Gift vouchers on your business website: holiday sales

A holiday gift that needs no wrapping, can be bought in a few minutes and brings your business a customer you don’t know yet: that’s a gift voucher. For a salon, restaurant, guesthouse, auto repair shop or practice, it’s also money coming in up front, before the service is even provided.

In this guide I show how to sell vouchers on your own website: from online payment, through a PDF with a code, to records and settlement. There is also a part about VAT, which I describe cautiously, because it’s a matter for your accountant.

Step 1: decide exactly what you are selling

Before you build anything, decide which vouchers you will offer. Both the look of the page and the tax settlement depend on it.

Two main options:

• a voucher for a specific service, e.g., “60-minute massage”, “dinner for two”, “tire change”, “weekend at the guesthouse”,
• a voucher for an amount, e.g., PLN 100, 200 or 500 to spend on any service you offer.

A service voucher is simpler to handle: the customer knows what they get, and you know what you have to provide. An amount voucher is more flexible but harder to settle (more on this below).

Step 2: when to start selling

It’s the beginning of November, so this is a good moment to start preparing. It’s best to launch sales in November, before Black Friday (27 November 2026), rather than waiting until mid-December.

Suggested plan:

1. by mid-November: a ready purchase form, payment and PDF template,
2. second half of November: a test purchase with your own card and the first announcement by email, on your Google Business Profile and on social media,
3. December: reminders and a clear message saying until when people can buy the electronic voucher.

The electronic version is convenient for last-minute shoppers, because the voucher arrives right away. If you also sell printed vouchers, give the last day to order.

Step 3: a purchase page that sells

The voucher page has one job: to get people to payment without questions. What it must include:

• the voucher name and a short description, plus what exactly it covers,
• the price (or several amounts to choose from) and visible information about the expiry date,
• a field for the recipient’s name and a short dedication, because it’s a gift,
• a choice of format: PDF by email or a printed version, if you offer one,
• the buyer’s details needed for an invoice, if a business is buying,
• a link to the voucher terms and conditions and consent to them at purchase,
• a clear button: “Buy voucher and pay”.

It’s good to have a voucher preview on the page too. The look matters, because the buyer hands this file over as a gift.

Step 4: online payment

A voucher sold only “by bank transfer and message” means a lot of manual work and delays. It’s much more convenient when the buyer pays on the website and gets the file automatically after paying.

What you should have:

• BLIK (the Polish mobile payment system) and card, because people buying a gift want to pay right away,
• automatic payment confirmation from the payment provider, which triggers sending the voucher,
• a purchase confirmation by email with the details needed for bookkeeping.

I connect payments as part of the online payments service: PayU, Przelewy24, BLIK and Stripe, from PLN 490 net on a CMS and from PLN 1,490 net on custom code. You will find a detailed comparison of payment gateways in the guide on payment gateways for an online store.

Step 5: a PDF with a code, and code security

After payment, the website generates a PDF file with the voucher. The PDF should include:

1. the business name and voucher description (service or amount),
2. a unique code, ideally also as a QR code for quick checking,
3. the expiry date,
4. how to redeem the voucher: phone, online booking, visit,
5. a dedication from the buyer,
6. contact details and short rules.

The code should be random and single-use. Sequential numbers (0001, 0002) are easy to guess, and a guessed code is a voucher a stranger can use. A longer string of letters and digits is safer.

An example of the message sent along with the PDF:

Hello, thank you for buying a gift voucher. Attached is a file with a code that you can print or forward to the recipient. The voucher is valid until the date shown in the file. To redeem it, call or book an appointment and give the code.

Sending emails with the voucher and reminders is handled by email marketing, and you can back up confirmations with an SMS notification.

Step 6: expiry date, terms and conditions, and redemption

A voucher without rules ends in disputes, so write them down briefly in terms and conditions. They should be visible and accepted at purchase.

What to include:

• until when the voucher is valid and what happens after that date,
• whether it can be exchanged for another service and whether it can be combined with promotions,
• whether the remaining amount can be used later, if it’s an amount voucher,
• how to book an appointment and what happens if a visit is canceled,
• what happens if the voucher is lost,
• who to contact about the voucher.

Discuss the validity period and the details of the terms with a lawyer, because this is a contractual matter, not just a technical one. I don’t give a specific number of months.

Step 7: code records

The simplest records are a table: one row, one voucher. If you have a few dozen codes, a spreadsheet is enough. With larger sales, it’s better to have a system on the website do it.

Useful columns:

When redeeming, check the code, change the status and record the date. This prevents double use and makes settling accounts with your accountant easier. I build records like this, with a panel for checking codes, as part of a custom-built website.

Step 8: VAT on vouchers, or questions for your accountant

This is the part I describe cautiously. The ustawa o VAT (Poland’s VAT Act) distinguishes between single-purpose vouchers (SPV) and multi-purpose vouchers (MPV). This determines when the tax obligation arises. In general: with a single-purpose voucher, the tax is settled when the voucher is sold, and with a multi-purpose voucher only at redemption, that is, when the service is provided or the goods are handed over.

In practice, the classification depends on whether the place of supply and the amount of tax are known at the time the voucher is issued (first put into circulation). A voucher for a single service with one VAT rate is sometimes treated differently from an amount voucher that can be spent on services with different rates. I don’t decide this for you, because it depends on your offer.

Before you start selling, ask your accountant about:

• the type of voucher (SPV or MPV) for each voucher you offer,
• when to issue an invoice or receipt when the voucher is sold and when it’s redeemed,
• recording on the cash register for online sales,
• vouchers for businesses and invoices with the buyer’s details.

Write down your accountant’s decision and stick to it in the terms and conditions and in the voucher description on the website.

What to avoid

• codes like 001, 002, which are easy to guess,
• no expiry date in the terms and conditions, because that’s a straight path to disputes,
• selling vouchers without checking VAT with your accountant,
• manually sending PDFs after bank transfers in December, when you get dozens of orders a day,
• a website that doesn’t work at peak time: test a purchase with your own card,
• no information on how to redeem the voucher.

Summary

A gift voucher sells well when the buyer pays on the website, gets a PDF with a code right away and knows until when the voucher is valid. You then have code records and less manual work. Agree on VAT settlement with your accountant in advance, because the rules depend on the type of voucher.

If you want to launch voucher sales before the holidays, write to me. I’ll connect online payments and set up PDF generation and code records. I reply within 24 hours, and new clients get a 20% discount on their first order.