A gift certificate is account credit a patron can apply toward a future order. Development staff most often meet this as a service-recovery tool — a no-charge credit instead of a cash refund — rather than a certificate someone bought as a gift.
Before you start
Venue Admin or Super Admin to issue complimentary credit; box office staff can sell certificates for cash or check but cannot issue a no-charge one.
Issuing complimentary credit
Go to AdminVenuesGift Certificates and click Issue certificate / credit.
Choose the comp tender — this is the no-charge option (card payment isn't available from this admin dialog; that's only on the public purchase page).
Enter an Amount greater than $0, and a Reason — required for comp credit, since it's booked as an expense.
Click Issue certificate. The plaintext code is shown exactly once — give it to the recipient right away, since afterward the admin only ever shows the last four characters.
From a ticket refund dialog, choosing Venue credit (gift certificate) issues the same kind of certificate automatically, for the refunded amount.
How a patron uses their credit
A patron applies a certificate code at checkout under Gift Certificate / Account Credit, or checks a balance anytime at the public balance-lookup page by entering the code.
Coming soon: there's no gift-certificate view on a patron's own profile page yet — today, checking a balance means using the public balance-lookup page with the code in hand, not logging in.
The admin ledger
Every certificate's detail page shows a ledger of Issued, Redeemed, Redemption released, Refund credit, Adjustment, Voided, and Expired entries, each with who did it and why. Use Adjust or Void from there if a balance needs correcting.
Watch out
"Comp" credit isn't literally a $0 certificate — it's real, spendable balance at whatever amount you enter, issued without collecting payment. The system will reject an amount of $0.
- Open the demo venue's Gift Certificates page and issue a comp credit with a reason.
- Note the plaintext code shown once, then reopen the certificate and confirm the admin only shows the last four characters.
- Look up that code's balance on the public balance page.