Gift Certificate / Gift Voucher - What's the latest??
Hello,
I wanted to see if anyone had any updates to workflows or functionality in shopify regarding gift certificates for customers?
I've read through about 40 forum posts on the subject, but most are from 2008/09... and I saw a cryptic response about possibly adding this functionality in late 2012 (which I guess is about now?).
The best solution I've seen (that doesn't involve paypal, which for our customer base seems to be a deterrent) is using the 'discount code' system built into shopify. Meaning, I'd create a gift certificate 'product' and don't charge taxes on it. When someone buys it, I'll create a discount code unique to them (and assign it with a quantity of 1 and to never expire)... This is easy enough but not without its pitfalls.
For example, I've heard talk that 'discount codes' do not apply to shipping. I've also noticed that this could get cumbersome if we want to allow the customer to pick their price. Even if we don't, we'd still need to create a bunch of options - each their own item (since products cannot have price variants).
I wanted to put the feelers out there to see if anyone had any new thoughts on this... thanks!
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Hi nobledenim,
It's being worked on as I type. I've seen some mockups and I think you're going to love it.
We generally don't say when things are going to go out because software is so unpredictable, but I can say this has moved from the "it's on our list" to the "it's being coded" stage :)
Craig
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Can you be just a bit more specific? Will it be coded and ready to go in time for the holiday sales season?
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Thank goodness, been waiting for this since 2009. The discount codes have been very useful, but they are not practical for gift giving...glad to see this.
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Any chance we'll see this in the next few days, in time for the holiday shopping and gift-giving season?
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+1 fixed price gift vouchers. Setting up a product where we're forced to use colour/size attributes for voucher value is just not very nice.
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As Craig mentioned it's tricky to give a timeline since there are a lot of other projects under way (we just launched product images last week: http://apps.shopify.com/variant-images). We are still working on the UX of the app and defining the feature scope - development hasn't started yet. It's a complex app that has a lot of variables, for example some countries have different laws with gift cards like the US with some states allowing expirable gift cards and others not.
It probably wont' be ready for the holiday season. We take the holidays very seriously and don't risk launching anything unless it's been rigorously tested.
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"It probably wont' be ready for the holiday season." -...because NOBODY buys Gift Certificates during the holiday season...maybe you should have had it ready BEFORE the holiday season...
"there are a lot of other projects under way" -like what EXACTLY? When will they be ready to go live? What increase in functionality can we expect? Oh ya, I forgot...
..."We generally don't say when things are going to go out because software is so unpredictable" -actually software development is VERY predictable. Shopify is also predictable in that they never deliver the goods.
"but I can say this has moved from the "it's on our list" to the "it's being coded" stage :)" -WOW!!! That's AMAZING!!! 3-4 years for that amount of progress... That is not "unpredictable", that is pathetic.
Your discount codes already work fine for use as Gift Certificates in Canada, with 1 exception- they reduce the amount before tax is applied to the total. All you would have to do to fix this, is to have 2 different types of discount codes. One which is applied before tax (discount code- codes that start with "DC") and one which is applied after taxes (gift code- codes that start with GC). Regardless of your constant excuses, it should not take you more than a few days to have this working and live for Canadian stores...
...But wait, your basic taxes are not even calculating correctly now, so I guess you will have to fix that first...after you fix the date stamping in these forums... (30 seconds after posting this it shows that it was posted 5 hours ago...)
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Hi Meeplemart,
You're 100% right that discount codes and gift cards share a similar code base, but there are some crucial differences:
- Gift cards retain their value until depleted, discount code's value is fixed
- Your customers can "forward" their discount codes to the recipient
- The store sends an email out when a gift card is generated to the customer
- A gift card is a product on your store front
- Discounts and gift cards are taxed differently
- Customers that purchase gift cards need to forward on the gift card to the recipient
- Changes to the Shopify checkout system to enable gift cards
- Risk of fraudulent credit cards purchasing gift cards and distributing the codes
- Add additional translation points to the checkout for foreign stores
Software can certainly be predictable, but the Shopify platform has a number of variables for example:
- What if a store operates in 2 states, one state allows a gift card to be expired after 4 years and the other doesn't? Which tax laws does that store abide by?
- What if a store has enabled "auto fulfill" items. That means giftcards will be sent automatically to the customer. What security/fraud risks does that store face?
- If a store owner decides to create variants for each of the gift card amounts ($10, $20, $50) only to find out their theme isn't set up to display multiple price points?
- How do stores with currency converters handle gift cards?
Then we have the entire user interface and interaction side of things. What happens to the previously generated codes when a merchant deletes a gift card? How do we turn a product into a "gift card"? How does the user customize the email to the customer that their gift card has been generated? What email address does that email come from in the first place? What does the dashboard look like for managing your gift cards? How can we make it easy to "resend" generated coupon emails, incase the customer didn't receive it the first time? Where in the UI should you be able to create store credits (manually created gift cards)? Lots of discussion points.
That's a lot of excuses on why it's going to take so long to build this feature, but if we overlook any of these points and rush delivery we will almost certainly cause problems for you and other merchants.
I sent you an email so we can get that tax issue resolved and I'd love to buy you a drink or coffee so we can talk about your thoughts on how we can make a merchant's life easier. Let me know if Mon-Wed works? (I'm in Ottawa Thur/Fri, but back in TO the week after)
I apologize for any trouble we've caused you so far and appreciate you taking the time to write down your thoughts.
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I have been using this and works for me but not sure how it would work with others. http://www.thegiftcardcafe.com/index.php
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Hey Mark,
Thanks for all the work you are doing and for taking your time to respond considerately to posts that were clearly not considerate in tone toward you. I'm really excited about the gift certificate features that are upcoming. I did want to ask a question of whether or not there will be an option to have the gift certificates cover the shipping costs (or in other words, total cost of purchase)? We have a quasi-gift certificate system in place right now (by creating a gift certificate product; when a customers purchase it we issue them coupon code and tell them it's one time use). But at the moment we have the issue of needing to create a separate "gift certificate" shipping bracket for 0.00 so when customers go to redeem the coupon they don't need to pay shipping costs. The issue is that we sometimes get regular customers customers who use that gift certificate shipping option (likely by accident) and then we have to go and collect additional money from them or eat the shipping cost.
Hope this makes sense. Again, thanks for your time,
-Quin
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@Quin
Gift cards will cover the cost of the entire purchase :)
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Hi Mark - any ETA on this? I won't hold you to it, just gives me something to look forward to.
Also, there is a gift card function in MerchantOS that we have been using. It would be mind-boggleingly wonderful if MerchantOS and this app could communicate gift card numbers and balances. If a customer uses their $50 card for $10 online and then comes into the shop I would love for their balance to show $40 in MerchantOS.
Based on this discussion, I sent them a message asking if they were in cahoots about this project and they indicated that they were not aware of it. It would seem fairly simple - one would only need to synchronize gift card numbers and remaining balances. I know MerchantOS builds the app, so is it possible for Shopify to reach out to them to let them know about the project and how they might begin modifying their app to allow it to synchronize with your app so that, when everything goes live, we can pop a bottle of champagne?
Thanks for your time!
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Obviously there are a lot of variables with this project because we are building new APIs and an actual application. It's hard to give concrete timelines right now, once the project is underway we might be able to estimate when the beta is out.
We probably won't support POS right out of the gate. But we will be making the API public after the app has been released and then it should be possible to integrate with a POS. Let's get the Gift Card app launched and see what we can do with POS integration.
Thanks for your thoughts Chris!
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Thanks Mark for not rushing this out during the holidays. It would have been nice, but not if it caused problems. I, for one, am excited for this feature and looking forward to the API. Next year I'm sure we'll have a whole bunch of new apps that integrate with the Gift Cards for the holiday season with all the kinks worked out.
Also, thanks for showing a lot of tact in your replies and offering as much info as possible. The customer service I've received is one of the reasons I have 2 stores with Shopify and am hoping for a 3rd in the new year. If you ever make it to Oahu I would like to buy you a cup of coffee and a pastry from our shop.
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Great news on this, I really need to add this to my site offerings in 2013
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Just curious, I see that www.blackmilkclothing.com just added a gift card option directly on their site. Aren't they on shopify? If so how is it done?
Regards,
John
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jadecricket - how do you collect additional money from the customer after the customer has already submitted the order?
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@Harper - They are offering gift vouchers (certificates), not gift cards. We do this type of thing by adding digital gift certificates to our site: http://www.goodgoodbox.com/collections/gifts/products/giftcertificate. It's a pretty simple thing to do with the new Product Customizer app: http://apps.shopify.com/product-customizer.
We collect their info during their order, manually create a unique coupon code, and email it to them (or the recipient) with a custom template we designed in MailChimp. They then come to our store and purchase whatever they want using their code.
This will obviously be much better when it automatically creates the unique code and emails the certificate to them. We also use the Chargify app for our subscriptions which adds a whole separate nightmare because we have to manually add all of our coupon codes on the Chargify system a second time because they don't integrate with Shopifys coupon system yet. Chargify also currently does not support one time use coupon codes so we have to monitor these coupon codes and delete them manually after one use (it's a NIGHTMARE).
We sell a steady amount of gift certificates using this method but are praying we don't get a ton everyday, as it will consume a huge amount of our time. We are ANXIOUSLY awaiting the native gift card system, and will throw a party when it arrives ;)
Hope this helps!
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@goodgoodbox
Thanks for your reply.
What I mean is once the transaction is over, how do you charge the customer for additional money, such as if they choose an incorrect, cheaper shipping method. Or if there are additional shipping charges incurred.
Does Shopify allow us this; if not, is there a work around?
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Sorry Harper, I meant to put @uvwebsites.
Can't be of much help on your question but I'm sure others will be.
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@Harper, if you use PayPal Website Payments Pro (or whatever they are calling it these days), you can collect payment via the PayPal Admin instead and collect up to 15% more than the original AUTH:
If you contact PayPal you may be able to change that limit based on your business needs.
My prior platform let us go over the original AUTH amount. If I am not mistaken, Shopify currently lets you go under but not over.
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@standoutd Thanks. Thinking of going with Braintree and will see if they allow this collection after transaction too.
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Hey Harper,
Sorry it took me a bit to respond. It seems like lots of folks have replied already, but i'll add my response if it helps any.
We have been setting up once time use coupons for a specific amount of money, letting the customer know ahead of time that they must spend the full amount of the coupon in one shot. If they order over that amount, then they are charged the difference. We then made a special free shipping option for people with gift certificates (which also doubles as a shipping option for people who want to pick up on our farm (we're a seed company). Occasionally someone has made a regular order and selected the free shipping. In which case we've contacted the buyer and issued an additional invoice via paypal. We have the basic paypal checkout, and don't have many orders to deal with, so perhaps this manually issuing an invoice would get complicated if you were dealing with a high order volume.
It seems like the upcoming gift certificate features will make this whole process much easier, seemingly (see above) obviating the special shipping selection. But on a side note, I think it would be cool if Shopify users could dynamically rearrange the shipping options drop down menu, so the cheapest option is not necessarily the first / default option seen.
Hope this helps you.
-Quin
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Any updates?
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thanks @jadecricket
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Hi Shopify,
Any progress on the gift card / gift certificate / gift voucher development? You can see it is in high demand. It will be great to see a launch before Mother's day or even Easter. Get another programmer on board to help. We (your customers) will love you for it!!
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Hey Guys,
we've developed a gift cards app specifically designed for Shopify stores. It allows clients to purchase gift cards from the shop, which are delivered in the form of promotional codes. Additionally, if a balance remains on the gift card after it's use, the client is issued a new promotional code for the balance.
We're in the beta right now so the app is free for a limited time.
find it at http://gift-cards.eshopadmin.com
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Hi Ben
Why is the subscription so high in beta. Scared of charges when we don't know how things are going on in the back end.
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Hey, just to clarify, you will NOT be charged anything for the app while it's in beta. The charges that you see are only TEST charges, so they will NOT appear on your monthly statement.
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Hey Ben,
I'm trying out the gift card app, but using the promo code doesn't seem to include the shipping, unless I'm doing something wrong. Am I making sense and can you help me out here?
Thanks!
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Hi Mark,
Any updates? I don't want to use a third-party solution when I'm already paying for Shopify's most expensive "Unlimited" package.
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hi Renny,
the way the gift-card app works now, it does not include the shipping costs. Due to the way Shopify's current promo code system works, a discount code can apply to an order or to the shipping, but not to both. Please let us know if you require further clarifications.
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@icy Are you trying to promote magestore here? What you mentioned is a Magento Extension. We are talking about solutions to work with Shopify like Shopify Apps or standalone Gift Card solutions that can work with all ecommerce platforms.
All the features below would be great but with Shopify compatible solution:
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any update from Shopify?
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I'll second that.
Any udpate for us, Shopify?
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Does Shopify know approximately when the gift cards will be available?
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Hey everryone,
Shopify has not made any formal announcements yet. In the meantime please give our gift cards app a try. We have received a number of feature requests from our BETA clients and are continuing to improve the application on a regular basis.
find it at http://gift-cards.eshopadmin.com
Thanks again to those of you who have participated in the BETA and helped us improve the product for everyone.
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+1 -- Would love an update from Shopify on this, this is huge for us!
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Ben,
I'm not interested in a kludgy third-party solution. I want a Shopify solution.
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This would be huge for our store! Any updates would be greatly apreciated.
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i'm already signed up & installed (or whatever) — hoping all goes well ^_^ <3 this would be great (native or not)
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eGift Cards, Promo Codes & Shipping
Good-Day,
We would like to offer an eGift Card product on our store, so we've installed your app (Gift Cards by eShop Admin) in it's beta phase (and many many thanks for taking this on). We have the product pretty much set up (though now hidden), but during testing understood that the promo/discount codes generated for our eGift Card product doesn't affect the shipping rate when the gifted customer enters the code upon checkout. When issuing a customer e-gift card, promo code, discount code, e-gift certificate or what-have-you is there a way to allow a customer to also discount shipping along with the subtotal when using a discount/promo code? We're open to anything experimental. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. Right now, if I'm not mistaken, the set up is generating unique discount codes upon disbursement/gifting of an eGift Card, and a subsequent unique code if there's a remaining balance after a transaction (thanks to you guys at eShop/Ben). Even if we have to offer the gifted customer free shipping on their first order with their eGift Card... we would really like to find an ideal solution that will deduct cost from the whole total (including the shipping) when a discount code is entered (otherwise there's less incentive to use that eGift Card as the gifted customer if he/she has to be concerned with bucking up for the shipping rate). I also have screencaps of the transactions if that's helpful (1 attached).
many thanks in advance
BEST REGARDS, idriss
sugarmamascupcakes.com