Selling a gift voucher for your workshop this holiday season

From mid-November the question starts coming in: "Can I give a workshop as a present?" Someone wants to give their sister a pottery wheel class, but has no idea which Saturday she is free. A ticket for a fixed date is the wrong gift. What that buyer wants is a gift voucher for your workshop: they pay now, the recipient picks a date later.

This article shows how to sell such a voucher in your own ticket shop, what the buyer and the recipient get, and what to set up so a voucher sold in December doesn't turn into a question mark in March.

How does a workshop gift voucher work?

A gift voucher is prepaid balance, not a ticket. The buyer pays, say, 75 euros and receives a code. Later, the recipient books any workshop and enters that code at checkout. The amount comes off the total. If the workshop costs more, they pay the difference; if it costs less, the rest stays on the voucher for next time.

The difference with a discount code matters. A discount code is a rule that works again for every customer; a gift voucher is money someone has already paid, and once it's spent, it's spent. Making a "voucher" as a 100 percent discount code seems to work until someone shares the code. Read more about the concept under gift voucher.

A fixed amount, or does the buyer choose?

You create a gift voucher like any other product, with one difference in the Type field.

1. Go to Products and click New product.
2. Under Type, choose Gift voucher.
3. Give it a name the buyer understands straight away, such as "Gift voucher pottery wheel class".
4. Under Amount on the voucher, choose:
   • Fixed amount (the price of this product): the product price is the balance. If your workshop costs 75 euros, set the voucher to 75. The giver buys "one workshop for one person" in a single click.
   • The buyer chooses: the giver types an amount, between a Smallest amount and a Largest amount that you can narrow down.
5. Leave Valid in months empty for twelve months, or pick your own term.
6. Click Create. The voucher now sits between your workshops in the shop.

A good setup for a studio: one voucher with a fixed amount equal to the price of your most popular workshop, and one with a free amount for people who want to "chip in". For two people at once, add a second fixed voucher at double the price.

What do the buyer and the recipient get?

At checkout, the buyer fills in the Recipient's name, the Recipient's email address and a Message on the voucher for each voucher. After payment they get an email with:

• the code, as text and as a QR code;
• the expiry date;
• buttons to add the voucher to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet;
• a PDF in your studio's branding, made to print and slip into a card.

If they entered the recipient's address, the recipient gets a copy of the email. The buyer always receives the voucher too, so they can put it under the tree instead of emailing it.

How is the voucher redeemed?

The recipient books a workshop online and enters the code on the checkout page in the Discount code or gift voucher field. One voucher counts per order. An example: the voucher is worth 75 euros and the recipient books two places in the 45-euro glazing workshop. They pay the remaining 15 euros by card. A voucher is only deducted once the payment has actually gone through.

If you also sell at your studio's counter, type the code in the Voucher field and click Redeem. At the counter a voucher pays the whole sale or nothing; if the balance is too low, split it into two sales. Every step is in the guide under Gift vouchers.

Issuing a voucher by hand

Not every voucher is sold. A goodwill gesture for a participant whose workshop was moved, or a prize for the raffle at the school down the road: go to Gift vouchers and click Issue a gift voucher. Enter the amount and, if you like, the recipient, and note why in the internal note. With Download voucher you print it.

Four things to sort out beforehand

1. A voucher is a liability until it's used. The money is in your account, but you still owe a workshop. Ask your accountant once how to book it and when VAT or sales tax is due.
2. Schedule enough dates in spring. December vouchers come back between January and March. Put those workshops online in time, with the number of places set as in a workshop with twelve participants.
3. Check the Expires within a month filter every month. A short email to someone who forgot their voucher saves you a disappointed customer.
4. At the counter, say how much is left on the voucher. People who think the rest has vanished throw the voucher away.

Which plan do you need?

Gift vouchers are included in Growth and Pro. What else it costs to sell your workshops online is covered in what it costs to sell your workshops online, and every plan side by side is on the pricing page.