export const metadata = {
  title: `Customer Accounts`,
}

# {metadata.title}

In this document, you’ll learn how registered and unregistered accounts are distinguished in the Medusa application.

<Note title="Looking for no-code docs?">

Refer to this [Medusa Admin User Guide](!user-guide!/customers) to learn how to manage customers using the dashboard.

</Note>

## `has_account` Property

The [Customer data model](/references/customer/models/Customer) has a `has_account` property, which is a boolean that indicates whether a customer is registered.

When a guest customer places an order, a new `Customer` record is created with `has_account` set to `false`.

When this or another guest customer registers an account with the same email, a new `Customer` record is created with `has_account` set to `true`.

---

## Email Uniqueness

The above behavior means that two `Customer` records may exist with the same email address. However, the main difference is the `has_account` property's value.

So, there can only be one guest customer (having `has_account=false`) and one registered customer (having `has_account=true`) with the same email address.

---

## Customer Deletion and Email Reuse

When a merchant deletes a customer, the `Customer` record is soft-deleted, meaning it is not permanently removed from the database.

When using the Medusa Application with the [Auth Module](../../auth/page.mdx), possible confusion may arise in the following scenarios:

1. An admin user is using the email address `john@example.com`, and a customer tries to register with the same email address.
2. An admin user has deleted a customer with the email address `jane@example.com`, and another customer tries to register with the same email address.

In these and similar scenarios, the customer trying to register will receive an error message indicating that the email address is already in use:

```json
{
  "type": "unauthorized",
  "message": "Identity with email already exists"
}
```

To resolve this, you can amend the registration flow to:

1. Retrieve the login token of the existing identity with the same email address.
2. Use the login token when registering the new customer. This will not remove the existing identity but will allow the new customer to register with the same email address.

You can learn more about how to implement this flow in the following guides:

- [Conceptual guide on how to implement this flow with Medusa's authentication routes](../../auth/authentication-route/page.mdx#handling-existing-identities).
- [How-to guide on how to implement this in a storefront](../../../storefront-development/customers/register/page.mdx).
