Selling Gift Certificates Online

The big question merchants face when thinking of selling their gift certificates (or gift cards) online is - what physical gift form are you selling? Do you want to sell printed gift certificates as you may already do in-store or on-site? Do you want to sell physical magstripe gift cards as you may already do in-store or on-site? Or do you want to sell "virtual", "instant", "emailed" or "eCertificates", as the newest forms of certificates are variously called? Let's look briefly at each of the 3 options:

Selling printed certificates online is easy - there are a number of firms (like GiftLinx!) that do it for you, and it costs next to nothing. In general, a simple link is added to your website that directs your customers to a (hosted) shopping cart page, where the amount, number, and buyer & recipient information is collected. From there, the commercial services differ somewhat. Most will just shoot you an email with all the details, and your are responsible for printing or filling out an actual certificate, as well as stuffing and mailing or shipping the certificate. There are downsides. First, you MUST pay attention to your email traffic daily so that you don't miss an order and anger a consumer. Second, you don't provide alternative "fast" shipping options (such as next-day air) to your customers. And third, you are responsible for shipping or mailing in the event that the recipient claims to have never received it. GiftLinx eliminates these pitfalls because we do all the printing and shipping for you, and it's free. And we take responsibility for receipt.

Selling magstripe gift cards online is more challenging, because they are typically "integrated" to your POS system or a stand-alone card-swiping terminal. But the first step is the same as above - a simple link is added to your website that directs your customers to a (hosted) shopping cart page, where the amount, number, and buyer & recipient information is collected. In the case of POS-integrated magstripe gift cards, you have little alternative but to receive orders via email because you need to run each card through your POS physically to "charge" it. And you are solely responsible for staying on top of, and executing, order fulfillment. There may be companies out there that will physically stockpile pre-charged cards and handle shipping for you, but it doesn't appear to be a business anyone is touting enough to be easily found. However, if you are using a service that provides a stand-alone card-swipe terminal (such as Swipe-It), these companies commonly will offer an online ordering and/or fulfillment service to match, since they can properly "charge" the card from their own offices and ship directly from there.

Offering "eCertificates" is perhaps the ideal solution, but it's more expensive. GiftLinx (which partners with GifTango on this service) provides an instant (emailed) online gift certificate that is already integrated with all the major magstripe-based gift card systems. As with both the printed and magstripe-only options above, a simple link is placed on your website that directs your customers to a (hosted) shopping cart page, where the amount, number, and buyer & recipient information is collected. Then, a gift certificate is instantly emailed to the recipient. The certificate is printed at home or in the office by the recipient, and it is customized with your business' logo and other info. More important, a special 16-digit tracking code and barcode are on the certificate. These are "live" - the current unspent value of the certificate is stored on the provider's central computer system and updates in real time when redeemed or partially redeemed. Even if copied or duplicated, only the value actually remaining on the certificate is available. To redeem these in-store, either the barcode is scanned at checkout, or the 16-digit code is typed into the POS system manually.

Data show that offering gift certificates online will increase overall gift certificate sales and satisfaction. And the same data shows that offering BOTH physical and virtual certificates will garner more overall sales than just offering one or the other. Consumers like choice. And merchants like sales. So get online and make everyone happier!