Is It Possible To Duplicate The GC To Seperate Paid / Promo GCs?

[greatwhitebuffalo]

Hello everyone,

I'd like to have a way to separate GC totals between paid certificates and promo giveaways. Is there any way to do this?

We are working on a system that would give each new subscription to our site (using aMember software) a $10 gift certificate to use in our store. For accounting purposes I'd like to keep these GCs separate from the GCs that are actually sold via the store.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Darren

[fairestcape]

You may need to use COUPONS for your promos, not GC's

GC's are - in effect - little more than a "cash credit" facility which is controlled by a unique code reference.

So, with GC's, what basically happens with a GC is that when it is "bought", it credits the purchaser's account with the face value of the GC.

It assigns a "code" to this value (or subsequent parts of that value), that are now "negotiable" in the same way that cash is "negotiable".

The owners of this "credit" can email all (or parts) of it to other people, who can then redeem it in their own accounts at the same zenshop.

Coupons on the other hand are not "cash credits" in the same way, but an arithmetic algorithm that applies a reduction value against a product (or set of products) in the store. Their redemption can be restricted by a number of parameters (date, category, number of times to be used by customers, product(s), number of coupons in circulation, etc).

[greatwhitebuffalo]

Unless I'm missing something I don't see a way to generate one use unique coupon codes. If I'm wrong, please let me know.

I guess my concept was duplicating the GC system and making them non-transferable. That way every coupon / GC would have a unique identifier. I know the coupon code can be set to one use per customer, but that doesn't stop someone from sharing that code with other people who have not subscribed to the web site.

Thanks for your input,
Darren

[greatwhitebuffalo]

Sorry, I do see where a one use unique coupon code can be generated. I guess what I need to figure out now is how to automatically generate one for each never member that signs up or renews a subscription.

[fairestcape]

I know the coupon code can be set to one use per customer, but that doesn't stop someone from sharing that code with other people who have not subscribed to the web site.

... but surely... unless they "subscribe" they can't checkout - and hence can't use the code.

So what if people send it to each other - each new recipient is a potential new customer - (unless you specifically don't want new customers?)

[greatwhitebuffalo]

... but surely... unless they "subscribe" they can't checkout - and hence can't use the code.

So what if people send it to each other - each new recipient is a potential new customer - (unless you specifically don't want new customers?)

Our store is a separate entity than our pay site. Those who subscribe to our pay site I would like to give a special thank you coupon to the store and we don't want that to be used by anyone that hasn't joined the pay site.

[fairestcape]

Okay... makes sense.

The current system of coupons in ZC does not (I don't think) allow for them to be allocated to a specific customer, or customer group.

You may care to PM swguy on this... Scott Willson (swguy) is uncannily good at figuring out possible solutions to these sorts of issues!