This is a fabulous new feature! One of the very best Xmas presents ever.... and just in time for Xmas shoppers, too!!

I have a question...  For those of us who are absolutely stoooopid about html and coding, I read this in one of the intro posts:
** Custom Template Design Notes: You can use the "giftcertificate" boolean variable in your cart collection to determine if the item is a gift certificate. You can use this variable to display a custom product photo and hide the quantity form.

Does that mean that if a customer purchases a gift certificate that by default it will display the quantity option...  but that we have the option of disabling the quantity for GC and replacing it with a graphic or custom product photo?     What size should the image be? And would it be possible to show us a screen shot of exactly what the customer would be seeing?

Sorry to be so dumb.... but color me confused

Thanks Guys, Im sure my customers can use this.

Please add ability to delete a code as well, dont see that feature

Thanks Tim!   I think it's actually starting to come clear to me now!!!   I'm not sure why someone would want to set an expiration date for a Gift Certificate... but what works for me might not work for someone else...lol

I am soooooo excited about this feature!  What an incredible marketing tool!!! 

In my case, I was just testing the system out, making a Test certificate, thus found there was no way to remove it... just like a test order

Shirley --- I might use them as merchandise credit sometimes... and I might want an exp date on that. 

Looking forward to setting this up, thanks!

I enabled the gift certificate settings and I don't see it on my homepage www.FloridaGiftsOnline.com 

Seems so simple which is my problem!   LOL

Hi!

Where is the code that creates the page?  I expected to see an HTML template for it (like "terms" and "contact", etc) but I do not see it there.

I wanted to fiddle with the text/look of the page a little.   Can you provide the code?  (And, if I have the code, I can include it on a custom page, right?) 

I like it how it is, but Id like to show what the certificate is going to look like, and also suggest "if you want to give the gift in person, enter your own email address rather than the recipient's" 

Right, but the person cannot see what they are buying until they buy it, right?   (Just to show that its "suitable for printing" rather than an email that just says "You have a received a Gift Certificate from Tomas to www.BlahBlahBlah.com for 30$.  Your code is ABC-123-JHG"

Actually, I don't use the account wrapper, so I could get tricky with that, huh????  :))

Sorry... I didn't want to be one of those people who are always asking for more... get an inch, ask for an inch and a quarter...  

I have to get rid of that custom template. The only reason I had it was to get the store categories on my item pages which I think the regular templates do now.

Thanks

Have no fear, I figured it out (I think so... anyway)

http://www.girlshorseclothes.com/product/gift-certificate

AWESOME, thanks, I knew it could be done, but would have needed a I would have needed quite a bit of time to figure it out.

When I initially set it up, I didnt have it bolded and larger font to CLICK to create the Gift Certificate.      I even "added it to cart" myself.   I will be using the code you gave me so the add to cart does not show in a bit here... I have to head out for a meeting, but Ill get that cleaned up later tonight (and make it more prominent on my site too)

Thanks again for the code!

Tried to show my wife. When she pulled it up on her mobile she got an error. I tried on my mobile and got the same problem.

I was just coming to report the mobile error. It gives the Oops! page.

Also, can you give an example of using the variable on the cart page to display a different image?

Thanks for that example code!

And yes, I was viewing in standard view to see how everything would display for anyone who chooses to view it that way ;-)

I really really REALLY like what Cindy has done. Can the "add to cart" button be disabled selectively???   For a listing that we add to our Product Categories for Gift Certificates??? I note that Cindy said she does not use the Account Wrapper template and I have no clue if that makes any difference or not... hence the question.

Tomas gave the code to turn off the add to cart button:

I believe that gift-certificate is because the title of my item is "Gift Certificate"... so if you used a different title, you would need to put the words from that title instaed (whatever shows up as the "url handle" in the product edit form.

--- This code would just go in your "product details" template.

ACTUALLY, another way to do it is to create a custom page and add it to your menu builder, maybe call it "gift certificate information" and use text like I used, the link to the gift certificate page like I have, and insert a photo if you like.     THEN, you would not have to deal with adding the code to get rid of the add to cart button.

(I did not do anything at all to the account wrapper code)

{{ #if($producturlhandle != "gift-certificate") }}
  SHOW ADD TO CART BUTTON
{{ #end }}

OK... I guess that isnt really the full code... its just showing the if statement to add above the code that displays the add to cart button (and price, if you want, I would think)

:)

If you want to take it even step further with some custom coding, you can add the entire gift certificate form on the product details page using the basis of sample code I provided above.

Well, thats what I originally wanted to do, but putting the code on a custom page.   But you said we could not get the code that creates the form.

????

(Sorry, I know I am not using the correct terms.... but we do not have the form code to paste in, correct?)

I like what Cindy's done but was thinking of putting text like hers, other info, and an image of the certificate like she did -- but putting it as a category page (not a product page) and then using the link to the gift certificate system? Would that work also?

Susan , Austiners

Now that's a great idea, Susan....  That would eliminate the entire "add to cart" and pricing issue.

Another question...   Would it be possible to have the link that shows up in the menu bar go to either a custom page or the category page like Susan suggested? And from there into the actual create a Gift Certificate form? So that the customer has to funnel thru whatever we create with our own verbiage?

Well...  I've taken Susan's suggestion to heart. I created a Gift Certificate category... and here it is:
http://www.stonehillcollectibles.com/products/gift-certificates

What I've also done is make the Gift Certificates menu link go to this page first...  and from there it goes to the actual GC form.
So I would think you could easily do the same thing and create a custom page if you didn't want to create a Gift Certificate category.
OMG...  I love it. It's PERFECT!!!

Thank you to Tomas and staff. This is beyond awesome!!!!!

Stonehill, could you help me?  When I activate Gift Certificates, it skews my categories to the left center of my page which pushes all my items to the bottom of the page and I don't know how to edit html in my custom template to fix it.

I have a custom template in my store and I have to add that link manually into my Home Page codes - this code worked in the main menu:

<div id="menu">
    <a href="/">Home</a> | <a href="$!Store.AboutUsLink">About Us</a> | <a href="$!Store.ContactUsLink">Contact Us </a>
    | <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/EasycapExpertti" target=”_parent”>SAMPLE VIDS</a> | <a href="http://easycapexpertti.phpbb3now.com/" target=”_parent”>SUPPORT FORUM</a> | <a href="http://easycapexpertti.phpbb3now.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=7&..." target=”_parent”>DRIVERS</a> |
    <a href="/giftcertificates/">Buy Gift Certificates</a> |

You can test it in my store if You want to buy a video capture card gift certificate - I will pay Your money back if You are not happy:

http://easycapexpertti.mybisi.com/

or send me Your email address and I will send You 1USD gift certificate for free :)

Thank You Thomas - I am so happy that I can do now business with these gift certificates.

Jennifer.... I don't know if I can help. I didn't do anything that involves any html code (cause I don't know how to code). But I just looked at your store and I bet the problem is that you just don't have any more room on your Menu Bar for "Gift Certificates" to be added. Activating it probably pushed the menu bar into a second row which is probably what mucked everything else up. If you have a custom template you probably need a designer to help you with that menu bar. If it's a stock template then you might need to put in a support ticket.

I do have a designer who is going to add the code for a custom image on the cart page.... Let me know if you want their name!

The Gift Certificate form for any one of our stores is located at:  http://www.yourstorename.com/giftcertificates/

I have a custom template, but I was able to make it work for me without having to do any mucking around with html by doing the following:

1. I activated Gift Certificates.. If you look at my store, there was plenty of room left on the menu bar for it.

2. I added a new category that I named "Gift Certificates". I didn't add any products, I just created a description for the category with images and a link to the Gift Certificate form itself

3. I changed the link for Gift Certificates in the Menu Builder to point to my new Gift Certificates category.... That page has a link to the actual Gift Certificate form.

Does anyone know if taxes are being charged for gift certificates? I would think not, but I haven't seen anything on this, and I don't want to create one to test it out.

I had a brief thot about taxes, too. But I'm pretty sure that to tax or not to tax would be determined by the shipping address when a Gift Certificate is redeemed.

Thanks for the info. That's all I needed to know.

Just noticed that the gift certificate page is titled 'My Account' ... would it be possible for you to change that?

Teri & Jeri
http://designmycart.com

Thanks Stonehill.  I will check into it.

Tomas,

Do we have a variable for displaying the gift certificate link similar to the one for displaying the account links if enabled? I tried {{ #if ($giftcertificatesenabled) }} and that doesn't work.

Thank you very much!

Do you ever feel like a yo-yo being swung in 50 different directions when you release something new? :-)

I noticed that our coupon codes work with a gift certificate purchase.  That is not really a bad thing. 

However I would like to know if the coupon codes will also work when the gift certificate is redeemed.  That would not be such a good thing.

Joe

SHOW and TELL!!!
I have to show off what magic Jennifer worked for me with Gift Certificates. See here:
http://www.stonehillcollectibles.com/giftcertificates/

This is just so awesome!!!!

Note that before you set your gift certificates as having an expiration date, you should check your states laws concerning whether it is legal to have an expiration date on a gift certificate. For California sellers, for instance, it is illegal to have an expiration on a gift certificate (there are some exceptions, but few that would apply to an online seller. Also, be aware that in California a gift certificate valued under $10 is redeemable in cash.

Link to CA law: http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/legal_guides/s-11.shtml

Tomas, what Joe at amazing keys was referring to, is that if a customer was in possession of a 33%-off coupon code, and the coupon code works in conjunction with Gift Certificates at purchase AND at checkout, that would mean that a customer could potentially:

• purchase a $100 Gift Certificate for $67.
• Use the resulting $100 Gift Certificate with the same coupon code to purchase $150 worth of merchandise ($150 discounted 33% = $100) at checkout.

Dex

That's an excellent point about various state laws. I found this list that provides a state by state summary of Consumer Protection Laws:
http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_financial_services/003889.html

The statement at the top about the Credit Card Act of 2009 led me to do a little more reading. Gift Certificates will be valid for at least 5 years. This apparently applies to all of us, regardless of state. For your reading pleasure (or displeasure, as the case may be...):
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/credit-cards/how-the-card-act-impac...

Gift certs have just been changed to 5 years... 

That's a good point on the coupons. I'm not using them yet, but if you can double dip on them when getting a gift card, I may never use them. But by the time I get around to that, I'm sure it'll all be figured out. :)

Stone Hill your certificate page looks great   http://www.stonehillcollectibles.com/giftcertificates/

Tomas - in my opinion, this (the link above to Stone Hill's page) is what the gift certificate page should be EASILY customizable to look like -- a standard HTML block in the blank RH side of the page, where we can easily add a picture of the certificate and some verbiage. You're a talented programmer, but your visual marketing skills are lacking -- very few customers would be captivated into coughing up money by the "default"  half-blank page, and many of your users don't have the custom programming skills necessary to mod it.

Also, when I test the "Preview", on the displayed image  I get "TO: $cert_to"  "FROM: $cert_from" and only the first 18 characters of the message. This would frighten a customer into thinking that the real certificate would print out that way.

Lightning...   I did a test purchase of a GC, filled in all the blanks, and clicked on "preview". I don't get the code that you did, I get a nice preview image. I wonder why the difference???

Something else I'm wondering about now... specially since these things have to remain active for 5 years. Read this:
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/gift-card-federal-reser...
Apparently we ARE allowed to assess reasonable dormancy fees on a GC that has been inactive or dormant for at least 12 months. Theoretically, that fee could slowly reduce the balance of an unused GC to zero at the end of 5 years. But... how can/could we "assess" or "collect" those fees off the balance on a GC?

@ Stone Hill - I like your GC page. However, the description says $5~$100 but next to the blank it says $1~$100.

I personally have no desire to charge fees on GC's. The only reason I'm adding an expiration date, is because I don't want to be in businesses for 10 years and suddenly this old GC comes up, or a customer is asking about it. Otherwise I'd have them never expire, it's just more customer friendly.

Thanks for catching that ez...  It's fixed now. Apparently your GC settings don't completely save. When you go in to change the settings it reverts to the original defaults. When I went in to change the setting to 5 years I had to once again change the $1000 back to $100.... but I missed changing the $1 to $5. Thank you sooooo much for proof-reading for me!   :-)

I agree with Joe and ezgrabs.   Most any coupon code offer Ive seen states 'not valid on purchase of gift certificates".    Coupon codes then ARE VALID when purchasing with a gift certificate.    But, one should not be able to "double dip".  

ANd.... we might be suseptible to tripple and quadrupple dipping at this point...    If its possible to buy a gift certificate by redeeming a gift certificate.self

Myself, I do not care which way it is... but I do think one thing or the other does need to be prohibited....  Either using a coupon to PURCHASE a certificate (most typical), or using a coupon when redeeming a certificate.

Damn touchpad!   I LOVE LOVE LOVE Touchfreeze, but every once in a while it stops working and I have to purposefully launch it from my start menu.     I would have tossed this laptop out the window LONG ago without Touchfreeze and my Swiftpoint mouse.y!

(acgtually, no, I would have sold it on eBa

CRAP... touchfreeze still isnt working.... the y for ebay ended up after mouse.

On another note... ez,  I understand what you feel and are saying about assessing dormancy fees. However, in some states, if the GC is not used or has a remaining balance at expiration, then the monies escheat to the state. That means you'd have to cough up the $$$ balance to send to the state. Just something to think about.

Stone Hill - Well, if Tomas wanted to add it, dormancy could be "collected" by simply checking to make sure that the certificate balance had not changed for a period of not less than 12 months (but needing to be customized because CA, for instance, specifies 24 months)  and then simply reducing the certificate balance by a customizable $X amount per month (again, for example, the legal limit in CA is $1/mo.)

After all, you don't need to  "collect" the fees -- you already have them in your pocket from when the cert was bought. You're just gradually reducing the "gotcha" potential of an old cert in the future.

Tomas - speaking of the future "gotcha" value of Gift Certificates, have you added a master display of outstanding gift card obligations/value anywhere? If I was, say, a small drop-shipper, I'd REALLY want to know that I had $6,000 obligated in unclaimed gift card purchases  

@ lightning, good point. I've been pondering how I will handle the accounting aspect of this since it was announced.

@ stonehill, I didn't know that. I don't think Texas has that law. I was thinking once the GC is used or expired, I'd just consider it as profit. We'll see, I may actually setup a separate bank account just to hold GC monies until they are used. (Interest bearing of course)

@ lightning.... Tomas has the master display in place for us. It's the active and inactive Gift Certificates tabs... same place you activate and create your GC settings. I had to create a dummy GC to get my sample image. It's under inactive now and shows the following column headers:

 - # Times Used

However...  Something I have been thinking about. I would like the ability to send a reminder email to a GC recipient who either has not used their GC or who has a balance remaining.   Tomas.... is there any chance of having the recipient email addresses added to what's currently showing in Admin? Or is that info in a list somewhere else that I haven't looked yet?????   Right now the only way I see to access the recipient email addy is to click on the edit icon for an individual GC.

One thing I would like to do... is toot my good friend Jennifers horn. She has done an amazing job bringing some real style and professionalism to Gift Certificates on my site (and on my husbands HW site, too). For those of you struggling with this and how it displays on your site, I can't recommend her highly enough. Here's what she's done for me:

1. She's customized the Gift Certificates form to include my own personal text and a sample GC image to the right of the form:
http://www.stonehillcollectibles.com/giftcertificates/
2. Since I also set up a category for Gift Certificates, she modified that category to remove Featured Products at the bottom. My category description includes a click thru link the the GC form for purchasing a gift certificate (I wanted to cover all the bases when I did this. I know I check a sites categories for a GC when I'm shopping for one... so it seemed like a good move):
http://www.stonehillcollectibles.com/products/gift-certificates
3. She also added a clickable graphic just below my categories list... which now displays on all pages on my site. The graphic reads "Gift Certificate - Purchases & Balance Inquiries". I didn't want a customer wondering what their GC balance was having any problems knowing where to check. You can see it on the left from either of the above links.

You don't need to struggle with this... Jennifer is very VERY good and easy to work with.

Jennifer can be contacted thru her website:  http://www.bisidesigns.com

You know, I don't want to throw a fly in the ointment here, but in looking over the various state laws, this gift certificate thing is a lot more complicated that it first appears.  I did put them up on the site when Tomas announced their availability, but there are some consumer protection laws in many states that are in conflict with this program.  I really believe we need some legal guidance here to make sure that we don't get into any hot water on these things.  I believe we are playing with fire and I don't want to get burned.

Joe

Joe... what exactly are you seeing that's in conflict with any state laws? As long as you give it at least a 5 year life, and are also aware of and comply with whatever the law is for your own state, you should not have any problems. Conversely, if you perceive that much potential for problems, you have the option of not implementing Gift Certificates for your store.

Stonehill,

Every state seems to have different laws.  In Florida it is unlawful to even have an expiration date and we are subject to a fine or damages for even having an expiration date on a gift certificate.  In other states, it must be stated that the gift certificate is valid for merchandise only.  In North Carolina is must say not valid in North Carolina or you have to comply with their laws.  Other states require you to turn the money over to them if the gift certificate is not redeemed. It gets complicated and I believe we need some solid legal advice here.

I haven't gone through every state, but this is not as easy as it looks and I don't want to be in a position of not complying with some state law when someone in some state buys one of our gift certificates and decides to look up the law in their state and find out that we do not comply for one reason or another.

Florida called this a deceptive business practice.   Here is part of  their text:

Fla. Stat. §501.95
A gift certificate or credit memo sold or issued for consideration in this state may not have an expiration date, expiration period. However, a gift certificate may have an expiration date of not less than three years if it is provided as a charitable contribution when no consideration is given to the issuer by the consumer, or not less than one year if it is provided as a benefit pursuant to an employee-incentive program, consumer-loyalty program, or promotional program when no consideration is given to the issuer by the consumer, and the expiration date is prominently disclosed in writing to the consumer at the time it is provided. In addition, a gift certificate may have an expiration date if it is provided as part of a larger package related to a convention, conference, vacation, or sporting or fine arts event having a limited duration so long as the majority of the value paid by the recipient is attributable to the convention, conference, vacation, or event. An issuer may honor a gift certificate that has expired on or before the effective date of this act

Multiply this by 50 states and you can see that there are a lot of requirements that must be stated upfront to anyone that purchases a gift certificate.

Joe

If it's that big a concern for you, then don't activate Gift Certificates in your store. For my store, I need to ensure I comply with Federal laws and Texas state laws. I can do that and don't forsee any problems. The feature is optional so each store owner can make their own informed decisions about implementation.

Here is a good reference point for the gift certificate regulations for all 50 states:

http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?tabid=12474

Joe

OMG, I totally want mine set up like yours Shirley, AND, I want a marketing email sent out just like yours too.   Did Jennifer do that too?  Unfortunatly, Im using Mail Chimp now, and I'm sure the coding is not the same, but maybe it wont be too far off.

Your email is awesome.   I totally cringe at making up those emails... its always SUCH a PITA for me, so I send maybe 3 a year... MAYBE.   Setting one up just goes immediately into my "things to procrastinate" file.     (Which my brain has plenty of room to keep shoving things into!)

Sigh.

@ amazingkeys, glad I live in Texas and not Florida. 

I contacted Jennifer and asked her to give me "The Shirley".  :))

BTW, just curious... does the store owner get a notification when someone buys a gift certificate?  

Now that is funny! Give me the Shirley! Hah!

I just want to throw out the thought on the laws governing gift certificates. Logic to me (may not be the law though) says that if your biz is in FL, you go by FL and Federal laws. But... I don't deal with them so... I could be wrong.

I agree with the idea that if you are really scared of the laws, don't offer gift certificates.

♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥~*~♥

Jennifer
Bisi Designs - Professional Website Design
www.bisidesigns.com

LOL....  "the Shirley"...  So does that make me minor famous? ....or just infamous???

I'm flattered Cindy! Actually what you did is what got me started. I made a GC category and sort of liked the way it looked... but it had junk down at the bottom that I had no clue how to get rid of, it didn't have the form, and I wanted to have all that verbiage along with the form. The only ONLY way to make it happen the right way was to call my GURU, Jennifer! She's totally a miracle worker. The graphic below the categories was completely her idea and OMG, I love it!   And customers who get a GC will know exactly where to look to check their balance!    

I did the email myself... and believe me, it was horrible painful. I'm ashamed to say it's the first one I've sent out in over a year... cause I never know what to say. But announcing GC's was a natural. Feel free to totally steal mine if'n you'd like (you'll need your own graphics, tho... I actually bought those)!!

Tomas... that's awesome about discount coupons and Gift Certificates!!  I just need to remember to revise the verbiage on my coupons to include that info.

Amazing / Joe,

You are only subject to the laws of your OWN state regarding the selling of gift certificates, and the more general Federal law. Essentially, this simply means that you need to follow the law in your own state, as all state laws are either the same as, or more restrictive than federal law.

You don't live or operate a business in other states, so their laws do not apply to you and have no authority over you.

Caveat: That would be assuming that you are a small enough business to NOT have a distribution center or a store in a different state as well, which would cause you to have a "substantial business interest" in the other state, which would cause you to be subject to the 2nd state's (3rd, 4th) states laws. So, if you're an online retailer like Amazon, which has multiple distribution centers across the country, things can indeed get a bit complicated. But even Amazon is only subject to the laws of the specific states they're in.

The other situation would be if you were Incorporated (say in Delaware) but operating as a "foreign" corporation in North Carolina: Then DE's and NC's laws would apply. States call corporations "foreign" if they're incorporated in a different state, but have filed with a state (usually the one they're physically doing business in) for formal state recognition as a corporation in that state as well. This gives them the ability to start a lawsuit in that state's courts.

Yep, being treated the same as any new order is PERFECT!  I just didnt know that they would be part of the order system.     PERFECT!  :))

lightningwear,

I think you have hit the nail on the head and for us, we will not be able to offer the gift certificates, at this time, because we have multi-state distribution centers, call centers and shipping facilities that are left over from when we actually manufactured the items that we sell.  We share some of  these facilities with the company that spun off from us in 2007. That company made a business decision not to sell direct to consumer and that left us with the internet business which was a very small part of the total business.

The Gift Certificate program is a good idea and I wish we could offer it to our customers.

Joe

No expiration=no problems... If you try to keep people from their money they paid for, then you have problems. Ive used gift certificates with many of my customers for years without problems.

Can we make the Gift Certificates a Featured item on our Home Page?

FYI on exp dates -  I believe in California we are not allowed to set an exp date. For more info on Gift Certificate/Gift Card Laws for each state, see here = http://www.scripsmart.com/states 

Babyface... you could talk about it all  you want in your Home Page text box... include a link to it, etc.

-----

Joe... National companies do sell gift certificates, don't they?   I would think you could look at national retailers such as Sears and JC Pennys and copy the verbiage they use when selling gift certificates from their websites.  

I first thought "who the heck would buy a gift certificate for key cutting."     But, I, myself, actually got a new fob for my car as a present one year.  Id lost both that the dealer gave me, so I was going with out (just using a regular key).  It was a GREAT GIFT to have a fob again!    

Oops, Babyface.. just looked at your site.   I see why you would want it as a featured product.  You could set it up like I did... many posts above.    I also like it on a product page so that it can be displayed as a "other items to consider". 

Start at my post at Nov-21 2011 15:05. then follow along with what Tomas suggests to remove the price/add to cart. 

girlshorseclothes

National companies do sell gift certificates.  But those companies are much larger than we are and they have a whole department that handles these types of issues.  Right now, we are not of that size and we just don't have any people sitting around not doing anything that I can put on this.

It's like the internet sales tax issue that is being batted around.  They are talking about an exemption for those websites that do less than $500,000 a year.  Those that do over that would need to collect and file the sales taxes in all 50 states..  This is going to be a nightmare for us if this is passed and will probably require a staff of at least 2.5 people just to keep up with all of these sales taxes.  

And on the issue of keys for gifts.......   We have a selection of collector keys that folks tend to give this time of year.  But keyless remotes are our most popular gift item.  It's something that is needed and used on a daily basis.

Joe

I guess Im just much  more of an optimist (and, perhaps not a realist)

Seems to me companies will put out software that will take care of everything for reporting/paying the state taxes.   And, how can it take 2.5 people?  Even if it took a person an entire day to do one state return, and returns are required quarterly, that's less than 1 person.   (And, its not going to take all day to do one).  

Or, maybe its easier to do whatever you have been doing, then manually break out the spreadsheet by state and apply the necisary formulas...  ... 100 orders a month or 10,000... its all in a spreadsheet or whatever... its just a computer doing the calculations, maybe takes somewhat longer for calculations, but, whatever.    Im sure there is a lot I do not know about it (can't imagine what it would be, but, whatever).

-----

Right... so Sears had their legal team figure out what wording they need to have.     I figure all you have to do is COPY that wording.   No exp date, and copy the wording.   Basically, the wording says "blah blah blah... except where required by law.    blah blah blah... except where prohibited by law"   with no specifics.       I feel like Ive also seen "according to the laws of your state".   (you deal with it if there a problem comes up, which won't, as long as you do honor the certificates and you never let them expire.)

There would be an issue if you went bankrupt... where are the gift cert holders in line to get their $ due...   But, it is whatever it is, and you just deal with it when it happens.

You are obviously a much larger business than most of the businesses here, and larger than Id ever expected.     Again, I realize I don't know all the ins and outs.

What I believe is going to happen is the payment processors (Paypal, Amazon, Google, etc) will collect and remit the sales taxes, based upon where the buyer is located) for merchants like us.  At least that is what I am hoping will happen.  Amazon seems to be getting set up to do just that.

If we all have to file this on our own, it's going to be a complete mess.  The sales tax reports are due monthly in many places.  That is 50 chances each month to not get the report in on time.  If you are one day late there is a 25% penalty of the tax due in some states. Miss one month of filing and you could be out of business or so deep in the hole that you can't possibly get out.  Imagine the IRS times 50 and think of the time this is going to involve. Ever get a notice from the IRS when you have done everything right and they can't seem to put the right paperwork in the right file?  It takes days and hours to try to straighten it out even if you are right.    And lets just hope they don't want us to collect county and city sales taxes as well.

When Amazon gave in to California on this and agreed to start paying sales taxes in 2012 to California that is where the turning point came about.  Unfortunately, it's just a matter of time before they close the sales tax exemption on internet sales. 

Joe

Y'all are getting worked up over nothing. What they have been considering is if an internet company should pay taxes on all transactions. If so, those taxes would be owed to the states you have a physical presence in, or to the federal government. It doesn't matter how many laws California passes about internet transactions. I am not in California, therefore their laws will NEVER apply to me. Therefore I'd never pay California taxes.

This is why it will never happen. Most consumers are impatient. I myself am VERY impatient. If I have to pay taxes on a transaction on the internet, 90% of the time that would put the product in the price range of a product I can get from the store. I'd rather buy it from the store than wait a week to get a product I bought online. Also you have to consider profit margin. Internet companies typically offer product at lower prices because they get less return when they sell something. Charging taxes on every transaction, and effectively raising prices will put many internet companies out of business. No one wants to do that. It's an idea that has been tossed around a lot, but law makers aren't COMPLETE idiots... though idiots they may be. It would be suicide for any state to pass such a law, and the federal government knows this as well. 

Besides, if you had to pay the taxes of your state, every company big enough to do so would move to a tax free state.

We won't even get into the complexities of city level taxes. Here in North Texas 6.25% goes to the state while the city and public transportation each take 1% for a total of 8.25%. There's no way such a law would even be enforceable. 

Folks,

This thread is getting off topic and I don't want to send up red flags when there are not necessary. 

But this threat is very real because Amazon is supporting the collection of sales taxes in every state.  (not just the state you are located in). Amazon is the 800 pound gorilla and this gives the politicians a reason to support this issue and push it through.

Maybe this won't get passed, but we have a bunch of knuckleheads in Washington that do not understand the consequences of this action.  (Just look what they did to gift certificates in 2009 which started this whole thread) 

Keep in mind the big national retailers want this passed because they are already collecting these taxes and they want you to have to do this as well.  

The bill was introduced with big fanfare on November 9, 2011.  Here is a link to an article about this sales tax issue:

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/10/business/la-fi-us-amazon-sa...

Joe

Ok back to thanking the guys at Highwire for putting this out... and Happy Thanksgiving :)

Hope to see more updates 

I think you missunderstood what was happening with Amazon. They've been doing businesses WITH physical presence in states, and not collecting taxes. It's simple, you have an order from Cali, and you have a physical presence in Cali. But your Washington warehouse processes the order, so you claim you don't have to collect taxes. That act is why Amazon has been the main company associated with this. If a law gets passed, you're still only liable for your state. I don't think either side really has a real solution, but it will always remain a foreign state has no authority over you. Only your state and federal govt.

Happy Thanksgiving!

ez,

That is the way it is today and that is the way we have all been operating.

What they are trying to do is make us collect sales taxes from residents of all states and then remit those taxes back to the states.  Please read the link above so you can see what is happening here.

One of the Senators that introduced the bill on November 9, 2011 (this month) said the following:

"If I were president of an online retailer … I would look at this week in Washington, D.C., and I'd make my plans to start collecting sales taxes wherever I sold things in the United States," said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.).

Joe

NEW QUESTION!

When someone orders a gift certificate, do they also get the same order confirmation email that is sent after other orders?

thanks

Cindy.... you should be able to open the order from your Admin and view copies of all of the various communications (emails you've sent, auto emails, etc). That was a nifty new feature that Tomas added for us a while back...
:-)

NEAT!   I had never noticed that feature before!    I know Ive sent duplicate "your ordre has shipped" messages... when Im not sure if I sent it or not, I send another!  (I open a bunch in new tabs, then go through sending them, then closing them)

... The answer is, YES, she got the standard order confirmation email... So, I need to update the text on mine to add "(except gift certificates)" after my ..... we typically ship within 2 business days.... sentence.    No big deal, just wanted to know one way or the other.    (GOOD that it goes out, since they could email it to someone else!)

thanks again... saw the "view history" right away, but only after you mentioned it!

Tomas,

I'm thrilled with the gift certificate feature, but I'm wondering if there is a way that, when creating a gift certificate in admin, is there a way that the gift certificate code could be one of the things we create. This would be a big plus for anyone who uses Highwire & also has a brick & mortar store.

Right now, if a customer purchases a gift certificate at my b&m store, my POS system generates a code & a printed gift certificate. The customer has no way to enter that code online. Anyone who works in the store can ring up a gift certificate on the POS system, but not everyone has access to the web admin (and some of my older ladies just barely know how to use the POS, I'm not going to try to teach them about the web admin!). We've worked out a way to track web purchased gift certificates, so that they could be used on line or in store. I would like to be able to tell the customer purchasing a GC in store that they could use it in store immediately or on line after 24 hours, but I need to be able to use the code my POS system produces as the web site GC code for that to work.