Gift Certificates: Item Builder - Description

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Locate: Inventory > Gift Certificates > Create Gift Certificate Item (button) > Details
Prerequisites: 

• A plan that includes Gift Certificates.
• Gift Certificates activated within your account.
• Admin permissions or restricted permissions to Manage Gift Certificates and Manage Gift Certificate Items including Item and Category Access permissions for the Gift Certificate Items.

Need to activate Gift Certificates for your account? Be sure to read the first article in this series: Gift Certificates: Setup

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Once inside the Gift Certificate Item Builder, begin by choosing a Category for your Gift Certificate. Then, work your way through the settings as described below. 

 

Choose a Category from the drop-down menu provided. The most commonly used Category would - not surprisingly be - Gift Certificates!

If you wish to create a new Category for your Gift Certificates, click on the +Create New Category button.

Enter a name for the new Category and click on the blue check-mark button (✔) to save your addition. A green New Category label will be appended to your new Category temporarily once added.

 

The Category you choose does not in any way restrict the items the Gift Certificate can be applied to. For example, if you assign the Gift Certificate item to Gift Certificates, it is still redeemable for items in categories such as Tours or Rentals.

 

Tags not visible within your account? This feature is being gradually rolled out. Feel free to reach out to support@checkfront.com to have the feature enabled on your account or with any questions! Learn more about Tags here: Inventory Tags: Introduction

 

Enter the Gift Certificate Name in the field provided. An Item SKU will be generated automatically based on the Gift Certificate Name you enter.  

If you'd like to change this, click on the Edit link, enter the preferred Item SKU and click on the blue check-mark button (✔) to complete.  

 

The Summary field allows you to provide a short description that will be visible to the Customer on your booking page.

You can add styles to the text, such as bold, italic, underline, and strike-through using the icons within the top menu of the text editor.

Easy options are provided to add lists, links, and lines.

Further format the message through the align or text colour options.

To work with the message in HTML simply click the < > icon to switch to the HTML editor.

 

If you would like the Customer to specify the Gift Certificate amount, then turn ON the Custom Amount setting. This will disable the single Price amount setting.

Next, determine the acceptable range for the Custom Amount, by specifying the Minimum amount of Gift Certificate and Maximum amount of Gift Certificate, from $25 to $500 for example.

This Custom Amount field appears as a single amount input field for the Booker. You can Preview what this looks like in the next step of the Gift Certificate Item Builder.

 

Enter a Price for the Gift Certificate.  

This amount will then be redeemable for bookings at a future date. For example, if the Customer is renting a boat for $200, a $100 Gift Certificate would cover half of that! The Customer can then pay the remaining balance with their credit card.  

This option is disabled if you have the Custom Amount setting enabled.

 

When determining the date the Gift Certificate is valid from, by default, you have two choices - you can choose either the Purchase Date or a Specific Date.

If you opt for the Specific Date, a small calendar picker will open, enabling you to select any Date in the future. The Gift Certificate will not be redeemable until this Date is reached. This is a great option if you want the Gift Certificates to only be redeemable during a certain period of the year, for example during your off-season.

If you choose to enable the Gift Certificate as of the Purchase Date, this setting can be used in tandem with the Days after Purchase setting to specify the number of Days after Purchase before the Gift Certificate will come into effect.

 

If you choose to Allow customized delivery dates under Additional options then the Purchase Date option will be replaced with Delivery Date. See below under Additional Options for more information.

 

The Gift Certificate Expiry Date allows you to specify the date the Gift Certificate expires. Gift Certificates can be used up until the end of the day for this date.

Selecting Never will leave the Gift Certificate completely open into the future. You can also use the calendar date picker to select a Specific expiry Date.

If you selected the Purchase Date for the item's valid from setting in the previous step, a third option will become available for the expiry date. This option enables you to choose the number of Days after Purchase that the Gift Certificate will expire.  

If you choose to Allow customized delivery dates under Additional options then the Days after Purchase option will be replaced with Delivery Date. See below under Additional Options for more information.

 

Below the Gift Certificate dates section is a link labeled Additional Options.  

Clicking on the link or the drop-down triangle will open up a few more customization options for you as detailed below.  

 

Rather than basing the Gift Certificate validity on the date of purchase, you can instead choose to work off a Delivery Date.

Selecting Yes for this option will turn on the Delivery Date feature. Then, when a Customer purchases a Gift Certificate through the system, they will be able to select a Delivery Date for the purchase. If today is September 1st and a family member's birthday is September 14th, the Customer can make the purchase today but choose to have the Gift Certificate email delivered on the 14th. 

You then have the option to make the Gift Certificate Expiry Date a number of Days after Delivery.

 

Here you have the option to select the Visibility for your Gift Certificate Item.  

Choose Everyone to make your item visible for booking on your website. If you'd like the Gift Certificate to only be visible to your Staff Members and in the Staff-only pages of Checkfront - then select Staff Only. 

 

The Sort Order determines where your Gift Certificate item will be displayed on your list of other available items.  

Entering a higher number here will move the item closer to the top of the list.  

In the next article of this series, we will review using Themes with Gift Certificate Items!

 

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