Selling gift vouchers online: a guide for hotels, restaurants and wineries

You can sell gift vouchers online as soon as guests can pick an amount or a service on your website, pay online and receive the voucher with its own code by email. Before that, settle four things: value or service, validity, the VAT treatment and what the sale costs you in fees. This guide walks through the four points for hotels, restaurants and wineries, first for Austria, then for Germany.

Value voucher or service voucher: which suits your business?

A value voucher states an amount in euros, for example € 100 for your business. A service voucher promises a specific service, such as a cellar tour with tasting for two or one night with breakfast.

The Austrian Economic Chamber points out that with a service voucher you cannot ask for a supplement when the service has become more expensive. It therefore advises printing the value on the voucher as well.

How long does a voucher have to be valid?

Austria: there is no specific statutory rule on the validity of vouchers. Without an expiry date the general limitation period of 30 years under section 1478 ABGB applies. Shorter periods are not banned outright, but the courts set limits. According to the WKO (as of 15 October 2025), the Supreme Court has regarded a limit of three years or less on paid vouchers as impermissible when it sits in standard terms and was not negotiated individually. The shorter the period, the stronger your reason has to be. Fear of forgery does not justify two years.

The WKO describes one model the Supreme Court accepted: one year of validity from issue, followed by three years in which the voucher can be exchanged for a new one with a further year, or the amount refunded. Free vouchers from a promotion may carry short periods. A guest has no right to have a valid voucher paid out in cash.

Germany: without a valid expiry date the standard limitation period of three years applies (section 195 BGB). It starts at the end of the year in which the voucher was issued (section 199 BGB). A voucher sold in May 2026 can therefore be redeemed until 31 December 2029. Shorter periods in standard terms are risky: the Bayreuth Chamber of Commerce refers to a judgment of the Munich I Regional Court of 5 April 2007 (12 O 22084/06) that held a one-year expiry clause invalid.

This is an overview, not legal advice. Have your voucher terms checked before you publish them. In Austria the WKO supports its members; in Germany the IHK or DEHOGA does.

Single-purpose or multi-purpose voucher: when is VAT due?

Since the EU voucher directive, VAT law in Austria and Germany distinguishes two kinds. With a single-purpose voucher the place of supply and the tax due are already fixed when it is issued. VAT then arises at the sale, and the later redemption is no longer a separate transaction. Everything else is a multi-purpose voucher: the sale is not yet taxable, and the tax arises only at redemption. In Germany this is set out in section 3(13) to (15) UStG. For Austria the WKO summarises it (as of 1 April 2026) and gives a € 100 voucher of a restaurant chain as an example of a multi-purpose voucher.

• Value voucher of € 100 for a hotel with a restaurant: at the time of sale nobody knows whether it will pay for a night, food or drinks. If different VAT rates apply to these, it is a multi-purpose voucher. You record the sale as an advance payment received without VAT and tax it at redemption.
• Voucher for a cellar tour at € 60 at one site with one rate: place and tax are fixed, so it is single-purpose. At a rate of 20% the € 60 includes exactly € 10 of VAT. You pay it for the month of the sale, even if the tour takes place the following year.
• Vouchers that only promise a discount are not vouchers in this sense. The price simply drops at redemption.

Which rates apply to your services and how to treat vouchers that are never redeemed is a question for your tax adviser. The classification depends on your actual offer.

Partial redemption and remaining balance

Value vouchers are rarely used up in one go. In practice you need a single place where the balance is kept and a code that cannot be guessed. Crossing amounts off paper vouchers by hand stops working as soon as both reception and the restaurant redeem them. State in your terms that the balance remains and is not paid out in cash, and give guests a way to check their credit themselves.

What fees apply when you sell vouchers?

Vendors price very differently: a fixed monthly price, a fee per voucher sold, a percentage of the voucher value or a mix. Many vendors do not publish their voucher fees. So ask for three numbers before you sign: base price, fee per voucher and payment fee. The payment fee always applies. According to its pricing page, Stripe charges 1.5% plus € 0.25 for standard EEA cards in Austria.

Worked example: a winery sells 200 vouchers a year at € 80 each, € 16,000 in total. The payment fee at 1.5% plus € 0.25 comes to € 240 plus € 50, so € 290. If a vendor takes a further 3% of the voucher value, that adds € 480. The 3% is an assumption for the calculation, not the price of any particular vendor.

Checklist before the first sale

1. Decide the type: value voucher, service voucher or both.
2. Choose amounts and templates, for example € 50, € 100 and an amount of the buyer's choice.
3. Draft the validity period and terms and have them checked.
4. Clarify with your tax adviser whether the voucher is single-purpose or multi-purpose, and settle how to record it.
5. Test redemption at every point where guests pay, including a partial amount.
6. Link the purchase page visibly: home page, confirmation emails, and the newsletter before Christmas and Mother's Day.

How this works in EachVisit

EachVisit has a public purchase page for vouchers. After payment the voucher is activated, and buyer and recipient receive it by email. You need your own Stripe account for this. The voucher is credit with your business. It can be redeemed wherever payment runs through EachVisit, that is for rooms and appointments or when settling the stay account. If it does not cover everything, the guest pays the rest by card. If something is left, a voucher page shows the balance and can be printed.

What is missing: a ready-designed PDF voucher and a till. Whatever is consumed at the table in your restaurant goes through your own till. EachVisit does not decide the tax classification for you. Vouchers are included from the Klein plan at € 69 a month. EachVisit takes 0% commission; Stripe's own fees apply. Closed beta pricing is available on request. Regular plan prices are shown for reference; any later paid use requires your active acceptance.