How to Sell Gift Vouchers for Your Activity Business or Experience
A gift voucher is a prepaid credit a customer buys for someone else to spend at your venue — and for an activity business it’s one of the easiest ways to bring in cash today against a session you deliver later. Done well, vouchers smooth your cash flow, win you customers who’ve never heard of you, and quietly boost your average spend. Here’s how to sell them properly.
Why gift vouchers are worth selling
For an escape room, climbing centre, pottery studio, cookery school or any experience business, vouchers do three useful things at once:
- Cash up front. You’re paid the moment the voucher sells, often weeks or months before the experience happens — the same cash-flow win as taking bookings online, but even further ahead.
- New customers, for free. A voucher is a personal recommendation with money attached. The recipient is usually someone who’d never have found you on their own.
- Higher spend. Recipients routinely top up beyond the voucher value, add a second person, or book a pricier session than they’d have bought for themselves.
- Breakage. A small share of vouchers are never redeemed. It’s revenue you keep — though don’t build your business on it, and treat unredeemed balances fairly.
Monetary vouchers vs experience vouchers
There are two clean ways to structure what you sell, and most venues offer both:
- A fixed amount — “£25 to spend at our studio.” Flexible for the buyer, simple for you, and easy to part-redeem across more than one visit.
- A specific experience — “a pottery taster for two” or “one 60-minute escape game for up to six.” This sells the outcome, not a number, and tends to convert better as a gift because the buyer can picture it.
Experience vouchers are the stronger seasonal product — for Christmas, birthdays, Mother’s and Father’s Day and anniversaries — because they read as a real present rather than “here’s some money.” Price them as a packaged session and give each one a clear, appealing name.
Expiry, refunds and the small print
You don’t have to put an expiry date on a voucher at all, and plenty of businesses don’t. If you do, keep it fair and make it obvious before purchase — under UK consumer law a hidden or unreasonably short expiry can be challenged. Twelve to twenty-four months is the usual, defensible range. A few other points to settle up front:
- Whether vouchers are refundable. Most are non-refundable but transferable — write it on the voucher. This connects to your wider refund and rescheduling policy.
- Part-redemption. Decide whether a monetary voucher can be spent across several visits, and how you’ll track the remaining balance.
- VAT. Single-purpose vouchers (one known VAT rate) are generally taxed at sale; multi-purpose vouchers at redemption. If you’re VAT-registered, check which applies with your accountant.
How to set vouchers up without losing a cut
The mechanics are simple: take payment online, issue a unique code or printable voucher to the buyer, then redeem it against a booking when the recipient is ready. The trap is fees. Many gift-card and booking tools take a percentage of every voucher sold — which stings twice, because you’re effectively paying commission on your own future work. Ticketable charges a 0% platform fee and passes your card processor (e.g. Stripe) through at cost, so the full voucher value lands in your account.
A quick checklist to launch:
- Pick your products — a couple of fixed amounts and one or two named experience vouchers.
- Connect your payments so voucher sales land directly in your bank.
- Write the terms — expiry (if any), refundability, how to redeem — and show them at checkout.
- Make them easy to find — a “Gift vouchers” link on your site and social profiles, pushed hard before each gifting season.
Promote them at the right moments
Vouchers sell in bursts around gifting dates, so plan a short campaign three to four weeks ahead of Christmas and the spring occasions, and add a “stuck for a gift?” prompt to your booking confirmations year-round. The same promotion basics apply: one consistent link, your existing customer list first, and an honest last-order deadline for posted vouchers. A voucher line on your site costs nothing to keep live — and every one sold is cash in the bank before you’ve lifted a finger.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell gift vouchers for my activity business?
Yes. Most activity venues and experience businesses sell vouchers either as a fixed monetary amount (e.g. £25 to spend) or as a specific experience (e.g. "one escape-room session for four"). The simplest approach is to set the voucher up as a bookable product that takes payment online, sends the buyer a code or printable voucher, and lets the recipient redeem it against a session later. A 0%-platform-fee tool like Ticketable means you keep the full voucher value, less only card processing at cost.
Do gift vouchers have to expire under UK law?
There's no law forcing gift vouchers to expire, and you don't have to set an expiry date at all. If you do impose one, it must be fair and made clear at the point of sale — under UK consumer law an unreasonably short or hidden expiry can be challenged. Twelve to twenty-four months is common and generally seen as reasonable. Whatever you choose, state it plainly on the voucher and at checkout.
When do I pay VAT on a gift voucher?
It depends on the voucher type. For a 'single-purpose' voucher — one that can only be redeemed against goods or services at a single, known VAT rate — VAT is generally due when the voucher is sold. For a 'multi-purpose' voucher that could be spent on items at different rates, VAT is usually accounted for when it's redeemed, not when it's sold. If you're VAT-registered, confirm which applies to you with your accountant or HMRC.