Giving your patrons the option to purchase gift certificates directly from your website is a great way to increase revenue and boost attendance. Create and sell gift certificates online to be redeemed against your Vanco Events.
Each gift certificate will have a defined value and validity period, making it a great alternative to promotion codes for prize winners, sponsors, special offers, issuing a "store credit" rather than a refund, and multi-session passes (eg. 5 film pass).
They are unique to the account they are created on, ensuring that they can only be used against events under the same account.
This article covers:
Creating gift certificates
There is no limit to the number of gift certificates you can set up on your account, allowing to you have a range of values for your patrons to choose from.
To create gift certificates:
- From the left menu, click Dashboard
- From the left menu, click Gift certificates then click Manage gift certificates
- Click ADD. Enter a name for your gift certificate and a value, then click OK
- Enter a description for the gift certificate eg. Redeemable on 'Your Organisation Name' events
- Enter or adjust the following fields:
- Description: Suitable for providing an explanation of what the gift certificate can be redeemed against eg. Redeemable on all 'Name of Your Organisation' events
- Months of validity: By default, this is set to 12 months. You will be able to use the drop-down menu to select from 1 month up to 3 years
- Gift Certificate Style: The system default style will be automatically applied. Should you wish to customise your own style please see the article Gift certificate styles
- Terms and Conditions: Add your own terms and conditions for use eg. stipulate conditions around name changes, changes around validity periods, refunds etc
- Click Save and Close
With your gift certificate saved down, you will be able to edit the details entered in the above steps by clicking on the gift certificate name in the Manage Gift Certificates table. 
Here you will also have the option to add and remove gift certificates when you choose. Editing or Removing gift certificates will not have any effect on those gift certificates that have already been purchased.
Buying and issuing gift certificates
There are a number of options that allow for gift certificates to be purchased.
Embedding the Gift Certificate URL on your website
This is the best method to increase sales and advertise that you have gift certificates available for purchase. This is achieved by using the Gift Certificates URL.
This URL remains the same as gift certificates are created, edited or removed.
To access the Gift Certificate URL:
- From the left menu, click Dashboard
- From the left menu, click Gift certificates then click Manage gift certificates
- At the top of the page the Gift Certificate URL for your gift certificate will be displayed. Click Copy to copy the URL to your clipboard
From there you will be able to hyperlink this URL directly into your website via the manner of your choosing.
Purchase at the Shopping Cart
With gift certificates created, customers purchasing to your event will have the option of selecting gift certificates for purchase at the shopping cart.
In the customer's Cart they will see a Buy Gift Certificates link. This will allow them to purchase gift certificates in the same transaction as tickets to your events.
Issuing gift certificates from your account
As the event organiser, you will be able to issue gift certificates on behalf of your customers. You may do so for gift certificate purchases handled over the phone, or in the in event that you would like to provide a customer with a "store credit" to be redeemed online.
To issue a gift certificate from your account:
- From the left menu, click Dashboard
- From the left menu, click Gift certificates then click Buy gift certificates
Should you wish to issue a gift certificate at no cost, then you will be able to use a promotion code that discounts your gift certificate by 100% at checkout. See the article Promotion codes for gift certificates for further details.
Reporting on gift certificates
There are a number of reports that you can use to track gift certificate sales, use, balance and expiry. For a full breakdown of each report available to you, please see the article Reporting: types of reports.