Gift Certificates

Gift certificates are a built-in feature that allows your customers to buy an electronic certificate and have it emailed to a recipient of their choosing. These certificates can then be redeemed on your storefront.

They can be enabled or disabled independently for each currency you have set up for your store and configured to be sold in set amounts or for any amount within a range.

At checkout, shoppers enter their certificate code into a specific field to apply its value towards their order total.

When this store setting is enabled, a Gift Certificates link appears at the top of your store's pages. Shoppers use this link to purchase gift certificates. The exact location of the link may vary, based on your store's theme or if it's been customized.

When a customer buys a gift certificate, the purchaser receives an email confirming their order. Once payment is captured and the order is in an eligible status, the recipient is sent an email with the certificate details attached.

On the checkout page, shoppers enter their certificate code into a field to apply its value towards the order total. If the certificate value doesn’t cover the total cost of the order, they can enter another certificate code or use a different payment method for the remaining balance. Gift certificates retain any unused balance, which can be applied to future orders.

You can find which orders used a specific gift certificate by going to Orders › Gift Certificates and reviewing the Gift Certificate History found in each certificate's details. Gift certificate data is also included in order exports.

• To view and manage purchased gift certificates, you must have the Manage Gift Certificates permission enabled on your user account.
• To enable or disable gift certificates in your store and manage its settings, you must have the Manage Settings permission enabled.

To enable or disable gift certificates in your store and manage its settings, go to Marketing › Gift Certificates.

Note that disabling this feature does not prevent existing gift certificates from being redeemed. It will only prevent new gift certificates from being purchased. To prevent existing certificates from being used, set their status to Disabled or delete them. To avoid a negative customer experience, we recommend contacting gift certificate recipients to offer store credit or a one-time coupon promotion before disabling or deleting their gift certificate codes.

• Select a currency — specify the currency the gift certificate is valid for. Only visible if multiple currencies are being used.
• Enable Gift Certificates — select the checkbox to enable the gift certificate system. Deselect to disable it.
• Gift Certificate Values
  • Specify a list of allowed gift certificate amounts — customers can only buy certificates in set amounts. Enter each allowed amount on a new line.
  • Allow customers to enter the value for gift certificates — customers can buy a certificate for any amount within a range. Specify the minimum and maximum amounts.
• Gift Certificate Expiry — select to set the amount of time after which the gift certificate will expire

Once you are satisfied with your changes, click Save.

To view gift certificates, go to Orders › Gift Certificates.

• Code — the gift certificate code
• Customer name — the name of the customer who purchased the gift certificate
• Amount — the original purchase amount of the gift certificate
• Balance — the amount remaining on the gift certificate
• Date purchased — the date the gift certificate was purchased
• Status — the current status of the gift certificate

To sort the order in which gift certificates display, click on the column header label. For example, you can sort by Balance in ascending order to display $0.00 balances first, or sort by Status in descending order to view Expired gift certificates.

Click the + next to a gift certificate code to see additional details:

• Sent To — the person the gift certificate was sent to. Click the link to open a new email to the recipient’s email address in your default email client.
• From — the customer who purchased the gift certificate. Click the link to open a new email to the purchaser’s email address in your default email client.
• Message — the optional message text
• Gift certificate history — list of any orders the certificate has been used in. Includes order ID, date ordered, customer, balance used, and balance remaining (if any). Click the link to view the full order details.

Gift certificate statuses change automatically when specific criteria is met, but can also be manually adjusted. A certificate will have one of the following statuses:

• Pending — gift certificate order is not yet complete
• Active — gift certificate is available to be used
• Disabled — gift certificate cannot be used
• Expired — gift certificate balance has been depleted

Orders that are not complete will generate a certificate, but the certificate code cannot be used and the email notification is not sent. The certificate will remain in Pending status until the order is completed, such as when payment is captured.

Once payment is captured and an order is completed, the certificate is moved into Active status. However, the recipient is not emailed the gift certificate notification until the order is in an eligible status.

To prevent a certificate code from being used, such as after a refund, manually set the certificate status to Disabled.

When a gift certificate’s balance is depleted, the certificate status will update to Expired.

You can search your gift certificates by entering a query in the Filter by keyword field then clicking Filter. For more advanced search queries that let you search by a range of criteria, click the Advanced search button.

The settings in Advanced search allow you to search for gift certificates by the following criteria:

• Keywords
• Certificate Status
• Certificate ID range
• Certificate value range
• Remaining balance range
• Date purchased
• Expiry date

The Sort order allows you to display the results in ascending or descending order by:

• Certificate ID
• Gift certificate code
• Purchasing customer
• Certificate value
• Remaining balance
• Date purchased
• Certificate status

If you find yourself using the same criteria regularly, consider creating Custom views. Custom views use the same criteria as Advanced search, allowing you to quickly sort your gift certificates for easy viewing and can be especially helpful for stores with a large number of gift certificates.

Click Custom views and select a pre-existing view from the pop-up window or make a new one by clicking create a new view.

If a gift certificate recipient reports that they are unable to find the gift certificate email, you can send it to them again. Advise the recipient to also check any "spam" or "junk" email folders in case the message gets flagged.

To resend a gift certificate, go to Orders › Gift Certificates, and locate the certificate you want to resend. Click the Action menu to the right of the certificate, and select Resend Certificate.

Gift certificates can only be resent to the original recipient's email address. If an email address needs to be changed, refund the order associated with the certificate and set the certificate's status to Disabled. The customer can purchase a new certificate on the storefront, using the recipient's updated email address.

To delete a gift certificate, go to Orders › Gift Certificates. Check the box next to any certificates that you would like to delete, then click the trash can icon.

To customize a gift certificate, go to Storefront › Gift Certificate Templates. There you will see a list of the gift certificate templates available to your customers:

• Birthday
• Boy
• Celebration
• Christmas
• General
• Girl

To edit a template, click the Action menu to the right of the template, and select Edit from the drop-down menu. Customize the text or table cell properties of each template using the WYSIWYG Editor.

From the drop-down menu, you can also Preview the template or revert it back to its original content by selecting Restore.

Note that customization is limited to text and cosmetic design. New gift certificate templates cannot be created, nor can existing templates be deleted.

The following variables generate all of the gift certificate content:

• %%LNG_GiftCertificate%% — displays the text "Gift Certificate"
• %%LNG_GiftCertificateCode%% — displays the text "Code"
• %%GLOBAL_GiftCertificateCode%% — displays the automatically-generated certificate code
• %%GLOBAL_GiftCertificateAmount%% — the value of the gift certificate
• %%GLOBAL_HeaderLogo%% — displays the store name set in Storefront › Logo by updating the text version of the logo. See Adding a Store Logo for more information.
• %%LNG_GiftCertificateTo%% — displays the text "To"
• %%GLOBAL_GiftCertificateTo%% — displays the name of the gift certificate recipient
• %%LNG_GiftCertificateFrom%% — displays the text "From"
• %%GLOBAL_GiftCertificateFrom%% — displays the name of the gift certificate sender
• %%GLOBAL_GiftCertificateMessage%% — displays the text "Hello, here is a certificate for you!"
• %%GLOBAL_GiftCertificateExpiryInfo%% — displays the text "Expires on ##/##/####"
• %%LNG_RedeemGiftCertificate%% — displays the text "Redeem your gift certificate at"

To customize the text generated by these codes, delete the entire variable including the beginning and ending %%, and replace it with the text you'd like to appear instead.

Customizing the Background Image

All gift certificate templates include a default background image. Follow these steps to replace it with a custom image.

1. Go to Storefront › Image Manager, then click the Upload Images… button.

2. Upload the image you'd like to use as the background of your gift certificate.

3. Go to Storefront › Gift Certificate Templates.

4. Click the Action menu to the right of the desired template, and select Edit from the drop-down menu.

5. Click the Edit HTML Source WYSIWYG icon.

6. Locate the code that begins with background: URL('https://cdn#.bigcommerce.com/###.gif'). Then using the following format, replace the URL inside of the quotations with the URL for your custom image:

//yourdomain.com/product_images/uploaded_images/image-name.jpg

7. Click Update, then click Preview to view your changes. When you are satisfied, Close the preview window and clickSave.

• General
• Purchasing gift certificates
• Recipient email

General

Can customers use multiple gift certificates on the same order?

Yes, more than one gift certificate can be applied to an order.

Are customers able to check the balance of gift certificates?

Customers can check the balance of their gift certificates on the storefront by clicking on Gift Certificates in the top menu, selecting Check Gift Certificate Balance, then entering the code.

Can I refund purchased gift certificates?

Yes, you can refund gift certificate purchases. However, you will need to manually change the gift certificate status to Disabled once the refund is completed, as it does not update automatically. To learn more about the refund process, see Processing Refunds.

Can I customize my gift certificate templates?

Yes, you can customize template text, colors, and background. For instructions, see Gift Certificate Template Customization.

How do I prevent a gift certificate from being used?

Changing a gift certificate’s status to Disabled will prevent it from being applied to future orders while retaining the certificate details and order history for your records.

Purchasing Gift Certificates

Are customers taxed for gift certificates?

Sales tax is not applied to the purchase of a gift certificate. However, sales tax does apply to orders with gift certificates as a payment method. Avalara has a good blog post that covers this topic.

Do Automatic Promotions affect gift certificate purchases?

No. Gift certificates are excluded from Automatic Promotions.

Recipient Email

Can the gift certificate recipient email address be changed?

No. The recipient email address cannot be changed. If the email needs to be updated, refund the order used to purchase the certificate, Disable the certificate, and have the customer purchase a new certificate with the updated email address.

Can I customize the recipient email?

Yes, the recipient email template can be customized. See Customizing Emails for more details.

What order statuses will trigger the gift certificate code email?

By default, a gift certificate email is triggered when the order has a captured payment and has been moved to the Completed status. However, the following order statuses will also trigger the email:

• Awaiting Fulfillment
• Awaiting Pickup
• Awaiting Shipment
• Partially Shipped
• Shipped

Do gift certificates created via API trigger the recipient email?

No. As gift certificates created via API do not have a payment or order status, they do not automatically send the recipient email. To trigger the email, go to Orders › Gift Certificates and select Resend certificate from the certificate’s Action menu.