Gift cards for small business: one voucher, one experience
Sell gift cards online without a website. Customers buy a voucher for one experience or product, such as “Dinner for two”, on your page in the BonusQR app, pay by card and send it to a friend by e-mail. It’s not a money balance: your staff scan its QR code once and the voucher is redeemed in full.
- Card payment via Stripe
- QR code by e-mail
- Basic plan, 5% per sale
Gift card or gift voucher: what you actually sell
In most shops a gift card holds money. A BonusQR gift voucher holds one thing you do or sell.
A gift card with a balance
- What it holds
- An amount of money
- How it’s used
- Spent bit by bit over several visits, while someone tracks what’s left
- Top-ups
- Often reloadable
- How it arrives
- Often a plastic card or a printed certificate
- Where it’s accepted
- Sometimes in many different shops
A BonusQR gift voucher
- What it holds
- One experience or product, in your own words
- How it’s used
- Scanned once at your counter and redeemed in full
- Top-ups
- None: one purchase is one voucher
- How it arrives
- An e-mail with a QR code, also attached as an image
- Where it’s accepted
- Only at your business
Selling a pass for 10 coffees or 5 classes? That’s a prepaid package the buyer keeps for themselves, not a gift voucher. Sell it as prepaid coupons
Your page in the BonusQR app is the gift shop
You don’t need a website or an online shop of your own. Customers buy on your business page in the BonusQR app, in its E-shop tab.
- Share one link wherever people find you: your social profiles, your Google Business Profile, a website you already have or a newsletter. On the Basic plan you can give the link your business name.
- Signed-in customers tap Buy as a gift and pay by card through Stripe. One checkout buys one voucher.
- Right after paying, they enter the friend’s e-mail and, if they like, a dedication of up to 300 characters. Or they tap Send later.
- Under Your gifts they see whether each voucher is waiting, sent or redeemed. Until it’s used, they can fix a wrong address, up to three sends in total.
Buyers need a BonusQR account: visitors who aren’t signed in see “Sign in to buy”.
Where the money goes
Every voucher is paid upfront by card. Once your payout account is set up, each sale is split for you: 95% is transferred to you and 5% stays with BonusQR.
- BuyerStripePays for “Dinner for two” by card
60.00 - StripeYour businessSends 95% to your payout account
57.00 - StripeBonusQR keeps 5% for payment processing, payment gateway integration and re-invoicing
3.00 - Your businessYour transfers and payouts are in your Stripe Express dashboard, which the E‑shop Dashboard button opens
Set up payouts before your first voucher goes on sale. The Set payout details button appears in your e-shop once it has an item, so add the voucher hidden, complete Stripe’s sign-up, then make it visible. A sale made before your payout account exists stays on BonusQR’s Stripe account and is not transferred to you later by itself.
Selling through the e-shop is part of the Basic plan. See the Basic plan
What to sell: a gift voucher menu for your business
Name the experience, set the price and add a photo. Three vouchers at different prices, from a small treat to a big one, cover most budgets.
Each voucher is its own e-shop item, customized with your own picture, title, price and voucher text. There’s no card to design or print.
Dinner for two- Lunch for two
- Dinner for two
- Tasting menu for two
- Coffee and cake for two
- Breakfast for two
- A whole cake to pick up
- Blow-dry
- Cut and blow-dry
- Color, cut and style
- Manicure
- Classic facial
- Lash lift
- 30-minute massage
- 60-minute massage
- Spa afternoon for two
- Day pass
- Personal training session
- Partner session with a trainer
Doesn’t fit one voucher
A pass for 10 coffeesSell it as prepaid coupons: the buyer gets all ten for themselves.Three vouchers in one orderOne checkout buys one voucher. For a second friend, the buyer buys again.Delivery to the friend’s doorNothing is shipped: the friend redeems the voucher at your business.
From inbox to counter: one scan and it’s done
The friend gets an e-mail with the voucher and its QR code. At your counter, one scan redeems it in full.
What your staff see when they scan
The customer applies the coupon: Dinner for two
Coupon has already been redeemed once
The buyer hasn’t sent this gift voucher yet, so it can’t be redeemed yet.
A gift voucher is redeemed only by scanning the QR code from the recipient’s e-mail or app.
- The e-mail goes out in the friend’s language if they have a BonusQR account, otherwise in your business’s language.
- No app or account is needed to redeem it. If the friend wants it on their phone, Add to the app saves it in the BonusQR app once they sign in or create an account, marked “Gift from Sarah”.
- Your staff scan it with the BonusQR mobile scanner. No connection to your till is needed.
- No expiry date: the voucher stays valid until it’s redeemed.
After the gift: a new customer, not just a sale
The friend comes to your business to use the voucher. Once it’s in their BonusQR app, they’re one of your customers, and your loyalty program can bring them back.
The voucher in their app
When the friend adds the voucher to the BonusQR app, or already has an account with that e-mail, it shows up there as “Gift from Sarah”.
A new customer of yours
BonusQR records their first visit at your business, so they appear in your customer list and see your offers and news in the app.
Then your loyalty program takes over
From then on they collect rewards like any other customer, for example on a digital stamp card or with points.
The buyer joins your customer list too, if they weren’t on it before.
Before you sell your first voucher
Four things to do once. After that, customers buy and send vouchers on their own.
- Switch to the Basic plan: the e-shop is part of it.
- Add an e-shop item of the type Gift voucher: a picture, a title, a price, a description and the voucher text the friend will see. Keep it hidden for now. The type can’t be changed after saving.
- Click Set payout details in the e-shop and complete Stripe’s sign-up for your payout account.
- Make the voucher visible and share your page link where your customers already are.
Questions about selling gift vouchers
Straight answers on cost, payment and redemption.
How do I make gift cards for my small business?
Create them as gift vouchers in BonusQR’s e-shop: add an item of the type Gift voucher with a picture, title, price, description and the voucher text the friend will see, such as “Dinner for two”. Customers buy it on your page in the BonusQR app, so there is nothing to print. The e-shop is part of the Basic plan.
Can I sell gift cards online without a website?
Yes. Your business page in the BonusQR app has an E-shop tab where customers buy your vouchers, so you only share one link: in your social profiles, your Google Business Profile or on a website you already have. Buyers sign in to the BonusQR app to pay.
Is a gift voucher the same as a gift card with a balance?
No. A BonusQR gift voucher is one coupon for one experience or product. Your staff scan it once and it’s redeemed in full: there is no balance, no partial use and nothing to top up.
What does it cost, and how do I get paid?
Selling through the e-shop needs the Basic plan: 19 €/month, or 15 €/month billed yearly. Buyers pay by card through Stripe. Once you have set up your payout details in the e-shop, 95% of each sale is transferred to your Stripe payout account, and BonusQR keeps 5% for payment processing, payment gateway integration and re-invoicing.
Does the friend need the BonusQR app?
No. The friend gets an e-mail with the voucher and its QR code, also attached as an image, and shows the code when they visit. If they want it on their phone, the Add to the app button saves the voucher in the BonusQR app once they sign in or create an account.
How long is a gift voucher valid?
Until it’s redeemed. BonusQR puts no expiry date on gift vouchers.
Can a voucher be used twice or with a guessed code?
No. A gift voucher is redeemed only by the signed QR code from the friend’s e-mail or app, and its plain voucher number is refused. A second scan shows “Coupon has already been redeemed once”, and a voucher the buyer hasn’t sent yet can’t be redeemed at all.
Can I sell a pass for several visits as a gift?
Not as one gift voucher: it’s a single coupon, used up at the first scan. Passes for several visits, such as ten coffees or five classes, are sold in the e-shop as prepaid coupons that the buyer receives for themselves.
