Some businesses offer seasonal promotions to boost gift certificate sales. The most common example is an additional $10 gift certificate given with each $100 gift certificate purchased. Although there are other ways to accomplish this, for accounting purposes, we recommend the following procedure.
Setup
1.) First, we need to create the Gift Certificate Promotion Item in settings.
Related: How to Create an Item
Navigate to: ThinkReservations → Settings → Items
2.) Click the New button on the top right.
3.) Create a new item called "Gift Certificate Promotion" or similar.
4.) Set the price to $0. Leave the description blank if you like.
This item won't have any taxes associated with it, so don't check any tax boxes.
5.) Click Save.
Online Gift Certificate Sales
- METHOD 1: -
If the online purchase of a gift certificate is made during your special promotion, you will need to add the promotion manually. A popular option is adding an additional/secondary gift certificate. This way, you don't have to resend the certificate and potentially confuse the purchaser or recipient. You can also send the secondary certificate to the purchaser, and not the recipient. The initial gift certificate that may have been automatically emailed to them is still valid. You simply need to send an additional promotional certificate. This is method 1.
1.) Open the bill that has the gift certificate sale.
2.) Calculate the promotional amount the customer is eligible to receive.
3.) Click the add icon 
and choose Gift Certificate.
4.) Set the price of the certificate equal to the promotion, and click Add.
5.) Click the add icon 
again and choose Gift Certificate Promotion.
6.) Set the price to the value of the promotion in the negative with a dash and Save. Example: -10
7.) Click the new Gift Certificate code and then Edit the certificate details.
8.)Print or Email the promotional certificate to the purchaser.
- METHOD 2: -
If you wish to only offer a single gift certificate with the promotion added to it, you will simply need to adjust the certificate and resend it. This is Method 2.
If instead, you would like to edit the original gift certificate purchased online, follow the steps below:
1.) Open the bill that has the gift certificate sale.
2.) Calculate the promotional amount the customer is eligible to receive.
3.) Click on the gift certificate item, and then click the edit icon
.
4.) Change the price of the certificate, and click Update.
5.) Click the add icon 
and choose Gift Certificate Promotion.
6.) Set the price to the value of the promotion in the negative with a dash and Add. Example: -10
7.) Print or Email the updated promotional certificate to the purchaser.
In Person or Phone Gift Certificate Sales
For in-person gift certificate sales, similar to above, you can use Method 1 or Method 2. Below, as an example, we are using Method 2.
1.) Calculate the promotional amount the customer is eligible to receive.
2.) Sell the Gift Certificate as normal, except the sale price will be the total value of the certificate including the promotional amount.
3.) Click the add icon 
and choose Gift Certificate Promotion.
4.) Set the price to the value of the promotion in the negative with a dash and Add. Example: -10
5.) Print or Email the updated promotional certificate to the purchaser.
If you would like to create a second gift certificate, see Method 1 above.
The Gift Certificate Promotion item can be tracked with the Revenue by Item report.
If you have any questions, please reach out to support for assistance!
► Related: More help on Gift Certificates