Matthew-
Although we don't use gift certificates here at Stonefield, I have an
extensive retail background also.  My suggestions would be this:

1) Expirations dates are used so that people do not hold on to them forever.
Therefore, I suggest that we use an expiration date of 1 yr to 18months.
That should give them used plenty of time to use the certificate. If someone
how does bring one in that is expired, you should empower your staff to make
reasonable judgements on them.  For instance, if it expired recently then
you should take it, if it expired several months or YEARS ago I would
hesitate.  Also, if the customer/patron is going to make stink about it,
then take it!  Also, this is something that I have used to perserve customer
relatations but emphasis that the gift certificate is expired "This
certificate is expired, but since we value you patronage we will make an
exception for you this one time."  This let's them know that they should be
responsible from now on.

2) I would suggest that you write a policy on gift certificates that talks
about giving change.  I would suggest that you set into place a cut off.  If
they have more that $5.00 or $2.00 or whatever in change, then they get
another certificate, but if its less than you should just give them back the
change. (The cut off amount should be based on your gift certificate
incriments.) Also, put into place a policy for gift certificate returns!! It
will save you lots of headaches later.

3) You don't carry gift certificates as liability.  You should think about
gift certificates as pre-purchases. Your institution recieved payment ahead
of time for the items that they redeem them for.  You should track how many
you sell and the amount (if they can be variable, but I would suggest set
amounts for simplicities sake - since they have to be purchased in those
amounts then) and you should track what comes in.  But you already recieved
money for the goods that those certificates represent, so they are NOT a
liability.

4)You should make the certificates usable based on how your money is
accounted for.  If all the funds from store, the entrance fees, and
memberships all go to a central fund then use them for everything, but if
they go into seperate funds you might not want to do this for accounting
purposes since it would require the transfer on funds between accounts.  IF
you don't have seperate accounts but you must use the funds for set purposes
then I also wouldn't use them for everything.

5)I can't say that I have seen successful implimentation of gift
certificates on-line.  It is necessary that you track them through a number
system which can get very complex, unless payment is sent rather than done
on-line.  I would hesitate myself to try this, but maybe someone else has
tried this and can offer you some suggestions.  But if you do them on-line,
you may want to either give no change or have variable certificates so track
how much they user has spent.

If you have any other questions or comments, please feel free to contact me
at the address below.

Tracie

Tracie Evans, Curator of Collections
Stonefield Historic Site, SHSW
PO Box 125
Cassville WI 53806
608-725-5210
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