Gift Certificates
Selling them, issuing one by hand, how balances are spent down, and why they are not coupons.
Marketing, Gift Certificates. A certificate carries a balance that is spent down across one or more orders.
They Are Money, Not a Discount
A coupon is a discount you give away and it costs you margin. A certificate is money somebody has already paid you, and it is a liability until it is spent.
That difference matters at the end of a year, and it matters when somebody asks you to "just send a code" to make up for a problem. A coupon is usually the right answer there, because a certificate puts a cash balance on your books.
Two Ways One Comes to Exist
A customer buys one on the shop, if gift card purchasing is enabled. They choose an amount, name a recipient and write a message, and the certificate is issued when the order is paid.
You issue one by hand from this screen. That is how an apology, a prize or a staff allowance is handled.
What a Certificate Holds
A code, which can be generated or typed. An initial balance and a current balance, which differ once it has been partly spent. A recipient name and email, a message, an expiry date, and whether it is active.
Deactivating one stops it being redeemed without deleting the record, which is what you want if a certificate has gone astray.
Spending One Down
The shopper enters the code at checkout and the balance comes off. If the certificate is worth more than the order, the remainder stays on it for next time. If it is worth less, they pay the difference by any enabled method.
A certificate can also be redeemed at the till, which is covered in Point of Sale.
A certificate is not revenue when you sell it
Selling one takes money now for goods later. Treat it as money held on account until it is spent, which is what the Gift Certificate Report is for: it shows what has been issued, what has been redeemed, and what is still outstanding against you.
Expiry
A certificate can be given an expiry date, and whether you are allowed to expire one at all depends on where you trade. Several jurisdictions restrict or forbid it.
Check before setting expiry dates as a matter of routine, and if in doubt leave them open, because an expired certificate that should not have expired is a complaint rather than a saving.
If a Customer Says Theirs Does Not Work
Check four things in order: that the code is typed correctly including case, that the certificate is still active, that it has a balance left, and that it has not expired.
The current balance column answers the third immediately, and is usually the answer: certificates get partly spent and forgotten.