Gift voucher purchase & redemption process for ecommerce integration

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Posted on by griema

Has anybody done a gift voucher purchase and redemption process for an ecommerce integration. The main issue seems to be that purchasing a gift voucher creates a liability on the balance sheet (deferred revenue) with the voucher code, amount and expiry attached.

Redemption would require to call on that balance sheet code to be used as a payment method. This will reduce the liability account. This is not a normal payment transaction. Does this need customisation or can another account type be used (e.g. a bank account)?.

Within a partial redemption the balance becomes the store credit – this will need to be customised as the store credit is being created as credit memo. In this case we will have to create the credit memo for the customer who is using the gift voucher. In addition to the partial amount of actual payment being made will need to be posted as payment.

Any ideas or pointing towards some resource would be more than welcome

Thank you

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Jens Glathe 6,092 on at

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RE: Gift voucher purchase & redemption process for ecommerce integration

Hi Malte,

I wouldn't give a quote based on this :) However: what's the G/L Open Items module you're using? It depends a little on this. Not all have this apply-by oldest with file no. feature (AFAIK, only SIOI has this). You might also consider some other things:

- Fraud / unusual behaviour detection: The first application to a voucher should fix the assigned customer. All further application attempts with different customer nos. should flag a warning. But this must already happen in the shop, not when you try to post the batch. So, this must be part of the "Apply a voucher for payment" web service.

- "Voucher used up" functionality. Also part of the web service.

To give a qualified quote we (Smart IT) would need to have a look over the whole shop interface. But assuming you would like to implement only this feature with Smart IT OpenItems (SIOI), it would come down to:

- buying a SIOI license

- making the merge with your NAV installation (we offer this service, and usually we're faster at it)

- doing a setup and (if already a live system) a conversion run

Up to here we're usually under a week.

- making the expiry batch: less than a week.

Of course, these figures are too inaccurate to give a quote, but you have an impression. In relation to the overall complexity of SIOI it's maybe 5% customization. If you have more questions, please feel free to contact me directly.

with best regards

Jens
griema 50 on at

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RE: Gift voucher purchase & redemption process for ecommerce integration

Thank you Jens. Very helpful!

Yes, we agreed to keep the partial redemption as a remaining amount of the original G/L entry.

We will also do the expiry as a manual intervention - journal Dr/Liability - Cr/Sales

Based on this simplification, how much development time would you estimate for such a customisation?

All best

Malte
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Jens Glathe 6,092 on at

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RE: Gift voucher purchase & redemption process for ecommerce integration

Hi,

well sort of. You could use a bank account, but with the other requirements (partial redemption, expiry) its not really practical. I would propose to use open items G/L accounts, with automatic application on the voucher ID.

Setup:

you have one G/L account "Liability for Gift Vouchers" (LfGV), open items, apply by oldest and by file no. ("Voucher ID")

Issuing of a voucher:

You post: Customer (who buys the voucher) vs. LfGV, with a unique Voucher ID and a due date (as expiry date) - both will be retained in the G/L entry

Redemption of a voucher:

The redemption will be part of the payment process, to make sure we're not running into VAT disussions.

You post: LfGV with Voucher ID vs. Customer 2 (who has the voucher, but that's an unknown who has it).

Partial redemption could result in a store credit (complicated?) or in a remaining amount of the original G/L entry on LfGV. I would prefer the latter, as it's still a liability for the gift voucher.

Expiry of vouchers:

You would need a batch that goes over the open entries of the LfGV account with an expired Due Date and posts them in to revenue. This could be done with a gen. journal inbetween for human intervention, or completely automated via web service call or NAS batch.

Of course this isn't standard NAV, but most of it would be part of the Smart IT OpenItems AddOn. The remaining parts (Expiry of vouchers, web services for the ecommerce front end for the vouchers) would be customization, but nothing complicated or extensive.

If you need further information please don't hesitate to ask.

with best regards

Jens