Sales Vouchers are special Products which can be redeemed against later purchases from the website.

Each Sales Voucher is identified by an automatically generated unique code.  This is entered by the customer during Checkout as a form of payment.

The Sales Voucher's useful properties are:

• Can be created and sold like any other product on the website.
• Identified by a 19 character code which is automatically generated using strong cryptographic techniques.  It is guaranteed to be unique and virtually impossible to guess.
• Can be used as a Gift Voucher by giving the code to somebody else.
• Tracks use of the code so it can only be redeemed once for the original purchase value.
• Any number of Sales Vouchers can be used for each sale.
• Can be redeemed over several purchases until the total value is exhausted.

This is a premium feature for which a small annual charge is made.

The management of Sales Vouchers is divided into 2 functions:

• Issuing: Creating and selling them to customers.
• Accepting: Redeeming them against a future sale.

These functions are dealt with separately in the sections below.

 

This section is about selling Sales Vouchers to customers.  The next section covers redeeming them against a sale.

Creating Sales Vouchers

Sales Vouchers are created much like ordinary Products.  They have the same product code, description, full description and images.

To make a Product into a Sales Voucher you simple check the box under the Sales Information section of Product Edit. (see below).

Much of the information associated with Products is not relevant to Sales Vouchers so this is removed. 

Note that a Sales Voucher cannot have Components or Attributes.

Also note that there is no VAT associated with a Sales Voucher.  VAT is accounted for when the Sales Voucher is redeemed. (See HMRC website.)

Basket

When the customer adds a Sales Voucher to their basket a Sales Voucher code is generated and tracking of the Sales Voucher starts.

If the customer does not complete the sale, the Sales Voucher is deleted and cannot be redeemed.   Only Sales Vouchers which have been paid for can be redeemed.

If the customer orders more than one of a particular Sales Voucher these are added individually to the basket.  For example, if the customer specifies a quantity of 3 for a Sales Voucher Product, the Basket will have 3 identical lines each with a quantity 1.  Each line is given a separate code at the Checkout.

The Sales Voucher Code is not displayed in the Basket.   This avoids any problem with attempted redemption of Sales Vouchers which have not been paid for.

The customer can remove a Sale Voucher line from the basket in the usual way.  Any attempt to increase the quantity of a line to more than 1 will be ignored.

Sales Voucher Products are automatically marked as 'No Delivery' since there will be no actual goods to send to the customer.  This means that Sales Vouchers are not included in any calculation of Delivery Charge.

Checkout

The sale is checked out in the normal way.

Where the notification email and 'Success' page includes the order items, this will now include the Sales Voucher Code.  You would normally include [OrderItems] in your email and On Screen Response but it is essential you do so if you are going to be selling Sales Vouchers.  If you do not the customer will not receive the Sales Voucher Code they need to redeem it.

This code can be used immediately to make further purchases on the webiste.

This section explains how the customer can redeem a Sales Voucher against a sale.

Checkout

The Checkout has an extra panel for the customer to add their Sales Voucher Codes.

The customer types or pastes the Sale Voucher Code into the text box and clicks the 'Add Sales Voucher' button.

The Sales Voucher is validated and any problems reported as shown below.

If the Sales Voucher is accepted it will be added to a list of those already added.  The customer can continue adding as many Sales Vouchers as they have until the order is fully paid.  The 'Add Sales Voucher' button is disabled if no further money is needed.

The balance required to complete the sale will be reduced by the value of the Sales Voucher (or what balance is left on it).  This is shown in the Totals panel as shown below.

You will see how the Checkout takes care of Sales Vouchers used for more than one sale.  The example above was for a Sales Voucher with an original value of £10.  £9.95 of this has already been used on other sales leaving 5p to be redeemed against this order.  The remaining balance on each Sales Voucher is shown so the customer knows what they have left to spend.

If there is still a balance to pay the customer will be taken to the chosen Payment Service Provider (PSP) when they click the 'Place Order' button.  If Sales Vouchers have fully paid the order, clicking 'Place Order' finalises the sale immediately without going to the PSP's website.