Complimentary Orders in Blue Onion are defined as orders that are fully discounted to a net total of $0 expected. This determination is made at the parent order level, not the order line item level. However, we display all the information at the order line item detail when presenting your complimentary orders.
This data can be find in the Revenue Recognition section of the Journal Entries page. Often customers use this data to recategorize Gross Sales and Discounts over to Marketing Expense for relationships with influencers or other marketing relationships where merchandise is fully complimentary. The values in the Complimentary Orders section are included in the Revenue Recognition section of the Journal Entries page and are provided as additional information for reclassification, if desired.
How to Find Complimentary Orders
Navigate to the Journal Entries page
Open the Explorer tab
Switch to the Interactive view
Under Revenue Recognition JE, you'll see Complimentary order JE lines.
You'll see a list of orders with line-item detail. The giveaway that an order is complimentary: the gross sale amount equals the discount amount, and the cash expected is $0.
Why We Flag These Separately
Shopify doesn't have a native report that isolates complimentary orders — Blue Onion adds this classification on top of your data as a separate group so you can choose how to account for them.
If you leave complimentary orders inside your standard revenue recognition, you're overstating gross revenue and overstating discounts by the same amount. The net is $0, so your P&L isn't wrong — but your top-line metrics and discount ratios are inflated.
Common Reclassification Approach
Most customers who reclassify complimentary orders do it for one of these reasons: influencer gifting, marketing giveaways, or customer service replacements. The typical treatment:
Remove the gross sale and discount from revenue recognition
Reclass the COGS / inventory impact to marketing expense (or the relevant expense account) at cost
Blue Onion surfaces the orders and the revenue-side amounts; the COGS piece will come from your own cost data, since we don't currently track COGS.
As always, consult your accounting advisor on the right treatment for your business.
While we are a team of former accountants, we are not in the business of providing professional services. The information presented is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional accounting, tax, or legal advice.