Gift Certificates

[SarahInc]

Does anyone use the gift certificate feature on v3 now?

I offer gift certificates, but basically have it set up as a product with options, instead of checking the gift certificate box. I did this on V2 because I didn't care for how gc worked on that system. It appears that what I didn't like before is corrected however I still have issues...

When you set up a product as a gift certificate, it automatically creates a to, from, recipient email and message box for the product. When the customer buys it, it automatically sends an email to the recipient (in fact it sent the email twice to the customer on all tests I did). What's weird is the email it sends to the recipient, is addressed to the buyer, and no where does it say who it is from, or what was written in the message box. It appear to ignore everything typed in the boxes except for the recipient email.

Am I missing something? Is there a way to set this up so it works as it should (email wise) that I am missing?

[cekman]

No one has bought a GC from us yet and I didn't test it.

If it is not including the information the buyer fills out then that is a bug - I would open a ticket.

Scribetime uses gift certificates - maybe he'll chime in.

[cekman]

Just tested this.

The GC email was sent to the correct email address but it had the wrong name in it, didn't include the sender's name and didn't include the message from the sender.

I'm submitting a ticket. Another untested item.

[ScribeTime]

Hey everyone,

I do offer gift certificates. However, I use them in the same way as dancingdaisy only because I haven't had a chance to switch over yet. Just added them a couple of months ago and haven't had anyone purchase one yet.

Cekman, if you get a chance, please report back what you find out after getting a reply to your support ticket. Thanks.

Also, I'm a "she". (It's funny - you never know with these forums. Maybe we ought to have a 3dcart "big reveal" one day to see whose who!) Ha, ha
:)

[cekman]

Hah - I actually wondered when I wrote the reply if I should say he/she! Sorry about that.

Support has my ticket and asked for some additional info so they must be working on it.

Another thing - there is no link to the store web address in the email the recipient gets - so if they receive the GC as gift - they won't know where to go to shop.

I am using the GC with options also so the customer can select the denomination - I still marked it as GC and it seems to work.

Some things I noticed. No reward points are given when you buy the GC - which I think is good. They should be rewarded when the GC is used to purchase product.

HTH

[SarahInc]

I put in a support ticket last night, and they also asked for additional information from me today.

Adding the url would be easier enough, but the other information would need some tags or something.

cekman - when you ran your test did you also get to emails sent to the recipient? I have run a test 5 times, and everytime my recipient received two identical emails.

[cekman]

I only ran the test once - the recipient email address received ONE email for me. The customer email received their purchase email and I got my NEW ORDER email.

So - from my single test I don't think we're getting duplicates to the customer sent.

[www.frik-n-frak.com]

Odd...

Our customers receive the information as defined in the Gift Certificate Email tempalate - Settings>Design>Emails.

Tested ours and it works just as we expected it to. Or, maybe I'm missing something here?

-bc

[cekman]

Yeah - it is odd - pretty basic stuff. Maybe support will see your post and grab the code from your email.

I did see the email you're referring to. I had added some text inviting the customer to shop.

I'm sure the changes should be simple - just need to know the correct field names. I'm sure support will get it figured out.

[SarahInc]

Yeah, I get four emails. My new order, the customers invoice, and then two to the recipient. Funny how we are otherwise having a similar issue.

The email that goes out to the customer is what is defined in the email. What is defined in the email is wrong, and I don't know if there are tags that would correct that issue. I asked in my support ticket if that is all the problem could be, my lack of the correct tags, but to that point I haven't received a response yet.

[Mark]

Just curious, why are all these issues not global and affecting all users similarly?
Wasn't V3 a software release?:confused:

[Java]

Any update?

Still getting email errors?

Also, this is a dumb "newbie question", but how are you testing the emails? Entering "fake" orders to your self? That brings me to dumb newbie question number 2. Is there any trick to fake orders other than entering credit card info, etc like a regular customer and just not processing?

Thanks

[Mark]

You could setup an "offline" payment for testing. But be sure to remove it before others start using it.
We did that once and while testing, someone entered a mail order! :eek:

[cekman]

Support seems to have fixed this for me. I think last time I tested it the message included the correct information and I can modify the content of the email if I like.

I have offline payment type of check/money order. To test the GC I use that as a payment method. The GC order then goes to status of UNPAID. I move it to NEW so the GC gets sent out. Then I can cancel the order after that.

Hope that helps

[Java]

Thanks cekman and Mark,

Yes. That makes sense.

I tweaked the email a bit and it seems to work. I get the double emails, but at least the emails are correct.

My question is, though, on the order confirmation. It goes out as a regular email that says an email will be sent out when the item "ships". Since the item doesn't "ship", it seems confusing. Do you all just assume that the email sent is shipment and send the shipping notification?

Also, have you ever had to resend the email to gift receiver? Either a pure resend or an email correction/resend. If so, how do you do it? I could only find out how to resend the order email.

Thanks, again!!