They come backRedeemable once
Digital vouchers that only work once.
A digital voucher is a code that gets cancelled once: a slice of cake, a coffee on the house, 20 % for the first hundred. Whether it sits in a guest's wallet or on a flyer is up to you.
What I keep track of is the code — and that nobody redeems it twice. Not on another device either, and not at a second till.
- Voucher
- Campaign code
- Free coffee
- Discount code
One scoop on the house.
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01 · The kit
Three questions. Every answer is a different voucher.
These are exactly the three questions the designer asks when you create a voucher. Try what comes out.
1What do they get?
2Who may redeem it?
3How often does it apply?
Once. It belongs to a person.
The carrier decides the kind, not the occasion.If the voucher sits in a wallet, “only the guest” is right: the phone is the proof. If it is on paper, pick “anyone with the code”. Paper cannot prove who is holding it.
Free product · Only the guest
A coffee on the house for Kim.
The make-good after a visit that went wrong, or the earned reward from a loyalty card. She shows it in her wallet, and nothing is asked.
The tax notes are guidance, not tax advice.
02 · Five kinds
What a voucher can say.
Free product
One particular product, without paying.
“One coffee on the house”
Percentage
A discount on the purchase, between 1 and 100 %.
“20 % off everything”
Amount
A fixed discount, deducted once in full.
“€10 credited to Kim”
Free text
Anything that is not a number.
“One trial session”
03 · Who may
A ladder, not two checkboxes.
Every step gives away more than the one before. The default is the lowest, for good reason.
- Step 1 · Default
Only the guest who receives it
Meant personally and redeemable personally. In the wallet the counter asks nothing at all, the guest simply shows it. They can still give it away — then it belongs to the next person, and it stays personal.
- Step 2
Anyone who presents the code
The voucher becomes a bearer instrument. Right for anything printed: flyer, poster, gift card.
- Step 3
In money, too
The guest may ask for the value instead of the service. Rarely right, and legally a money debt. Only pick it deliberately.
04 · How it runs
How it runs.
- 01
You create a template, say “a slice of cake” or “20 % for the first hundred”.
- 02
You issue a code: into a guest's wallet, onto a flyer or onto a card. The code has eight characters, and none of them can be confused with a zero.
- 03
The counter scans it or types it in. One grip, held, and it is cancelled.
- 04
If the same code comes back, the counter says it has already been redeemed. On another device, too.
05 · From slip to spent
It counts once. After that the counter says so.
Five captured screens: three fresh codes, one of them on a slip, presented and spent — and the same code a second time. The last picture is the one paper cannot do.
- 01
The shop
Three codes in one go.
You say how many you need. Each code is eight characters, and none of them can be mistaken for a zero — so it survives bad handwriting on a card, too.
- 02
The counter
The slip is on the counter.
Scan it or type it — and the counter says what is on it: the promise, the conditions, how long it lasts. Nobody has to guess what the shop printed two months ago.
- 03
The counter
Who is presenting it?
A slip does not say whose it is. So the counter asks before it books — and from then on the voucher belongs to that guest. A code from the wallet never asks: there it is already known.
- 04
The counter
Spent.
One grip, held. After that the code is used up — not the slip, the code. The guest may keep the slip.
- 05
The counter
And the second time?
It says it is gone — on any device and in any shift. A photographed slip stays a picture of something that no longer exists.
06 · What it is not
What it is not.
- Not a code that works twice. A cancelled voucher stays cancelled, on every device.
- Not a voucher shop. You take the money at your own till — it never passes through me. You issue the voucher in the buyer’s name, so it lands in their wallet. Passing it on is something they do themselves.
- Not a default shorter than three years. Shorter deadlines are legally delicate, so the designer suggests three years.
- No guesswork at the counter. Which question gets asked follows from the voucher, not from your staff's memory.
07 · Questions
What owners ask first.
Can I print digital vouchers?
Yes. The code works on paper just as it does in the wallet — eight characters, none of them confusable with a zero. A ready-made print sheet with a QR per code is still being built; today you export the codes as a list and put them into your own layout. For printed vouchers, “anyone who presents the code” is the right step, because paper cannot prove who is holding it.
Can guests buy vouchers and give them away?
Yes, and at Christmas or for a birthday that is the most common case. Payment happens at your own till — I never touch the money and need no shop. You issue the voucher in the buyer’s name, so it lands in their wallet. From there they pass it on with a link: whoever accepts it first owns it, and if nobody accepts, it comes back. It stays personal throughout — giving it away is not the same as “anyone with the code”.
How do I stop someone using a campaign code fifty times?
With the per-person limit. For “the first 50 at the opening” you set a stock of 50 and one redemption per person. Otherwise one person takes all fifty.
How long does a voucher have to be valid?
The designer suggests three years, which matches the standard limitation period in Germany. Shorter deadlines need to be justifiable. When in doubt, ask your lawyer, not me.
What is the difference between a voucher and store credit?
A voucher is redeemed once, in full. Store credit is drawn down as often as your guest comes, until nothing is left. For tax they are two different things, which is why they are two kinds.
To store creditWhat if a guest with a voucher has no phone with them?
With a printed voucher it does not matter — the code is on the paper. With a personal voucher in the wallet, the counter can pick the guest from the list. That then shows up in the log.
What it costs: nothing during the pilot.
I am looking for businesses to join in. Whoever is in now talks directly to the person building it.
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