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25.8. Purchasing Online Gift Certificates
Your guests will be able to purchase gift certificates online through a couple of different possible routes on your guest-facing site depending on the features you have configured on your installation. The first option is by clicking the "Buy Gift Certificate" option in the guest-facing tool bar. This option shows up automatically if you have created any online gift certificates.
The second option is by going through your e-commerce store if you have the retail module and are using the e-commerce features. For this, guests can click the "Shop" option in the guest-facing site menu and then select "Gift Certificates" in the categories menu.
Lastly you can publish a direct link to the gift certificate page on your main website. That link can be found in the menu bar, or contact support for help!
Note: If you have previously been selling gift certificates as retail items through your e-commerce store and have created a "gift certificate" category for them, you will want to delete the retail gift certificates and the gift certificate category prior to using the new online gift certificate feature. Otherwise, this will create confusion for your guests and your users.
To add a gift certificate to their carts, guests will click the "Add" button next to the increment they wish to purchase.
After adding the gift certificate to their cart, the guest will be given the option to keep browsing which will allow them to purchase additional gift certificates or other offerings available through your guest-facing site or to check out.
Once the guest completes their purchase, as with all online activity you will have a log notice on your "Dashboard" from where you can view the order.
To view the order, click the "Order Number". This will take you to the "View Order" page where you can access the invoice.
On the "View Invoice" page, you will notice that gift certificate numbers were generated and provided to the guest on their invoice. If there are expiration dates, those will also appear on the invoice.
You can also view the gift certificates purchased by going to the "Browse Gift Certificates" page.
IMPORTANT: As with gift certificates created via the backend, online gift certificates will NOT be usable until the payments used to purchase them have been settled. It may be worth communicating to your guests that there is a delay from when gift certificates are purchased and when they can be used online.
Note: Don't forget to add gift certificate placeholders to your "Order Confirmation" email templates. This will allow you to provide guests with all of the information they need to redeem their gift certificates without further intervention on your part.
If you have any questions about using the gift certificate feature, please feel free to contact support and we will be happy to help.