Guest Brivtech Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 Having never previously needed them, I'm wondering how they are supposed to actually work. I can see they are entered in when you go to the checkout - That's straightforward enough. ... But there's a few things I'm uncertain on from the admin interface: In Coupons, there's a field that says "Is Gift Certificate?" - What is this for? Coupons are otherwise quite straightforward. So, on to Gift Certificates! - Am I correct in understanding that you can't create specific gift certificates, rather a range of prices, of which a customer can purchase one within - Like £12.37? I'm not complaining about this, but trying to improve my understanding - Is this really the best way of selling a gift certificate? Can't they be specifically quantified, like £5, £10, £15, etc.? What if a customer wanted to purchase more than one at a time? What if I was a grandparent, and wanted to get all my grandsons a gift voucher at a particular store - Am I expected to place 15 separate orders? I hope not! Also, when I'm in the view basket screen, I can't see a way of editing the gift certificate details - What if I wanted to change the amount of the certificate, or realised I spelt the email address wrong, or worse still, mis-typed my grandson's name wrongly! Are gift certificates supposed to be like vouchers? :w00t: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robsta Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 Very good questions. I was curious as to the difference between gift certificate and coupon, don't they both work the same in principle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goober999 Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 Very good questions. I was curious as to the difference between gift certificate and coupon, don't they both work the same in principle? Hi, The coupons and gift certificates DO NOT work the same. The "problem", please note the quotes around the word problem, is that they are not differentiated enough, IMHO. Here's the concept. The coupons are exactly as they sound and are simple in concept. You create coupon code and choose either % off or $ amount off the order subtotal. The Giftcards on the other hand are NOT discounts, contrary to the way they are shown in the cart. They are treated as store credit. The giftcard has a $ amount that is maintained by the cart. If the giftcard is valued at $50.00 and the customer spends $23.57 then the giftcard has a balance of $26.43 for the next time the customer comes back to the store. The giftcard code is not generated until the giftcard is paid for and then the code is emailed to the email address specified during purchase. hope that helps /Goober Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 My view on Coupons and Giftcards... Coupons you would use yourself Giftcards you buy for someone else, say for a b'day/xmas present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Brivtech Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Right, so we've explained the difference between them, but that leaves some questions unanswered still... In Coupons, there's a field that says "Is Gift Certificate?" - What is this for? and What if a customer wanted to purchase more than one at a time? What if I was a grandparent, and wanted to get all my grandsons a gift voucher at a particular store - Am I expected to place 15 separate orders? I hope not! and Also, when I'm in the view basket screen, I can't see a way of editing the gift certificate details - What if I wanted to change the amount of the certificate, or realised I spelt the email address wrong, or worse still, mis-typed my grandson's name wrongly! and I have another one... If I wanted to make a promotion to all my customers by emailing them each a coupon for say 25% off a new product I'm launching, how on earth can I achieve this? If I had a customer list of 1000 customers, the only way I can see of doing this is to create 1000 coupons separately, and then export the email list, and individually send the emails. While the coupons / gift certificates are very welcome, I'm sorry, but from the limited information I have about them, I'd have to say their application has been poorly implemented. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goober999 Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Right, so we've explained the difference between them, but that leaves some questions unanswered still... In Coupons, there's a field that says "Is Gift Certificate?" - What is this for? and What if a customer wanted to purchase more than one at a time? What if I was a grandparent, and wanted to get all my grandsons a gift voucher at a particular store - Am I expected to place 15 separate orders? I hope not! and Also, when I'm in the view basket screen, I can't see a way of editing the gift certificate details - What if I wanted to change the amount of the certificate, or realised I spelt the email address wrong, or worse still, mis-typed my grandson's name wrongly! and I have another one... If I wanted to make a promotion to all my customers by emailing them each a coupon for say 25% off a new product I'm launching, how on earth can I achieve this? If I had a customer list of 1000 customers, the only way I can see of doing this is to create 1000 coupons separately, and then export the email list, and individually send the emails. While the coupons / gift certificates are very welcome, I'm sorry, but from the limited information I have about them, I'd have to say their application has been poorly implemented. "is gift certificate" identifies a code that is giftcard so the cart maintains remaining value. You can purchase more than one giftcard per order you will need to create just one coupon code and send it to 10000 customers. all of these customers will get 25% off their orders. Coupon is not a giftcard, giftcard is not a coupon. giftcard is store credit, once the value has been spent it's over. The coupon codes have an unlimited use or until the max use number has been reached. /Goober Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Brivtech Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Okay, the clouds of confusion are clearing a little. "is gift certificate" identifies a code that is giftcard so the cart maintains remaining value. So, a customer buys a gift certificate, say for £20, and spends £5 of it so far, it will show IN COUPONS? You can purchase more than one giftcard per order Great, I just tried this, and it worked. BUT there's still no way of editing the details - Unless you delete it from the cart, and repurchase it. you will need to create just one coupon code and send it to 10000 customers. all of these customers will get 25% off their orders. Herein lies the problem - If I wanted customers to use it once only, I can't. If I was to mail out only potential customers who haven't ordered yet, offering them a coupon they could use with their first order, this wouldn't work. It seems that I have to create 1 coupon with 10000 uses, so all 10000 customers get to be able to use it once. Still seems like a part-implementation to me. I'm going to have to fill in the gaps myself if Al or Martin don't, otherwise, sadly, in its current form, it's not actually of much use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goober999 Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 So, a customer buys a gift certificate, say for £20, and spends £5 of it so far, it will show IN COUPONS? Yes, there is only one "code" interface. The column "is gift certificate" will indicate that this coupon is actually a giftcard Great, I just tried this, and it worked. BUT there's still no way of editing the details - Unless you delete it from the cart, and repurchase it. that's how it is today. you can always request a change or new features via bug tracker. Once per customer has not been implemented at this time. you can always request a change or new features via bug tracker. you can always use a v3.x mod that has all these fetures /Goober Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Brivtech Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Cheers Goober, that finally cleared up the queries. I've heard nothing but praises for the coupon and gift certificate mods for CC3 , but having never used them myself before, getting to grips with the working seems to have been unexpectedly complicted. To clarify one last point (Sorry if this seems so obvious to everyone) - Unspent funds from a Gift Certificate becomes a special type coupon (is gift certificate). Does it then have to be re-issued back to the customer, or is this done automaticaly under the old gift certificate code? :w00t: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robsta Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 That's a little clearer.... thanks guys. Sounds like it needs more work :homestar: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goober999 Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Unspent funds from a Gift Certificate becomes a special type coupon (is gift certificate). Does it then have to be re-issued back to the customer, or is this done automaticaly under the old gift certificate code? Unspent funds remain available until they are used up. The customer must use the same giftcard code until the funds have been depleted. No action by admin are necessary. Once the funds have been depleted, the code is no longer valid. /Goober Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest semolinapilchard Posted July 5, 2007 Share Posted July 5, 2007 i have the cc3 coupon giftcard mod on both my sites and have found it to be really worthwhile. only problem i had with giftcards was it still added shipping cost even though i had enabled free shipping over £40 and i wanted the choice of sending a giftcard code either by email or direct to recipient in a greetings card (for busy mums to buy in advance) to solve both of these problems i just had the giftcard as a product ie. £5 giftcard, £10 giftcard etc.. then i could put the product option of email or direct delivery. i just have to generate the giftcode manually and send it. the coupon manager is a godsend as it boosts ad campaigns and you can see where the ad is most successful by using different codes and tracing their usage. looking forward to cc4 being available for everyone!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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