Gift Certificates/Gift Card (Use of X-Charge required for Gift card function)

Set up Gift Certificate account.  In TSSXP go to Bookkeeping -> Chart of Accounts and browse for a liability type account for gift certificates/gift cards. If there is none then click New and create account(OR you can go into App Settings/Bookkeeping and Enable General Ledger which will activate a Chart of Accounts). The Account Number can be anything that is unique, such as L1000. The Account Description can be anything that makes sense, such as Gift Certificate/Card Escrow Account. The Account Type must be set to LIABILITY.

To Create a New Account in TSS Chart of Accounts under Bookkeeping as shown below on the left, or you can activate the General Ledger function as shown below on the right.

Create a Gift Certificate/Gift Card Inventory item.  You can create as many Gift Certificate/Gift Card items as you wish, either one with no price assigned(User will fill in price at time of sale), or several pre-priced at various levels, $50, $100, etc. Make, Model, and Description may be whatever you like, example… Make: GIFT, Model: CERT50(CARD50), Description: $50 gift Certificate($50 gift card). Price would be entered if creating price specific item or left at $0, if creating one generic inventory item. Cost should always be 0 as Gift Certificates/Cards always have no inventory value. The critical entries are on Tab 7- Bookkeeping of the inventory item form. Go to the Item Type and select GIFT CERTIFICATE/CARD, then click on the Liability Account edit box and select the correct liability account that was created previously by you from the browse screen or one activated when you turned on the General Ledger function. Lastly, make sure to check the Non-Tax box in the inventory item form.

NOTE: If you are using a Processing Company other than X-Charge/Open Edge just use the Gift Certificate item above as you can't sell/track Gift Cards without X-Charge

Receive Quantities. You must have on hand quantities of Gift Certificates/Gift Cards in TSS inventory to sell, they can be received via a purchase order, or manually by adding quantities in the inventory item.

Go into the inventory item and click on Quantities Tab and select Add item as shown below left. You then put in the amount to add in the window that comes up and click OK as shown on the bottom right.

Selling a Gift Certificate. Just to clarify this action, we are not really selling anything when we place a Gift Certificate/Gift Card on an invoice; we are just exchanging currencies, money for a type of Note. We are saying to the customer… We’ll take your money, and we promise to allow you to use this certificate/card instead of money to purchase goods or services from us whenever you wish. A Gift Certificate/Gift Card on an invoice will show as OTHER in the invoice summary. (Note tax rules setup to apply to 'other' will affect gift certificate/card amounts unless you have the No Tax box checked in the inventory item.)

Place a gift certificate on the invoice just as you would any other inventory item. When you do place it on the invoice you will be prompted to enter the Certificate Number.

Make sure to assign a price value:$50, $100, Etc.(If you are creating Gift Certificate/Gift Card inventory items with specific dollar amounts you won't need to assign price)

TSS will check to see if the number you entered has already been activated, and if so you will be prompted again for number. You then accept payment and post invoice. 

When the invoice is posted the Certificate/Card will be activated for the amount shown on the invoice. Gift Certificates/Gift Cards sales will show up as 'Other' on Invoice Transaction Reports as shown below left.

Redeeming a Gift Certificate.  Accepting a Gift certificate as payment is similar to accepting a credit card but with some differences. One such difference is that the available Gift Certificate balance could be greater than the amount of the payment due.  The user has the choice of keeping the overpayment as a remaining balance that can be redeemed later, or refunding the overpayment as cash to the customer. To accept a Gift Certificate as payment proceed as with any payment and select GIFT CERTIFICATE as payment method.   Enter the Gift Certificate number then hit enter or tab to move out of edit box. Current available balance of the Gift Certificate will be displayed. If the Available balance is less than or equal to the Amount due then click OK and the payment will be processed just like any other type.

However, if the available balance is greater than the Amount Due then the Amount Tendered will be set to the Amount Due and two choices will appear…. Retain Balance as Credit (default) and Refund Balance in Cash. If you select the default option the payment will be processed and the Amount Due will be subtracted from the Gift Certificate’s available balance leaving the remainder as a credit to be used later. If you select the Refund Balance in Cash option the payment will be processed in two steps, a payment by the Gift Certificate for the full available balance, and a cash refund of the remainder; leaving the Gift Certificate with no balance.

Reporting.  On the Reports list under the category of Gift Certificates there is a report named Gift Certificate Summary. It lists all gift certificates showing the original activation amount and any remaining balance.  Gift Certificate Summary report showing amount remaining: