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    Gift Certificates & Accounts

    From the M9 docs on gift certificates:

    "You must have an account to be able to redeem a gift certificate. If they click this button and are not logged in, they will get a message saying they need to create an account."

    Why? We have many customers who do not want to have "an account" with us or anybody else. So we're going to force them to register for an account in order to redeem their gift?

    If you receive a gift card for Panera from someone, you don't need to register at Panera. You just use it like cash. The news media routinely advises people to treat gift cards as though they're cash.

    Is there no way around this on Miva?

    #2
    Re: Gift Certificates & Accounts

    You can use one of the third party gift certificate modules, but there's no way around this with the built in stuff. It's simply too insecure to do the other way (in our opinion).
    Thanks,

    Rick Wilson
    CEO
    Miva, Inc.
    [email protected]
    https://www.miva.com

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Gift Certificates & Accounts

      I'm disappointed!

      I thought I would finally be able to dump my Sebenza gift cert module but this idea is just wrong headed bullying of customers. Forced login is a bad business practice as a prerequisite for making a purchase, seeing prices, leaving a review or unsubscribing from an email list. If a person can purchase a gift certificate without logging-in then the person who is spending that cash should have the same privilege, just like every other retailer does it.
      Bill Dunn
      SunCam, Inc.
      http://www.SunCam.com
      [email protected]

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Gift Certificates & Accounts

        Bill,

        We copied Amazon's flow as we feel it's the gold standard. The nice thing about Miva is third party modules allow you to both disagree with our choices and do something about it (which is often not true on other platforms).
        Thanks,

        Rick Wilson
        CEO
        Miva, Inc.
        [email protected]
        https://www.miva.com

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Gift Certificates & Accounts

          It's also the same flow Apple uses. And there's very easy ways to simplify account creation (which is I think the best path to solving the potential UI/Flow problems you're worried about).
          Thanks,

          Rick Wilson
          CEO
          Miva, Inc.
          [email protected]
          https://www.miva.com

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Gift Certificates & Accounts

            So the new "Gift Certificates" can't be given as a gift? Who has a viable Gift Certificate module now? I'm trying to resolve what might be a conflict between the Viking Coders Gift Certificate Manager module and the new Splitpay feature.
            Leslie Kirk
            Miva Certified Developer
            Miva Merchant Specialist since 1997
            Previously of Webs Your Way
            (aka Leslie Nord leslienord)

            Email me: [email protected]
            www.lesliekirk.com

            Follow me: Twitter | Facebook | FourSquare | Pinterest | Flickr

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Gift Certificates & Accounts

              I'm not sure what you mean it can't be given as a gift? It works EXACTLY like Amazon's, which I get as gift's all the time.
              Thanks,

              Rick Wilson
              CEO
              Miva, Inc.
              [email protected]
              https://www.miva.com

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Gift Certificates & Accounts

                Originally posted by Rick Wilson View Post
                I'm not sure what you mean it can't be given as a gift? It works EXACTLY like Amazon's, which I get as gift's all the time.
                Ahhh, okay. So I can buy the gift cert, give the code to my daughter, then she can apply it to her checkout?
                Leslie Kirk
                Miva Certified Developer
                Miva Merchant Specialist since 1997
                Previously of Webs Your Way
                (aka Leslie Nord leslienord)

                Email me: [email protected]
                www.lesliekirk.com

                Follow me: Twitter | Facebook | FourSquare | Pinterest | Flickr

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Gift Certificates & Accounts

                  Yes, but she will need to have an account in the store to do that. Just like Amazon and Apple. The second step of turning it from a Gift Cert into Account Credit adds an additional layer of security to help prevent people from just "printing cash" to use at a store.
                  Thanks,

                  Rick Wilson
                  CEO
                  Miva, Inc.
                  [email protected]
                  https://www.miva.com

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Gift Certificates & Accounts

                    That makes sense or it would just become a coupon.
                    Leslie Kirk
                    Miva Certified Developer
                    Miva Merchant Specialist since 1997
                    Previously of Webs Your Way
                    (aka Leslie Nord leslienord)

                    Email me: [email protected]
                    www.lesliekirk.com

                    Follow me: Twitter | Facebook | FourSquare | Pinterest | Flickr

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Gift Certificates & Accounts

                      Which for the record, most of the "old style" Gift Certificate modules in the world (and on other platforms) are just "rebranded coupons".
                      Thanks,

                      Rick Wilson
                      CEO
                      Miva, Inc.
                      [email protected]
                      https://www.miva.com

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Gift Certificates & Accounts

                        Originally posted by Rick Wilson View Post
                        Which for the record, most of the "old style" Gift Certificate modules in the world (and on other platforms) are just "rebranded coupons".
                        Only that they carry a balance, but you're right. They were created as glorified "coupons" rather than "methods of payment".
                        Best,
                        Pamela

                        Consultant / Developer / Trainer
                        Contributing Editor to Practical Ecommerce
                        Author of the Official Guides for Miva Merchant
                        pamelahazelton.com

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Gift Certificates & Accounts

                          The second step of turning it from a Gift Cert into Account Credit adds an additional layer of security to help prevent people from just "printing cash" to use at a store.
                          When a customer uses a credit card there is a verification process. (Name, address, zip match etc.). If a crook has enough info to "Print Cash", what's to stop her from setting-up an account in a fictitious name?
                          Bill Dunn
                          SunCam, Inc.
                          http://www.SunCam.com
                          [email protected]

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Gift Certificates & Accounts

                            Originally posted by SunCam View Post
                            When a customer uses a credit card there is a verification process. (Name, address, zip match etc.). If a crook has enough info to "Print Cash", what's to stop her from setting-up an account in a fictitious name?
                            His point was that allocating the Gift Certificate balance to the recipient's account protects the code from being redeemed by a third-party. Is it possible for someone to intercept the email the recipient receives and then claim the balance for themselves? Sure - email isn't always secure, but once the code is redeemed (which only takes applying it in the store, even if one doesn't complete checkout) it's marked as used.

                            I don't necessarily agree with the flow, but it does better protect the balance from being used by another party.
                            Best,
                            Pamela

                            Consultant / Developer / Trainer
                            Contributing Editor to Practical Ecommerce
                            Author of the Official Guides for Miva Merchant
                            pamelahazelton.com

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Gift Certificates & Accounts

                              And I'll reiterate, one of the reasons Miva Merchant will always be modular, is we know not everyone is going to love all of our choices.

                              We have both current thoughts on why this is better and long term plans to handle some of the flow issues that we agree this creates, but even once all of our plans around this are fully in place, some people would prefer essentially "a super coupon" and you can do that via third party modules.
                              Thanks,

                              Rick Wilson
                              CEO
                              Miva, Inc.
                              [email protected]
                              https://www.miva.com

                              Comment

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