Gift Certificates

Hi, I'm wondering if there is a service used for purchasing gift certificates that link to your websites? Do you have any services, tools or tips for online gift certificate purchases? Thanks!

Best is telephone: run credit card, email PDF. Note that in US and most states, a "gift card" paid in cash cannot have an expiration date and eventually if unused the money has to go to the state.
On the whole, we have stopped doing them: not worth the hassle and when someone really wants to give a gift, we hat the recipient book and then charge the giver's card.
Bedandbreakfast.com has stopped selling gift cards.

They are a pita.

Hate them. Have even tried to give people their money back to get them off the books. They keep their value FOREVER here and I have to keep them on the books FOREVER.
We also have some other weird laws, like if the amount left is under $5, I have to pay it in cash, even if it is a 3rd party certificate.
Mine have a special code, they are welcome to transfer it to anyone, even the ones that I give complementary. The person who enters the code has it on account.
If I give them away complementary, I can put an expiration date and conditions. And my usual condition is that they can't be used for fees, including cancellation fees.

No service. If you want to do them, make up a nice, original gift cert that cannot be randomly printed up by guests. Get payment, send card. Many states have no expiration, so check that first.
We do them, but it's not a big biz like it used to be. Most reservation systems have something built in for purchase.

My reservation system, reservation key, has a feature to sell gift certificates. It's very easy to use the feature, and I've put a link on my "packages & promos" page that puts guests right through to the form. Last year, I sold 5 between Nov 20 - Dec 20 without lifting a finger! I think some folks who are tech savvy like the ability to buy a GC online without having to ring up an innkeeper.
I also sell GC over the phone. I mark them as a reservation in my system so the income is already recorded. I keep a spreadsheet with the name and contact info. After 1 year, I call them and remind them to redeem it. After that, I kinda give up. I tried to figure out the expiration laws for my state and it appears to differ for GC for merchandise vs those for services. It looks like GC are a liability for 5 years & after that, a retailer can start charging an "inactivity fee". I can't find info on whether there's a limit to this fee.