A voucher is normally valid immediately after purchase. However, you may wish to add a time delay between purchase and use. The VoucherCart platform has a feature that allows you to delay the voucher's validity period for a specific number of days (between 1 and 99 days) after the date/time of purchase.
For example, if you specify 3 days, the voucher is only valid for 3 days after the purchase date/time.
This feature is not enabled by default, please contact your account manager or help@vouchercart.com to enquire.
When contacting us to enable this feature, please specify how many days you wish to delay the validity so we can set this for you. The number of delay days will be the same for all vouchers.
Impact on voucher creation
There are 3 types of Redeem / Usage Window in your voucher settings, the below explains how they are affected if you apply a delay to your redeem window.
Unlimited (Voucher does not expire)
Valid period start date becomes - Purchase date + [Number of delay days specified]
End date: remains unchanged as there is no end date.
Expiry period ie: 6 months / 12 months
Valid period start date becomes - Purchase date + [Number of delay days specified]
End date becomes - Purchase date + Expiry period + [Number of delay days specified]
Set a specific usage time window
This type of redeem window remains unaffected by a delay period.
Valid period start date and end date follow the specified usage time window in the voucher setting.
What the voucher buyer will see
When purchasing a voucher or browsing your vouchers, buyers will see the Voucher validity period displayed as shown below:
“This voucher can be used [Number of days specified] after the time of purchase and is valid for [Expiry period]”
If the number of delay days set is between 1-3, it will be displayed in hours ie: 24 hours / 72 hours - otherwise, it will be shown in the number of days.
Example 1:
Example 2:
How to redeem a voucher before the voucher valid period
Sometimes you may wish to override this delay period and redeem the voucher before the specified validity period.
If a user attempts to redeem a voucher before the valid period, the user will be notified “This voucher is not yet available for redemption.”
Users without permission will not be able to redeem the voucher. They will see a warning message: “You do not have the user permission to override the redeem rule for this voucher. Please contact your system administrator.”
Administrator users and users that have “Override order voucher expiration” permission can redeem the voucher by clicking the “Proceed” button.
After redeeming a voucher before the valid date
In the voucher order details activity history, an “Expiration changed” activity is recorded with the reason “User redeem rule override”.