How gift certificates work - Wed - Nov 22, 2017 - 8:39am

Posted by Dawn Updated: Dec 2023 0 Comments Gift Certificates


The gift card/certificate is located under Revenue Builders > Gift Certificates. 

It is designed so that you can upload an appropriate image that can be used year-round or changed based on holidays at any time of the year. So, for example, you can use an image of a holiday gift box starting in November and red, white, and blue in July. At the same time, we offer the gift certificate buyer the ability to choose from several themed photos for various celebrations (birthday, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, etc.). The image selected is also used on a printable Gift Certificate PDF that is generated and emailed to the recipient.  

The maximum width and height of the image used on the PDF emailed to the recipient is 600px x 600px. 

You can modify the name, description, or image at any time. When a purchaser buys a gift certificate, they will name the recipient along with the recipient's email address. The purchaser may elect to send the gift certificate to the recipient or check a box that sends the gift certificate directly to the purchaser. This allows the purchaser to print the gift certificate out and give it to the recipient. At the conclusion of the purchase, we save both individuals' information in your customer database for future marketing opportunities. 



Redemption 
When the recipient wishes to redeem the gift certificate, they can redeem it at any time against any event ticket or product. We will apply whatever balance is available in full against the order. If there is a balance remaining after the redemption, we will track both the redemptions and balance which you can view at any time. This allows a gift certificate to be redeemed on one show or over multiple shows. There is no expiration on gift certificates at this time. ThunderTix charges 1.5 - 2.5% of the total gift certificates purchased charged monthly. Check your plan details for more information. There is no count against tickets to you until the gift certificate is redeemed. 



Taxes and Earning Revenue
Gift certificates are generally not taxable and are considered "unearned income" until they have been redeemed, and value for the gift certificate has been provided (e.g., tickets have been purchased).  At that point, taxes are due on the items purchased, and the income is now classified as earned income. Check with your state laws when setting policies for gift certificates. Further, rules around gift certificates vary by state with respect to how long a gift certificate must be honored. For that reason, ThunderTix imposes no expiration. You can view your Unearned Income in the "Insights" tab of your Dashboard. 



Adding Gift Certificates to your Website 
The moment you have the gift certificate created and activated, a new button titled "Gift Certificates" with a little icon of a present will appear at the top of your event listing. So, if you do nothing to your website, it will be there automatically. However, we recommend that you create a separate page or link on your website labeled "Gift Certificates" or something similar. You can use the "Get Code" button from your Gift Certificates page in ThunderTix to embed it separately on its own web page. 



Gift Certificates in the Box Office 
Box office staff can process gift certificates in the same way they process orders from the Gift Certificates Listing. They have the ability to comp gift certificates for any reason. Coupon codes cannot be used when processing the initial gift certificate sale. From the Gift Certificates listing, you'll see a list of gift certificate purchases and values with corresponding redemptions and balances remaining. That data is also available by export. 


Please check with your local and state laws on how gift certificates should be honored, taxed, and classified as income.

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