Gift cards: follow the sale through to redemption

Give each event a different job

Start with the item description and report heading, not the amount alone. A gift-card sale records a purchase of stored value. A redemption records its use as a payment method. An itemised service line describes the work sold. A repeated $150.00 across these records does not, by itself, identify three separate commissionable sales.

Write the intended event in a calculation worksheet: for example, service value when the service invoice is issued. This is a supplied assumption for the review, not a recommendation about tax, gift-card law or staff entitlement. If the arrangement is unclear, settle that question before including the rows.

Trace a simple card across two visits

In this fictional example, a customer buys a $150.00 card on 7 September. On 21 September, they purchase a $165.00 service using the card plus $15.00 by another payment method. The service invoice supplies $15.00 tax. Under the stated service-at-invoice assumption, commission uses the $150.00 service basis at 40%.

Keep the join between the records

The useful identifiers are the gift-card reference, redemption reference and service invoice reference. Keep a restricted cross-reference if the source does not put them in one file. Use a masked card identifier in shared working papers; a full redeemable code is unnecessary for checking a commission equation.

Confirm the card amount used, any remaining balance and any additional tender. These amounts explain payment coverage. They do not replace the itemised service amount. A partial redemption may fund only part of a larger basket containing both services and retail.

1. Locate the service invoice and its individual items.
2. Match the gift-card payment to that invoice.
3. Record the event chosen for commission and the relevant staff member.
4. Mark payment-only evidence so it is not imported again as a sale.

Investigate the cases that break a simple match

A discounted card, promotional credit, several cards on one invoice or a refund to stored value can produce unequal amounts. Do not force equality by changing the service price. Separate the price of the card, its usable balance, the item price and the amount redeemed; then identify which figure the supplied arrangement actually uses.

A refund also needs its own reference and date. If the original service was already included in a closed run, keep that run intact and document the later event. Reconcile the economic explanation before deciding the commission adjustment.

Prepare rows that the current calculator can understand

Trimsum calculates flat service and retail rates from itemised rows. It does not maintain gift-card balances or automatically join card sales to redemptions. Supply the relevant service or retail lines after you have established the event and evidence.

An unknown category becomes a review question. Do not relabel a gift-card payment as a service merely to make it calculate. If it is outside the commission basis, retain the source evidence and record an exclusion reason that explains why it is outside this run.

Close with a short bridge, not a second total

Your review note should let another person follow the card reference to the service invoice and then to the commission amount. For the example: “Card payment supports invoice S-921; service basis $150.00; 40%; commission $60.00; card sale and tender excluded from commission rows.”

Before closing, search the draft for the service invoice and the card reference. Investigate any extra item rows. The final check is that the service appears once under the chosen assumption and its payment evidence remains available without inflating the commission total.