Gift Certificate's

[wash_me]

I just started selling gift certificates and been thinking how to deal with them book keeping wise. I was thinking about opening a saving account just to deposit my gift certificates in, then once the gift certificates has be use I would withdraw the money. This way I would feel that I would not be working for free and I would withdraw the money to kind of feel like I got pay ( I hope you can understand what I trying the say there). The problem is keeping my QuickBooks in check. Those of you that sell gift certificates how do keep track of them?

 

[imported_Greg1]

:nixweiss

 

[imported_edschwab1]

How are working your gift certificates? Are you selling dollar amount to be applied to services or complete services?



On the money aspect, once you receive money for the certificate you have been paid (income) and the money goes in to the business. You can buy supplies, pay employees, pay yourself, pay bills with money form gift certificate sales. As far as Quickbooks goes, I am learning so I am no help there.



Eric

 

[wash_me]

I am selling dollar amount.

 

[imported_edschwab1]

I cash value is the best kind of certificate. One, depending on value purchased, the oppotunity for the upsell. Two, certificate holder needs to purchase your service and my need to added to the certifacete value inorder to purchase service(s).



When selling complete service you can not charge more for poor condition vehicles.



Eric

 

[Auto Care USA]

I sell either cash value or $ amount. I give the customer the choice. My certificates never expire and I deposit the money as if I just detailed the vehicle. When you have been doing business as long as I have it's amazing that sometimes certificates will not be redeemed. Go figure.

 

[jimmybuffit]

Where's the TaxLady when we need her?



Get thee to an accountant



Frankly, if you don't know how to credit/debit that sort of income/account, you need help. That's not a flame or insult... I depend upon my CPA.



Jim

 

[imported_Sqard]

Do you guys think that it is better to give gift certificates or percent off coupons as prizes for events? I'm always trying to help out by donating prizes for events, but it seems i'm always getting the short end of the stick. If I give a 50% off coupon they always go for the most expensive thing making me do a ton of work for half the price. If I give a 50 dollar gift certificate, they'll only get the $50 package that I offer. Do you guys have any experience with donations?

 

[wash_me]

Do you guys think that it is better to give gift certificates or percent off coupons as prizes for events? I'm always trying to help out by donating prizes for events, but it seems i'm always getting the short end of the stick. If I give a 50% off coupon they always go for the most expensive thing making me do a ton of work for half the price. If I give a 50 dollar gift certificate, they'll only get the $50 package that I offer. Do you guys have any experience with donations?

I would just give away something like a Bacis Wash and hope you don't get a soccer mom SUV.

 

[wash_me]

Where's the TaxLady when we need her?



Get thee to an accountant



Frankly, if you don't know how to credit/debit that sort of income/account, you need help. That's not a flame or insult... I depend upon my CPA.



Jim

A CPA would be nice to have right now but I can't afford one, even thou business has been great for me. I think I'll create a new account in QuickBooks for my Gift Certificates, then once I have complete the work I'll move the money over to my business checking account.

 

[Taxlady]

I can help with the QuickBooks®. I'm a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor. I am not an accountant, more a bookkeeper. I also don't know what the rules are in the U.S.



Getting an accountant is an excellent idea. If you can find one who uses QB, then you can probably save some money, because you can transfer your QB data to the accountant and that should save time.



Here in Canada, I would handle a gift certificate the same way as I would handle a prepayment from a client. The receipt of the money is recorded into a "current liabilities" account. Yes, I would make one specifically for gift certificates. I would review the status of the gift certificates at year end to see if any of them were old enough that they should be brought into income. I don't know if that would be appropriate for U.S. taxes.



The mechanics of doing that are a bit complicated. I would be happy to give you the details by email or PM. I would need to ask a few questions about your QB setup.



Linda

 

[safetyman2010]

I just started selling gift certificates and been thinking how to deal with them book keeping wise. I was thinking about opening a saving account just to deposit my gift certificates in, then once the gift certificates has be use I would withdraw the money. This way I would feel that I would not be working for free and I would withdraw the money to kind of feel like I got pay ( I hope you can understand what I trying the say there). The problem is keeping my QuickBooks in check. Those of you that sell gift certificates how do keep track of them?

I had gift certificates printed for me by a professional print shop on special paper. Whenever I sell them I ALWAYS sign them and date them on the back and put a one year expiry date. This way you get them off your books within one years time and don't have thousands of GC floating around for years on end. As for keeping track, I don't but I know I should. I know how many I have sold in any given month or year and how much has been redeemed but I don't keep track of individual certificates (I probably should but don't have the time). One other thing - DO NOT sell certificates for packages and services. Only sell certificates for dollar amounts and include a price list with it containing the disclaimer (we reserve the right to adjust pricing due to the size or condition of your vehicle" or something like that. If you put "one interior shampoo" on the certificate then you are doing it for the certificate price regardless of how filthy and destroyed the vehicle is (and quite often certificates are purchased for people who would never clean their vehicle).