incentive to come back. You can configure redemption availability windows based on what drives the best customer behavior for your business.

Customers have complete flexibility with their earned Bitcoin rewards. They can: withdraw to their personal Bitcoin wallet after the holding period, save the Bitcoin for long-term appreciation, redeem rewards with your business for discounts (often at multiplied value), or use them however they choose. This real ownership and optionality is what makes Bitcoin rewards so much more valuable than locked-in points programs.

This is like the early internet versus intranets. In the 1990s, companies built walled-garden intranets thinking closed systems would be more valuable. But the open internet - where people and data could flow freely - became infinitely more valuable by making the entire pie bigger. Bitcoin rewards work the same way: giving customers real ownership and the ability to withdraw creates trust, drives adoption, and attracts Bitcoin enthusiasts who actively seek businesses offering real Bitcoin rewards. The interconnected, open ecosystem grows the entire market and brings you more customers than a closed points system ever could. You win by tapping into a global network of Bitcoin users, not by locking customers into your system.

We offer three plans: Free ($0/month), Growth ($99/month), and Pro ($299/month). The Free plan includes basic purchase rewards and referrals. Growth adds VIP tiers, social engagement, and better analytics. Pro includes everything plus API access, custom integrations, and a dedicated account manager. Qualifying businesses can get 90 days of Pro free with up to $10,000 in covered rewards.

Bitcoin rewards typically cost 1-5% of purchase value, which is significantly cheaper than most customer acquisition channels. Paid ads often cost $20-50+ per customer with no guarantee of repeat purchases. With Oshi, you're paying to retain existing customers and turn them into repeat buyers, which has much higher ROI. Plus, our data shows Bitcoin reward customers have 30-40% higher lifetime value.

We offer month-to-month subscriptions with no long-term contracts. You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime. If you cancel, your current subscription remains active until the end of your billing period. We believe in earning your business every month through great service and results, not by locking you into contracts.

All plans include email support with 24-hour response time. Growth plan customers get priority support. Pro plan customers get a dedicated account manager, Bitcoin strategy consulting, and direct access to our engineering team for technical questions. We also provide comprehensive documentation, video tutorials, and onboarding support for all new customers.

New customers get personalized onboarding support. We'll help you: connect your e-commerce platform, configure reward rates and VIP tiers, set up branding and customization, create your launch communication plan, and develop a strategy for promoting the program to customers. Pro customers also get ongoing strategy consulting to optimize performance over time.

Yes! We provide email templates, social media graphics, website widgets, banner designs, and launch announcement templates. Pro customers get dedicated marketing support including campaign strategy, content creation, and A/B testing recommendations. We want your launch to be successful and will help you communicate the program effectively to your customers.

Absolutely! Click 'Get Started' or 'Book a Demo' anywhere on our site to schedule a call with our team. We'll walk through the platform, discuss your specific business goals, answer questions, and help you determine if Oshi is the right fit. There's no pressure - we want to make sure it's a good match for your business.