Vouchers and Coupons

Vouchers and coupons are electronic documents with a unique eight-digit code in the form XXXX-XXXX (e.g. 1867-8357). They are managed on the Vouchers & Coupons screen, which you open from the side panel (or the More menu), on a phone from the More menu in the bottom bar. The screen is visible only with at least one of the voucher modules on and to users with the View vouchers & coupons permission.

Coupon or voucher?

Two words that must not be mixed up, because each means something different for the money:

• A coupon is a discount coupon — a discount. It reduces what the guest owes and also the tax base. It is applied to the bill with the Coupon button, before payment, and appears among the discounts on the receipt.
• A voucher is a gift or deposit voucher — a means of payment. It reduces what the guest pays, but not what the business sold: the tax base stays at full price. It is redeemed in the Payment window with the Vouchers tile.

The Vouchers & Coupons screen

The screen header has:

• New — creates a new voucher or coupon (on a phone a + icon); only with the Manage vouchers & coupons permission.
• Type filter — the Gift voucher, Deposit voucher and Discount coupon tabs. The voucher tabs are visible with the Sales Vouchers module on, the coupon tab with the Discount Coupons module.
• Search… — searches the code and the note. On a device with a camera the field also has a scanner button.
• Total: … (Σ icon) — on the voucher tabs, the sum of the values of the vouchers shown. Tap it to open the Summary window with the count and sum for each status (Active, Redeemed, Expired, Cancelled) and a Total issued line. Active therefore shows what guests can still redeem, and Expired how much has lapsed.

The table has the columns Code, Type, Value, Status, Created, Expires, Used and Note. Tap a column header to change the sort order; newest first is the default.

At the bottom is a status filter (several can be on at once):

• Active (default) — valid and not yet redeemed.
• Redeemed — already used. A voucher redeemed more times than allowed (typically when two registers redeemed it at the same time while offline) has a red overused mark in the Status column, and the side panel lists it under Waiting for a decision (see Main Screen).
• Expired — past their expiry date and not redeemed. A voucher is valid until the end of the day shown in Expires.
• Cancelled — manually invalidated.

A register that syncs keeps vouchers and coupons that are still valid, plus those that stopped being valid for 30 days. You can check an older code with Check online (see Unknown code). On the Free plan all of them are kept on the device.

On a narrow screen the table is replaced by a list of cards with the code, value, type, expiry and status; the type filter becomes a drop-down.

Types of vouchers and coupons

Gift voucher

A gift voucher with a fixed value in CZK. The guest buys it and later pays with it. When creating it, enter the value and tap Sell — the payment opens. A voucher is paid in full with a single payment; it cannot be paid with credit, another voucher or points.

Gift and deposit vouchers can only be sold on a device in Register mode with an open shift (see Register (shifts)); otherwise these types are not offered.

Deposit voucher

A deposit or advance with a fixed value. It is created and sold just like a gift voucher.

Discount coupon

A discount in percent or crowns that the guest uses on a later purchase. A coupon is not sold — it is created immediately with Create, with no payment and no open shift needed.

• Applies to — Whole bill, Product or Category.
  • Whole bill works like a manual bill discount: a percentage of what is left after item discounts, or a fixed amount (up to that much). Max Uses here means on how many bills the coupon can be used.
  • Product and Category work per piece: the discount covers the number of pieces set in Max Uses, most expensive first. With the default (1) it covers one piece of the most expensive matching item. A fixed discount comes off the total price of the pieces covered.
  • A coupon for a product with variants or portions also covers all its variants and portions (a coupon for "Rum" also covers "Rum 4 cl"); a coupon for a specific variant covers only that variant.
• CZK / % — a percentage can be at most 100.

Creating a voucher or coupon

After tapping New you choose the type: Gift voucher ("Sell a fixed-value gift voucher"), Deposit voucher ("Deposit or advance with fixed value") or Discount coupon ("Discount for next purchase"). The choice is narrowed by the modules turned on, the device mode and whether a shift is open. Quick actions on the side panel, if the owner added them, open the same form directly.

The form ("New gift voucher" / "New deposit voucher" / "New discount coupon") has a card with the value at the top, a numpad below it and these rows:

• Value — the amount in CZK (gift and deposit vouchers).
• Discount — for a coupon, the CZK / % switch and the value, with a short summary below such as "20% on product Cappuccino".
• Max Uses — coupons only; a window with − and + buttons (at least 1).
• Expires — starts at the default validity from Settings → Finance → General → Vouchers & Coupons (without a setting, one year ahead); valid until the end of the day. Pick a day in the calendar; No limit removes the expiry.
• Note — optional text.
• Applies to — coupons only. For Product you pick a product (search by name or SKU, or scan), for Category a category from the tree. A coupon cannot be created without this choice.

The button at the bottom is Sell (voucher — opens the payment) or Create (coupon). The code is generated automatically.

Selling a voucher. The voucher is created once the guest has paid the full amount — then the Paid window appears as after any payment (see Payments). If you close the payment without paying, the sale is cancelled and no voucher is created. If the voucher could not be saved after payment, the till does not print it and says "The payment went through, but the voucher could not be saved. Refund the bill." — refund the bill and repeat the sale. If the shift closes during the payment, the till does not record it and cancels the sale; refund the guest (card on the terminal) and sell the voucher again after opening a shift.

Voucher or coupon detail

Tapping a row in the table opens the detail with the code in the header:

• a card with the value, the coloured status (Active / Redeemed / Overused / Expired / Cancelled), for a coupon also what it applies to ("on category Cakes"), and Used ("1 of 3"),
• Type, Expires, Redeemed (only once redeemed), Created, Created by and Note.

The printer icon in the header prints the voucher on the thermal printer (only active, unexpired ones). With Auto-print voucher turned on (Settings → Register → Printing) the voucher is printed automatically when created. The receipt for a voucher sale shows the code only in the item line; the separately printed voucher carries it in large type.

The red Cancel voucher button (active ones only) invalidates the voucher after you confirm "Cancel the voucher?" — this cannot be undone. On this register the cancellation applies at once, even offline; other registers learn about it when they sync.

Applying a discount coupon

The Coupon button is on the sales screen and in the bill detail (with the Discount Coupons module on and the Redeem voucher/coupon permission). It opens the Coupon window where you enter the code on the numpad; C clears all digits. The window has no confirm button — the till checks the code as soon as the eighth digit is entered. A valid code is applied and the window closes; otherwise the window states the reason in red and you can correct the code. You can also read the code with a barcode scanner.

The till checks that the code exists, is not expired, cancelled or used up, and has something to apply to. The check runs in the till and works offline. Possible reasons for rejection: "Expired", "This code has been cancelled", "Code already redeemed", "No item on the bill matches this coupon".

• A product or category coupon needs an item in its scope without a manual discount.
• On a table bill, items still only in the cart count too; the coupon is then written to the bill after Order.
• A coupon waiting in the cart is checked again just before it is written to the bill; if it was meanwhile redeemed elsewhere or cancelled, it disappears and the bill continues without it.
• A bill always has just one coupon; to apply another, use Remove Coupon first.
• A whole-bill coupon cannot go on a bill with a manual bill discount ("The bill has a manual discount. Remove it first."). How coupons combine with manual discounts is described in Discounts.
• Gift and deposit vouchers cannot be applied with Coupon ("A gift voucher is redeemed in the payment.") — enter them in the Payment window with the Vouchers tile.

An applied coupon appears as a discount line "Coupon 1867-8357 · 50%" — a product or category coupon below the item it applies to, a whole-bill coupon down by the totals. If a coupon may be used several times, the till (not the display or the receipt) also shows which use this is ("2/5"). When the bill changes, the till recalculates the coupon; a voided discounted piece gives its use back to the coupon.

Paying with a voucher

Enter a gift or deposit voucher in the Payment window with the Vouchers tile (see Payments). A voucher is single-use: if it is worth more than what is left to pay, the till asks before redeeming it, because the excess is forfeited. A discount coupon is not accepted in the payment — it belongs on the bill.

Unknown code

A code the register does not have is rejected with "The till does not know this code. Check that it is typed correctly." On a register that syncs, a Check online button appears below the code: the till asks the server and answers in one sentence — the voucher was redeemed or cancelled (and when), is used up, has expired, does not exist, or is valid but this till does not have it yet (wait for sync and enter it again). Offline it says "The voucher cannot be checked on the server without a connection."

The check is information only — nothing is redeemed by it and payment never waits for it. On the Free plan the button is not shown, as the register holds all its vouchers.

Vouchers and revenue

Selling a gift or deposit voucher does not count as revenue — it is an advance received. Revenue arises only when the voucher is redeemed for goods. Customer credit top-ups behave the same way.

• Revenue (Dashboard, Reports, closing report) does not include voucher sales.
• Cash in the drawer does include them — you did receive the money, so the cash count matches.
• The closing report under Payments received shows Revenue, the Voucher/credit sales breakdown (Gift voucher, Deposit voucher, Customer credit) and Total received: Revenue + Voucher/credit sales + tips = Total received.
• Payments by voucher are split under Payments received into Gift voucher and Deposit voucher.
• The receipt for a voucher sale is a valid document; it just does not count towards revenue.

No VAT is charged on a voucher sale (0% rate); it is paid on the goods when the voucher is redeemed — as for a multi-purpose voucher under the VAT Act. More in Register (shifts) and Reports and Statistics.

For managers and administrators

Modules

The Vouchers & Coupons screen is visible when at least one of these modules is on in Settings → System → Modules:

• Sales Vouchers — gift and deposit vouchers: their tabs, creation and payment with the Vouchers tile.
• Discount Coupons — discount coupons: their tab, creation and the Coupon button on the bill.

Which module a new company has on depends on the business type chosen at sign-up (for most types both are off).

Permissions

Manage vouchers & coupons also requires View vouchers & coupons. By default a Helper can therefore only apply a discount coupon to a bill.

Paying with a voucher in the Payment window requires Redeem voucher/coupon together with Voucher payment (by default Operator, Manager and Administrator), and it must be allowed on the register (Settings → Register → Sell → Allowed Payments → Vouchers & Coupons).