Gift Certificate Types: Manual, On-Line and Retail

There are 3 kinds of gift certificate types: Online (the ones you sell via your website or through directory sites like SpaEmergency or Joy of Spa or others), Manual and Retail. Let's delve in to find out what they mean and how they work. To see GC Types go to your Setup tab inside boomtime, then click on "GC Types".

Manual/Retail

The purpose of the Manual and Retail GC type is so you can use your boomtime account to track all ALL gift certificate sales - both in-house and online. This means you can manually enter in the gift certificates you sell in-house, to your boomtime account, to keep everything together. Neato, huh?

Manual and Retail GCs do NOT incur any fees to your boomtime account.

Manual: Use Manual GCs to enter gifts that might have already been in your books, or you have already-created cards that you will give out to your client. With Manual you cannot choose the GC design nor print out a physical GC certificate.  Perfect to tie in with your hand-printed cards.

Retail: Use Retail GCs to create an Instant Gift Certificate just like through your website, with the ability to choose from all of our GC designs, and email/print immediately for your client. Retail is great for "bonus" GCs or any other promotion for your clients or staff (or charities!).

How to use the Manual/Retail type to track my in-house gift certificate sales

  1. Log into your boomtime account and click on the tab that says GCs at the top
  2. On the left side of your screen, click on "Add GC"
  3. At this point, you will be on a page that says "Add GC: Select Client". If the purchaser of the in-house GC you are entering is already in boomtime, select them by clicking their name. Skip to step 6 next.
  4. If they are not in your list of clients, you will need to enter in their information. Do this by clicking "Add Client" from the left side of your screen.
  5. Fill out what information you have. First name & last name are the minimum you can get by with. Click "Save" at the bottom when you are done
  6. You will then be taken to a page that says "Add GC". From the Type field, make sure the drop down box says "Manual"
  7. Fill out the information regarding the GC: in-house ID number, amount, how much they paid, any message, etc.,.
  8. Click Save at the bottom of the page when you are done.