Gift certificates can be handled in a couple of different methods depending on whether the recipient is known or unknown at the time of the purchase.
Important Note:
- With either option, the Gift Certificate field needs to be checked, and the Taxable field must be left unchecked. Tax should never be collected when selling a gift certificate but instead when the gift certificate is redeemed.
- You'll also want to check the laws in your area (Office of the Attorney General in your state & Federal Trade Commission) before adding an expiration date to gift certificates or gift cards, how to handle inactivity, and any other laws may apply.
To begin, first, decide whether you will track the number of certificates sold for each denomination (Image 1) or whether you want to create just one item that does not track inventory quantities (Image 2). The only difference between the two options is whether the No Inventory option is selected and a Retail/Cost is specified when the item is created.
The images below show the gift certificates being saved into a Gifting Bundles & Looks category. You can save the gift certificate to another category, such as Last Chance / Closeout Items, or see Create a Custom Product Category to create a custom category instead.
- Add the gift certificate to the purchaser's invoice.
- If applicable (based on Image 2), enter the cost of the certificate under the Price column.
- In the Memo field, enter GC: Recipient's Name (or if unknown, specify GC: Unknown Recipient).
- Add any applicable discounts being given and payment method, etc. When finished, click
Save.
For additional tracking, add the invoice Number and Date issued to the physical gift certificate as a reference.
Tips & Other Info:
- If the redemption amount of the gift certificate is greater than the actual amount paid (E.g., the customer paid $75, the gift certificate can be redeemed for $100), enter the redemption amount on the physical gift certificate being given to the recipient.
- To display the gift certificate under the recipient's product history instead of the purchaser's product history, enter the recipient's name under the Product is For field to link the certificate to their profile. View
- When selling gift certificates, the amount sold will be displayed on the Weekly Accomplishment form (access from the Business Tools menu, then select My WAS) under the Income section in the Gift Certificate Sold column.
- Add the items to the invoice.
- Under the Memo field, add a short note indicating that a gift certificate was redeemed along with the original invoice number for further cross-reference tracking.
- Enter the gift certificate amount under the Gift Certificate payment method.
- If the certificate is not fully redeemed, the unused amount will remain as a credit on their account. You can include a Note to specify the remaining gift certificate balance that has been added to their account (the amount displayed in the On Account field).
To view a listing of gift certificates sold and redeemed, from the Business Tools menu, select Reports (or from the Reports - Tools group on the main toolbar, click Reports).
- Under the Sales section, select Gift Certificate Transactions, then click
Print to open the Date Range form.
- From the Start and End drop-down menus or Quick Dates menu, choose a period, then click
OK to print or preview.
- From the preview window, click
to print (or
to export as a pdf).