To sell a gift certificate to a customer in person or over the phone you will want to create a New Bill to record the customer's information. Inside the bill, you can add the certificate, and record the payment.
If you are trying to donate a gift certificate or create a no-paid value gift certificate, please read the article titled Donation Gift Certificates and No Paid Value Gift Certificates.
Step 1: Selling the Gift Certificate
Click New Bill... from the ThinkReservations menu on the top left. This will create a new blank bill.
Click the Add icon and choose Gift Certificate from the drop-down list of your items.
Enter the sale price of the certificate in the pop-up.
Click Add to finish adding the certificate.
If you need to add any additional items to the bill like shipping, mugs, etc., please do so now.
Record the purchaser's personal information on the left side of the bill.
Assuming they will purchase with a credit or debit card, retain the purchaser's credit card number, and charge the payment for the balance.
Send the purchaser a receipt (such as a Retail Receipt or a Gift Certificate Receipt) from your available email templates.
At this point, you have a bill with a gift certificate attached, the purchaser's information, and a record of payment.
Step 2: Emailing the Gift Certificate
You will notice that when you add the certificate item, there is an orange alphanumeric code attached to it. This code is the unique gift certificate that has just been created. To edit and send the gift certificate, continue below.
Click on the orange link that is the Gift Certificate Code. This will take you to the certificate page.
Click the green Edit button on the top right and edit the details of the certificate.
When done, click the green Save button at the bottom.
If you need to email the certificate to the recipient or the purchaser, enter the email address in the Deliver by Email box and click Send.
Do not email the certificate from the bill.
If you need to print the certificate, click the green Print button to the left of the edit button on the top right. This will open the print dialog box on your computer. If using Google Chrome, you will see a print preview of the certificate.
Additional Information Helpful for Gift Certificates & Gift Certificate Promotions
When you sell or issue a gift certificate, the sale price is ALWAYS equal to the redeemable value at the time it is created. The sale price is the price of the gift certificate that was sold or issued. Redeemable value is the dollar amount that can be redeemed. When a gift certificate is redeemed in whole or in part, it will reduce the redeemable value to the amount remaining on the gift certificate automatically.
If you donated a $100 gift certificate, the sale price and redeemable value would be $100. On the bill that you "sell" the gift certificate, you will offset the Gift Certificate Item with a Gift Certificate Donation Item. See Donation Gift Certificates and No Paid Value Gift Certificates for specific instructions.
If you offer a special where you add $10 to every $100 a customer spends on a gift certificate, you would include the promotion amount in the sale price ($110) and add a Gift Certificate Promotion Item to offset the $10 promotion.
In most states, the paid value of a gift certificate can never expire but the "free" or "promotional" value can.
When creating gift certificate promotions, ThinkReservations recommends that you do "value-added" promotions, such as the example above. Doing a discounted "percentage off" or "dollar off" type of promotion is more complicated and should be therefore avoided.
See our other related gift certificate articles to learn more!