Stored value: gift card and credit balances, tax, and expiry
Every gift card balance and every credit balance is money your customers are holding on your site, and a promise you have made to them. The Stored Value report shows all of it in one place, so you always know what is out there. This article also explains, in plain terms, how tax and expiry work for those balances.
Where it is
Under Discounts & Credits in the side menu, and on the Reports page under Other Reports. Anyone with the accounting role or above can view it. The manager role or higher is needed for applying credits, expiring unused credits and viewing the Easy-to-Guess Codes tab.
Balances
The Balances tab shows the totals your customers hold on active gift cards and in credits: where the gift card balance came from, when it expires (in 30, 60 or 90 days, later, or never), how long the credit balances have gone unused, and where the credits came from. To see one gift card's full history, or to change it, open it on the Gift Cards page. See Gift Cards page: find, change and track every gift card.
A gift card that is turned off, or that has expired, remembers its last balance value but cannot be spent, so it is not in those totals. Tick Show gift cards that are off or expired but still hold a balance to see those cards: how many are off and how many expired, what they hold, and the largest balances with a link to each card. An off card can be turned on again on the Gift Cards page.
How tax works
Selling a gift card or a credits plan does not add sales tax. The balance is money on account, and nothing has been bought yet. Tax is charged on the order the balance is spent on, and the balance pays that tax along with everything else.
Products plans and package plans are unchanged. They charge tax when sold, because that sale is the purchase.
Credits plans renew at the plan price with no tax line. The gift card purchase page shows the card's face value with no tax. Voucher options and credits plans have no tax setting.
Tax reconciliation for past purchases
If your site charged tax on gift cards or credits in the past, some customers paid tax when they bought the balance and would pay it again when they spend it. The Tax Reconciliation tab lists who they are and how much they are owed. Filter by gift cards or credits, then credit a customer back in one click, one at a time or everyone in the current view. Each action asks you to confirm. Each customer gets an email when you apply the credit.
A gift card bought at guest checkout has no account to credit. Those rows are marked and hidden by default. The purchase record is linked, so you can follow up with the buyer.
Expiring unused credits
The Expire Unused Credits tab lists accounts with no credit activity for 12 months or more. Pick an age of 12 months or longer. No credits added, spent or expired in that time counts as no activity. A plan renewal that topped a balance up counts as activity, so live accounts stay off the list.
Search by customer name or by the notes your staff typed on a credit change. Sort any column. Export the list with each customer's email and marketing opt-out if you would rather write to them first. Then tick the accounts you want and expire them.
- 12 months is the shortest age you can pick.
- Customers are not emailed. You get one summary of the run.
- It is reversible. Each account's credit history records the run, who ran it, and the date. If a customer comes back, add the credits again from their credits page.
- Nothing expires on its own. Credits only go when you click.
Easy-to-guess codes
A short code that works for any account is easy to guess, and a gift card code spends like cash. The Easy-to-Guess Codes tab lists the discount and gift card codes that are on, work for any account, and are shorter than your Min Code Length setting in admin settings. Each row shows what the code is worth, how often it was used, and when last.
Click a code to open it, then:
- For a discount: give it a longer Customer Code, limit who can use it under Users, or untick Active. See How to create discounts.
- For a gift card: tie it to its customer with Change customer, or click Turn off.
Your terms of service
The default terms of service include an Account Credits section: credits can be used on future orders, have no cash value, and expire after 12 months of non-use. If your site uses custom terms, add the same wording.
Keywords: liability, outstanding balance, breakage
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