Frequently Asked Questions
What are Instant Gift Certificates?
An Instant Gift Certificate is a gift certificate that you can customize, preview, purchase and then either print or email all from your website. Instant Gift Certificates are branded with your logo and business information and are a unique solution to the last minute gift giving problem. Instant Gift Certificates are available to your customers 24 hours a day so you can be selling even when you are closed.
Why do I need it?
Instant Gift Certificates are a great service for your customers, providing convenience, instant gratification and solving last minute gift-giving problems. You'll sell more gift certificates and save staff time while doing it — there's no fulfillment for Instant Gift Certificates.
How do I get paid for gift certificates sold off my website?
We don't process the credit card transactions from your BoomTime online sales.
When a customer purchases an Instant Gift Certificate from your website BoomTime stores that customer's credit card information securely for you. You are sent an email notification letting you know that you have a sale so that you can login to your BoomTime account and retrieve the credit card information. You can then run the charge for the amount of the gift certificate as a manual transaction through your credit card processing system; similar to a phone order.
Benefits to you with this approach are:
- You receive 100% of the revenue from the sale at the time of the sale.
- You can use your existing credit card processing system
- Very cost effective for low volume sales
BoomTime clients who have a large volume of transactions can setup automatic processing using Authorize.net or PayPal Web Payments Pro which are both supported by our system and take out the manual step of having to process the credit card for each sale.
How does BoomTime get paid for gift certificates I sell from my website?
At the end of each month BoomTime calculates the total dollar amount of Instant Gift Certificates sold on your website. We take the total dollar amount sold and calculate our commission, which will never be more than 5% and bill our commission to a credit card we have on file for you. The best part is that you have already collected the revenue from the gift certificates before you are billed!
Do I have to sign a long-term contract?
No. Your BoomTime service is month to month. If our service isn’t working out for you, you may cancel at any time for any reason.
How do I integrate Instant Gift Certificates into my existing website?
Instant Gift Certificates integrate directly into your existing website. You simply need to follow the steps on our Integrating BoomTime With Your Website page and you are up and running.
How do my customers get their gift certificates?
Your customer prints or emails their Instant Gift Certificate themselves, right away! No more filling out or mailing gift certificates by hand!
What does the Instant Gift Certificate look like once it's been purchased?
Check out our Instant Gift Certificate Demo to experience what your customers experience when purchasing an Instant Gift Certificate.
Can I pick which gift certificate designs can be selected by my customers?
Yes! You may select which gift certificate designs are displayed for your customers to purchase through the BoomTime control panel. We even support custom gift certificate designs if you want to offer a special design to your customers.