Gift vouchers for your salon: how to sell them online

Gift vouchers are the easiest sale a salon makes. Somebody else does the choosing, the money arrives weeks before the appointment, and the person who walks in with one is often a new customer who might never have found you otherwise.

An amount or a treatment?

• An amount, say 25 or 50 GBP, is the flexible one. The person spends it on whatever they like, across more than one visit if it doesn't all go at once. It's the one most buyers pick when they don't know what the person wants.
• A treatment, say a cut and blow dry or a full set of nails, is the better present. It feels like a gift rather than cash, and it covers the treatment even if your prices go up before it's used.
• Offer both. A couple of amounts and your two or three most-given treatments cover most buyers. Letting people choose their own amount, within a range, covers the rest.

How long should a voucher last?

12 months is the usual choice, long enough that nobody feels rushed. Some salons go to 24 months or have no expiry at all; a few go down to 6 months for a seasonal promotion.

Whatever you pick, say it before they pay and print the date on the voucher. A term the buyer never saw, or one so short it's unreasonable, can be unfair under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and an unfair term doesn't bind the customer.

Selling online and at the desk

• Online is where most vouchers sell. People buy presents late at night and at the last minute, and they want to send it straight to the person it's for, by email, without a trip to the shop.
• Let them send it on a date. A voucher that arrives on the birthday morning is a better present than one forwarded a week early.
• Keep a way to sell at the desk. Plenty of regulars buy one at the end of their own appointment. Print it or email it there and then.
• Put the link where people look: your booking page, your Instagram bio and your Christmas posts.

When someone uses one

• Check the code and what's left on it, so nobody spends the same voucher twice.
• Treat it as a payment, not a discount. The treatment costs what it costs; the voucher pays for some or all of it, and the customer pays any difference.
• Keep what's left on an amount voucher for next time, rather than giving change or making them spend it all at once.
• Decide what happens on a cancellation: the fair answer is the value goes back on the voucher.

VAT on vouchers

This only matters if you're VAT registered. HMRC splits vouchers into two kinds, and the difference is when you pay the VAT:

• A single-purpose voucher is one where the VAT on what it buys is known when you sell it, for example a voucher for one named treatment. VAT is due when the voucher is sold.
• A multi-purpose voucher is any other kind, typically an amount that could be spent on treatments or on retail products. VAT is due only when it's spent, on what it's spent on.

If you're not sure which you sell, HMRC's VAT Notice 700/7 has the detail, or ask your accountant.

Christmas timing

• Have vouchers on sale by mid November, when people start buying presents.
• Post the link a few times in December, and again on the last posting days, when a voucher by email is the only present that still arrives in time.
• Expect a wave of bookings in January and February as vouchers get spent. Keep some time free for them.

Gift vouchers with FullDiary

• Amounts or services: under Your shop, Sell more, Gift vouchers, put amounts and services on sale, and let buyers choose their own amount between a lowest and a highest if you like.
• How long they last: 6, 12 or 24 months, or never.
• Bought on your booking page by card through your own Stripe account, and sent to the buyer or straight to the person it's for, with a message and, if they like, a date for it to arrive.
• Each voucher has its own page showing what's left, when it runs out and a Book now button, and it prints on one page.
• At the desk, Issue a voucher: sold now, bought before FullDiary (so old paper vouchers keep working) or complimentary.
• A payment, never a discount. Customers type the code when they book; it pays towards the booking, an amount keeps what's left, and a cancelled booking puts the money back on the voucher.

Gift vouchers are on Pro. Vouchers you've already sold stay good if you ever leave Pro.

Help: gift vouchers

Sources

Single-purpose and multi-purpose vouchers, and when VAT is due on each, from HMRC (section 9).

HMRC: business promotions (VAT Notice 700/7)

Unfair terms in consumer contracts, including how clearly a term has to be shown.

Consumer Rights Act 2015, Part 2: unfair terms

This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice.

Written by

Matt Suckling

Director, FullDiary

Matt runs Cynical Software Ltd, the Perthshire company that makes FullDiary, and builds it.

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