Gift Voucher created by customer

Hello

Currently exploring ver 1.5 and may be the following add-on would be also a good idea:

is there a way to add an option for the customers to PURSHASE gift vouchers or configure and purchase the certain product and make it as a GIFT voucher and gift to whoever he wants. For example: I choose product > pay it and gift it to somebody (entering his email address), so the gift certificate is automaticly created and sent to the person (Plus instructions to register, etc) + confirmation is sent to the guy who bouhgt certificate and of course the shop admin gets the instructions that "order N...." is a product gift with certificate N.... awaiting for another person to accept it.

There are some logistical problems with what you suggest. The two that spring to mind first are tax and shipping charges. If you were to issue a gift voucher that is good for a specific product, how do you know how much tax and how much shipping to charge the customer. Then, when the recipient comes to your store to spend this restricted voucher, how do you manage adjustments if the recipient is liable for more or less tax or shipping charge based upon his geographic location?

If someone wants to send a specific item to a particular person, that customer should put the recipient's name and address as the shipping address for the order and put a comment in the notes that you, Mr. Store Owner, should put an appropriate note on the packing list that this is a gift from that customer.

Well, partly you are right. But if we are talking about national deliveries and flat rate shipping charges when I do not see any problem. So in this case owner of the gift will fill his/her address where to ship (we are talking about same country) and "upload the foto". This idea came from real cases. One of my customers has canvas shop and many of his customers want to make a specific gift, let us say framed canvas 50x70 cm, But the problem is they do not have a photo of the person to whom they want to present it. That is why the idea was to let people choose the gift > pay for it including flat rate shipping and give this "Certificate" to whoever he wants. The happy owner of this present fill up his details and address of shipping AND UPLOAD any photo he likes.

This was the plan. If somebody has better solution, you are welcome. (Money certifictate is not a good idea for that kind of business)

Given what you explained, your request sounds so good that now I want it, too.

I have a customer who sells classes and seminars, and this would be a wonderful way for someone to give a class as a present without having to know what class date would be preferred by the recipient.

Right now, the way they do it is much more complicated than it should be. The gift giver calls up the school and is pointed to a hidden Product, which is a "voucher" costing as much as the desired class. On the checkout page, the gift giver is told to enter the name of the recipient and any desired limitations on the gift ("any introductory class", "any Jane Smith class", etc.). The store owner then creates a Coupon with the value and Product links appropriate to the voucher purchased, and coupon validity = once only. The store owner then emails the coupon code to the purchaser and snail mails the "Gift Certificate" with instructions for redemption, to either the giver or recipient, depending upon the Shipping Address specified in the order.

So, I'm with you. Anything that can be suggested to automate this process would be a big help.