Stamp Cards – Accounting for Rewards and Discounts

What is recorded when a guest collects stamps?

Paid purchases are recorded as ordinary sales. Receiving a stamp does not automatically create a liability or an additional expense line in Vendion accounting. Stamp balances and rewards are tracked separately from sales vouchers.

When a reward is used, distinguish an order discount from a reward used as online payment value. The actual purchase flow determines what appears in the records.

When the free item is applied automatically

The POS checks ready stamp card rewards when checkout opens. A reward can also be applied automatically online. Check the order discount before completing payment. If the reward item is on the bill, one ordered unit receives a 100% discount. Vendion does not add an extra item that the guest did not order.

• If the guest orders one coffee, that coffee becomes free.
• If the guest orders two coffees, one is free and the other is paid normally.
• If the reward item is absent, the reward remains available for a later purchase.
• At most one reward per stamp card is used on the same bill, even if several rewards are ready.

The free line contributes zero sales and VAT after the discount. Other paid items are recorded normally. In POS, a percentage reward is applied as a bill discount when eligible. Automatic online redemption instead records a percentage reward as Lojalitet klippkort, capped at the remaining amount. Order sales and VAT are retained in that case.

Example: buy nine coffees and get the next free

Assume nine paid coffees at the restaurant cost SEK 50 each including 12% VAT. A completed card then gives one free coffee. This example covers a reward applied as an automatic order discount.

The tenth coffee is discounted to zero. Do not manually add SEK 50 in sales or a separate discount account for that same free line. The example uses a combined calculation; individual receipts can produce öre rounding differences when added together.

Online redemption can also appear as a payment method

When the guest explicitly redeems a stamp card reward in the online flow, its value is recorded as the Lojalitet payment method. Order sales and VAT remain unchanged, and the value is recorded in the loyalty account, normally 3731.

For example, an online order of SEK 100 with 12% VAT is covered by SEK 50 card and SEK 50 Lojalitet. This gives SEK 89.29 in sales and SEK 10.71 VAT, with SEK 50 debited to each payment account. That differs from an order line discounted to zero.

Check the receipt's discount and payment details during reconciliation. Do not use one generic entry for all stamp card redemptions.

Where do you configure the stamp card?

Go to Admin → Marknadsföring → Klippkort (Stamp cards). Open the card and check:

1. Antal stämplar för belöning – stamps required for a reward.
2. Stämpelregel – the qualifying products, categories or order amount.
3. Belöning vid fullt kort – free item or percentage discount.
4. The selected Belöningsvara or Rabatt-% vid inlösen.
5. That the card is active and changes are saved.

The list shows how many guests collect stamps, how many rewards are ready and how many have been redeemed. It is not a report of ingredient cost or deferred revenue.

Check the loyalty payment account under Admin → Bokföring → Verifikat & export → Kontoplan. There is no setting to switch stamp cards between a “discount model” and a “promotional expense model”, and no separately configurable stamp card discount account.

Calculate profitability separately

Use revenue excluding VAT when comparing it with ingredient costs. Nine paid coffees at SEK 50 with 12% VAT give SEK 401.79 in sales excluding VAT. If ten coffees together cost SEK 70 in ingredients excluding deductible VAT, the contribution after that ingredient cost is SEK 331.79. Staff, premises and other costs remain.

Use your own purchase costs in the calculation. Redeeming a stamp card in Vendion does not automatically record supplier purchases or a marketing expense equal to the item's list price.

Records for your accountant

Keep the program terms, sales records and details of redeemed rewards. The absence of an automatic liability when awarding stamps describes Vendion's behavior. Any special closing entries or tax assessment of the program terms should be handled with your accountant.

Changing a stamp card's status is not the same as a gift card expiring. Do not expect stamps to automatically reverse a gift card liability in account 2421.