Gift Certificates
Gift Certificates can be purchased online through your retail public page or through your retail screen in the box office area of the system in any $ amount. The recipient can redeem the gift certificate at any time either online or through your box office, for one or more transactions. Any remaining amount on the GC is saved by the system for future use. To allow your online patrons to buy Gift Certificates online, you must check the Sell Gift Certificates online check box on the Global Settings setup screen. Note: The sell gift certificate option is checked by default.
There is a default regular GC ticket design built into the system which will print on standard 8.5x11" paper, however it is rather basic and can be updated to include graphic images and other information you would like on the gift certificate. You can customize the gift certificate design just as you can your ticket and receipt designs on the Ticket Design setup screen from your Setup menu. From the ticket design screen click the Regular gift certificate link. The box office version is for your box office printing, if you choose to have a different design in your box office. This is recommended for clients using a box office ticket printer, if you wish the Gift Certificate to be printed on your standard ticket stock. See Ticket Design for more information about customizing your gift certificate designs.
GCs can be purchased online by patrons or they can be sold by box officers through the Box Office>Retail page.
To sell a Gift certificate via the Box office>Retail page:
- Lookup the buyer's name via the Box Office Sales page. Add an email address to their record if they don't have one already so they receive confirmation of the order when it's completed
- Input the $ amount of the GC, input the recipient's name, input the recipient's email only if the buyer wants the recipient to receive an email, and input an inscription (a short personal note) to the recipient if the buyer wishes
- Then click the Generate button, input payment method and click purchase to complete the purchase.
Other Notes:
Refunds
Gift Certificates can be used to give a refund to a patron instead of cash. If you refund a ticket, input the refund amount as cash, then go to the retail screen and sell them a GC in the same amount with cash as payment method. They then can use the GC in the future for another purchase.
Door Sales
Gift Certificates can't be redeemed via the Box Office>Door Sales page due to the Door Sales page not being connected to the gift certificate holder's record where the gift certificate history is stored.
What can Gift certificates be used to purchase?
GC's can be used for all tendered transactions, including donations.
PLEASE NOTE: Gift certificates cannot be paid for by "comp" payment method. Gift certificates are considered money by the system so when they are redeemed reports display this as income toward that show. There is no way to know that a particular gift certificate was not actually real income. If you need to issue free tickets, etc. we recommend using Passes.