Gift certificates online

[Sherozzel]

Hiya,

I really want to start offering gift certificates via my website but don't know the first place to start. Does anyone already do it? How? Are there any online gift certificate providers? Paypal? Help!

Much appreciated.
x
Henry

 

[Pompal 09.]

Hi Henry,

I sell gift certificates on my website through a company called SpaBoom. (http://www.spaboom.com)
I think they are awesome. they will set up the gift certificate page to look just like your website, it is super easy and they have great customer service. You do have to process the credit cards yourself though, so you do need a POS terminal if you don't already have one. It costs a % of your G.C. sales. I think it's about 5%, plus don't forget to add in the % it will cost you to run the credit cards... for some people, this might be too much. But it doesn't cost anything if you don't sell any that month. And for me, it has been totally worth it as I have sold so many to people who have never even been to me, and I'm not sure they would have bought one if they had to hunt me down, catch me in between sessions, etc.
Plus it is very easy to keep track of all of your online sales through their service. Hope this helps!

 

[ffl04122007]

Do anyone know of any services besides spaboom? As many retailers offer e-mail gift certs I would think there would be more. I'll have to look into it a bit myself but if anyone knows of other services please post. Thanks!

 

[mellie]

I don't know of any service that works exactly like Spaboom... with the "instant" build your own capability, and easy of use for the client. Also, it's a piece of cake for the business owner, it only costs you something if you've already made a sale...

There are other services used by big name retailers and service providers, such as http://www.giftcertificates.com
http://www.givefun.com
http://www.giveanything.com/

These services are a bit different than the SpaBoom model as customers will receive a gift card in the mail, or an e-certificate. When they redeem it with you, you log in to the parent site, enter the information, and you will receive a perceneforum.xxxe of that sale in 2-4 weeks, usually in the neighborhood of 75%.

But... for the web-savvy, who are selling to clients who don't mind the shopping cart system, and waiting a day or two for their certificate to arrive in the mail, OR if you wish to also sell a few luxury goods, you might look into Google Checkout. They offer a service that is (while still in beta) looking to be as robust as Paypal webpayments Pro (which costs $20/month just to have,) if not more usable. They also have terrific rates- just 2% of transactions, and it deposits to your account, just like any merchant credit card processing account.

The only downside I can see (other than needing to know how to set this up,) is you cannot process phone orders yourself on your google checkout. Maybe there is a way, but I'm not seeing it.

Also, some forums report that payout (how the $ gets to your personal account from your google account,) can be very slow, up to a week +, and a few people have reported that they have not received payout at all. It appears that these issues are mostly related to inaccurate account information being supplied, which wouldn't be google's problem, but there are a few that sound like it's just a glitch in the system.

 

[fabiolapistola]

Thank you all for your replies. It has definitely given me a lot to think about. I'm not sure if the Spaboom ones are the right ones for me because I was hoping to be able to brand our certificates with our logos, photos etc.

Very interested in the Google Checkout (thanks Breathe Bodywork - excellence in your response as always!).

xx
Henry

 

[d man]

I'm not sure if the Spaboom ones are the right ones for me because I was hoping to be able to brand our certificates with our logos, photos etc.

You can upload your own image designs with Spaboom to create a very personalized gift certificate. I've been too lazy as yet but have tinkered with it a little for fun.

 

[Shelbien]

THere is another site that sells online gift certificates. They called me with an automated message on my home phone a few months back. I cannot remember the name of the site!!

It looked very similar to th spaboom website when you went in to design your gift certificate. In fact, I was thinking that perhaps this was a sister site of spaboom.

It seemed it was a site that was trying to go national, but at the time mainly had certificates from the city they were located in. My son took the call, perhaps he would remember the name of the site.

 

[Corinna]

LOL!! I remembered the site!!

It is http://www.localgiftcertificates.com

They are located in PA and their zip code is 19403. Enter that zip and you will see a bunch of businesses pop up.

This is the link to their merchant FAQ's http://www.localgiftcertificates.com/frmMerchantFAQs.aspx

Good luck!!

 

[embracexthexpale]

I am not great at uploading, however, I snail mailed spaboom a copy of my logo on disc and they put the logo on my instant gift certificates, no tinkering involved for me! I usually delete things when I tinker. I think Spaboom is an excellent company and very willing to help.

LeContefairy

 

[SLA]

Paypal has a gift certificate option as well. I don't use it, so I can't give you a review. But they offer it as a free feature on their accounts (only charging the same perceneforum.xxxe on a sale that they charge on all paypal sales - 2.9%).

Here's a link to more information:
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/merchant/GCIntro-outside