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Gift Certificates: Refunding to Stored Credit (September 2016): https://help.pm.leapevent.tech/a/624034
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In the June 2016 release of PatronManager, we introduced our Gift Certificates program with Smart Transaction Systems, and promised that future updates would make the two systems work even better together. We have now begun that process, starting with an important feature: Refunding to Gift Card/Stored Credit.
Refunding to Gift Card and Stored Credit
We know that many of you that offer gift certificates also offer "stored credit," when if patrons can't use their tickets for a show, you might choose not to give them cash back, but instead keep the value as a "credit" on their account that can be used for future purchases at your organization.
With this release, we've made it a little easier to track that credit -- you can either load the value onto an STS gift card, or track the stored credit elsewhere on the contact record. In both cases, you'll still be able to track money allocated to stored credit in your Performance Reports.
New Refund Payment Methods
Now, you'll be able to refund tickets to one of two new special payment methods: Gift Card Credit or Stored Credit (once your organization adds either of these values to your Payment Method picklist).
You'll be able to process your refund, then go into STS’s WebTerminal to apply the refunded credit to a new gift card or load the value onto an existing card.
Not just for STS.
Even if you aren’t using STS, you can use this feature to keep track of how much of your refunds are going to stored credit versus being refunded by some other payment method.
You can also create custom fields on the contact record or post on Chatter to maintain a running record of what the current balance is for that contact, and subtract from the balance when the credit is redeemed.
What if I do things differently now?
If you currently track stored credit by exchanging into a "placeholder" Stored Credit event, you can keep using that method.
If, however, you'd like to migrate to the refund-as-Stored Credit method, we recommend that you explain what you are doing to the people that manage your organization’s finances, and/or wait until your current season is over, so that you can make sure that you have time to adjust your reports and processes accordingly.
How to get started
To start refunding to Stored Credit or Gift Card Credit, visit this help document, which will walk you through the process.