Online Gifts for Your Store: 9 Formats and How to Launch

A store can start selling gifts online using products already in its range: offer gift wrapping, a few clear gift sets, and delivery directly to the recipient. To launch, decide what to offer, check stock, calculate costs, and establish how to confirm orders with customers.

Orders where one person pays and another receives the gift need the most attention. Keep their contact details separate, confirm the full price, greeting text, and delivery time in advance, and prepare procedures for failed delivery and returns. The legal terms below apply to trade in Ukraine. Offer a gift certificate only after checking the specific contractual and tax arrangement.

Which Online Gifts to Offer: 9 Formats for a Retail Store

For an initial launch, it makes sense to choose two or three formats that staff can fulfill without complicated approvals. Here are practical options. Each requires its own order details and has limitations you should explain to the customer before payment.

1. An Individual Product with Gift Wrapping

This format suits a bookstore, toy store, housewares shop, accessories store, or electronics retailer. The customer chooses a specific product, wrapping, and, if desired, a greeting card. Staff check availability of the exact model, color, or size and add the wrapping cost to the total.

For example, a smartphone can be offered with gift wrapping and delivery to another person. Before payment, confirm the model, storage capacity, color, and included items. Pack it in a way that preserves factory seals, labels, and accompanying documents: the gift wrapping must not interfere with checking the purchase.

2. A Ready-Made Set with a Fixed Contents List

A store can combine products from its range that customers find convenient to buy together: a book and bookmark, a notebook and pen, or a craft supplies set. Show every item in the offer listing, including quantity, specifications, and packaging. Before confirming the order, staff check the stock of every item in the set.

Do not leave the contents of a set up to the person packing it. If an item is unavailable, agree on a change with the customer before dispatch. For offers sold at one price, Part Three of Article 15 of Ukraine’s Law “On Consumer Protection” requires you to disclose what the offer contains, its total price, the price of each item separately, and the terms of purchase, including any restrictions.

3. A Set the Customer Builds Themselves

This format suits a store with a good selection of compatible products. Offer a limited list of items and boxes in specified sizes. Record every product, quantity, price, and selected packaging in the order so the customer can see the final total before paying.

Check that the products will fit in the box and that it can withstand transit. If the customer changes the contents, staff should recheck stock, packaging, total price, and preparation time. Selecting products for a particular recipient does not, by itself, make the set a custom-made product.

4. Gift Selection Based on a Budget

This option works well for a store whose staff know the range. Ask the customer about their budget, the recipient’s interests, and any product restrictions. Suggest several specific options with photos and full prices, then record the final choice in the order.

Do not collect unnecessary information about the recipient to make recommendations. Usually, a description of their preferences is enough; you do not need their date of birth, workplace, or other personal details. If the customer does not know the recipient’s size or accessory compatibility, suggest a product that does not require that information.

5. A Personalized Physical Product

Printing a name on a notebook, engraving, or making a product from an approved design is appropriate if the store can genuinely fulfill the order. Ask for the exact text and agree on the font, placement, material, and design preview. For photographs or images belonging to others, use materials the customer has the right to provide for this purpose.

Start work after obtaining recorded approval and the payment specified in the order terms. Set a point at which design changes will require a new quote. Do not state that all personalized goods are nonreturnable: what matters is how the product was actually made and the terms provided by law.

6. A Gift Set for a Hobby or Creative Activity

A crafts, sports, or children’s goods store can put together a set for a particular activity. State who it is suitable for, what is included, and what the recipient will need to provide separately. If age limits or usage warnings apply, keep them visible in the description and accompanying materials.

Staff check the contents against a list, and the customer confirms the appropriate difficulty level. Do not describe the set as ready to use if the activity also requires tools, consumables, or equipment.

7. Corporate Gifts with Delivery to Multiple Addresses

A store can offer a company identical sets for employees or partners if it has enough stock and time to prepare them. Agree on a sample, quantity, budget, card text, deadline for approving addresses, and the customer’s designated representative. Create a separate reference number or register entry for each shipment to avoid mixing up recipients.

Give packers only the details they need for their work, and give the carrier only the details needed to deliver a particular parcel. Set a procedure for correcting addresses and paying for reshipment. If the business uses the simplified tax system, separately check whether related services are permitted: for Group 2, the range of service customers is limited by subparagraph 2 of paragraph 291.4 of Ukraine’s Tax Code.

8. Your Own Workshop or Consultation Alongside a Product

A store can sell a materials kit with its own workshop if it has a qualified person, equipment, and time to run it. Before payment, state the duration, location or connection method, number of participants, available dates, and what the price includes. It is better to arrange the session date with the recipient rather than choosing it without their input.

Set clear booking, rescheduling, and cancellation terms that account for consumer rights. For an online session, explain the technical requirements. Do not sell a gift service the business cannot deliver as agreed or within the scope of its permitted activities.

9. Your Own Gift Certificate, After Legal Review

This option lets the recipient choose a product or the store’s own service later. Before launching, determine what obligation the certificate represents, who the seller and service provider are, how the funds are accounted for, and how the subsequent handover of the product will be documented. Review the arrangement with an accountant and, if needed, the contractual terms with a lawyer.

State the validity period and redemption locations, available range, how extra payment works, what happens to unused value, how to handle a lost code, and how refund requests are reviewed. An electronic certificate and a physical product order have different fulfillment processes: sending a code does not mean the store has already delivered a product or provided a service.

What Business Owners Should Check Before Accepting Orders

A sole proprietor (FOP, the Ukrainian abbreviation for an individual entrepreneur) should check whether their single tax group permits the planned activity. In particular, Group 1 covers retail sales from market stalls and specified household services for the public. It should not automatically be assumed to suit a standalone online store. A Group 2 entrepreneur may sell goods permitted for that group regardless of the customer’s tax status, but may provide services only to individuals and single tax payers. Therefore, before accepting a corporate order that includes separate services, check the ordering company’s tax status. The basis is paragraph 291.4 of Ukraine’s Tax Code.

Certificates require a separate review of the payment method. Under paragraph 291.6 of the Tax Code, single tax payers in Groups 1–3 must settle payment for goods shipped, work performed, and services provided exclusively in monetary form: cash or noncash, including electronic money. In its guidance on payments using certificates, the State Tax Service of Ukraine does not treat a certificate as money and considers its use in light of the restriction on nonmonetary settlements.

Before selling certificates, give your accountant a full description of the transactions: who receives the money, what the customer receives, and who issues the product to the recipient and on what basis. Choosing a particular payment label on a receipt or having a feature in your software does not remove the tax restriction. Until you confirm that the arrangement applies to your business, launch ordinary cash or noncash sales of specific gift products.

How to Set Up an Order When the Customer and Recipient Are Different People

Step 1. Show the Terms Before Payment

In the gift listing, specify the exact contents, features, availability, type of wrapping, preparation time, and delivery procedure. Show the product, personalization, wrapping, and delivery as separate line items, followed by the total. If the recipient is expected to pay for delivery, the customer must know before placing the order. For a gift, it is more practical to agree in advance that the customer will cover all costs.

Before a distance contract is concluded, the law requires the seller to disclose, among other things, their name and location, how complaints are handled, product characteristics, price including delivery, and payment, delivery, and contract termination terms. This information must be confirmed in writing or by electronic message; the seller may not unilaterally change the confirmed terms. The basis is Parts Two and Three of Article 13 and Article 15 of Ukraine’s Law “On Consumer Protection”.

Step 2. Keep Contacts Separate and Collect Only Necessary Details

Create separate fields for the customer and recipient in the order. The customer’s contact details are needed for approvals, payment, and documents; the recipient’s details are needed for delivery. Collect only what is required by the chosen delivery method: name, phone number, town or city, pickup point, or address. Do not ask for a home address if a pickup point number is enough.

The store must determine a lawful basis for processing personal data rather than relying only on the fact that the customer entered someone else’s phone number. Articles 6 and 11 of Ukraine’s Law “On Personal Data Protection” require a specific purpose, a nonexcessive set of data, and an appropriate legal basis, such as consent or performance of a transaction in the person’s favor. Determine the applicable basis for your process and explain who you will share the data with for delivery.

A practical option is to ask the customer to obtain the recipient’s agreement before sharing their contact details, or offer the recipient a way to provide delivery details directly. Do not add them to marketing lists just because they received a gift. Restrict staff access to addresses and phone numbers, and set a retention period in line with the lawful purposes of processing.

Step 3. Confirm the Greeting, Payment, and Documents

Ask the customer to separately approve the card message and sender’s name. Explain whether the store will contact the recipient before delivery: it may not be possible to keep the shipment completely secret if you need to confirm an address or delivery time. Do not include payment card details, account information, or the order amount in messages to the recipient.

Send payment confirmation and transaction documents to the customer using the appropriate method. Before marking the order paid, staff should verify that the funds have arrived in the payment system or bank. For the package insert, prepare a contents list without prices, but retain any required warranty documents, instructions, and labels.

Step 4. Confirm the Delivery Time and Check the Packaging

Confirm the requested delivery date and check how much preparation time is needed and whether delivery is available to the address. Then confirm the agreed timeframe and explain what you will do if the carrier changes the arrangements. Do not accept an order with an unconditional promise of delivery at a specific hour if the store does not control that stage.

Unless the distance contract provides otherwise, the seller must deliver within a reasonable time, no later than thirty days after receiving the consumer’s consent to conclude the contract. If the order cannot be fulfilled because the product is unavailable, the seller must notify the customer immediately, and no later than those thirty days. These are the requirements of Part Six of Article 13 of Ukraine’s Law “On Consumer Protection”; for a gift tied to a specific event, agree on the required timeframe separately.

Before dispatch, check the products, quantities, personalization, card, and address against the confirmed order. Check whether the shipping packaging protects the gift wrapping. Record the result of the check and the shipment number in the order record.

Step 5. Set Out What Happens if Delivery Fails

Before payment, explain what happens if the recipient does not respond, refuses the parcel, or fails to collect it. Staff should contact the customer, check whether the delivery can be rescheduled or the address changed, and agree on any additional costs if applicable. Failure to deliver should not automatically mean the entire amount paid is forfeited.

When a parcel is returned to the store, the responsible staff member checks the condition of the product and its packaging, records the costs, and reviews the customer’s request under the rules for the relevant product category and distance contract. Do not reship a gift without approval or use reshipment to avoid reviewing a lawful refund request.

What Exchange and Return Rules to Explain to Customers

Exchanging a product in good condition and terminating a distance contract have different terms. Under Article 9 of Ukraine’s Law “On Consumer Protection”, a consumer may exchange a nonfood product in good condition within fourteen days, excluding the day of purchase, unless the seller has announced a longer period. The product must be unused; its saleable appearance, consumer properties, seals, labels, and the proof of payment required by law must be preserved. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has approved a list of exceptions for certain categories, so check the category of each item in a gift.

If no equivalent product is available for exchange, Article 9 lets the consumer choose another product with a price adjustment, wait for an equivalent to arrive, or terminate the contract and receive a refund. In the case of termination under this provision, the money is returned on the day of termination or, if that is not possible, within an agreed period no later than seven days. Do not mechanically apply this procedure to every other basis for a return.

For a distance contract, Part Four of Article 13 provides the right to give notice of termination within fourteen days of confirmation of the information or receipt of the product or first delivery. If the information confirmation does not meet the requirements of Part Three of Article 13, the termination period is ninety days from receipt of that information; for tangible items, it runs from receipt of the product or first delivery. If the seller corrects the confirmation during that period, the consumer has fourteen days from receiving the corrected confirmation. Therefore, keep the terms sent to the customer and proof that they were confirmed.

For making or modifying a product to order, the exception in point 3 of Part Five of Article 13 applies when the product cannot be resold to another person or can only be resold at significant financial loss to the seller, unless the contract provides otherwise. An ordinary box, card, or choice of color does not automatically justify applying this exception. A deviation from the approved design or poor quality also requires separate consideration.

Unless the contract provides otherwise, under point 1 of Part Five of Article 13, a consumer cannot terminate a distance contract if the service has been provided or the product delivered electronically before the termination period expires with their consent, and they were notified of this in the confirmation of information. Check your own contract terms too: the store may provide a right to terminate even in this case.

Do not assume that sending an electronic certificate automatically makes it nonrefundable: assess the subject of the contract and which obligations have actually been fulfilled. In the store’s rules, provide a contact for requests and explain what order details are needed to review them. For termination of a distance contract, also set out how the product and money will be returned, who pays the return costs, and what condition the product must be in, in accordance with Parts Five through Nine of Article 12, which apply under Part Seven of Article 13.

The seven-day period mentioned above for termination under Article 9 is not a general refund period for distance contracts.

How to Manage an Electronic Gift Certificate

If legal and tax review confirms that the chosen arrangement is permitted, set up a separate process for issuing, selling, and redeeming certificates. Each code must identify one certificate. Staff check its status before handing over a product or providing a service and record its use immediately, so another employee does not fulfill the same obligation again.

Restrict access to full codes, do not publish them in samples, and do not send them in general lists of corporate recipients. If a code needs to be resent, first check its history: resending the same document must not create another active certificate. For a lost or compromised code, provide for request verification and a controlled replacement under the store’s rules.

How to Calculate a Gift Order’s Contribution Toward Costs

Calculate each format separately before launch. Include the product, gift and shipping packaging, paid preparation work, delivery paid for by the store, and payment processing fees. If a cost is already included under another line item, do not subtract it twice.

Illustrative example. The customer pays a total of UAH 1,400. Assume the amounts below are all direct costs for this order, delivery is fully paid by the store, and there is no other income.

Calculation: 1,400 − 700 − 120 − 80 − 100 − 28 = UAH 372. This amount still needs to cover other costs and taxes, so it is not net profit. The example does not include customer acquisition, reshipment, or return costs; add them to the actual calculation if they arise.

Managing Stock and Gift Certificates in Torgsoft

Before confirming a gift order, staff can use “Склад → Стан складу” (“Warehouse → Stock Status”) in Torgsoft to check availability, quantity, size, selling price, and cost of the product. For a set, check every item, including packaging if you track it as inventory. This gives staff the details needed to confirm the contents and calculate costs.

In “Аналіз активності покупців” (“Buyer Activity Analysis”), you can review customer purchase counts and sales amounts for a selected period and accounting center. For gift orders, consistently decide who is recorded as the customer so a purchase is not attributed to the recipient. Before assessing results, compare revenue figures that exclude returns against actual returns and costs.

After activating the add-on feature “Подарункові сертифікати” (“Gift Certificates”), the software can generate barcodes, sell certificates, set an expiry period, and show redemption history; the software will not accept a redeemed certificate again. Before launch, check the selected mode, available redemption locations, and staff permissions. According to the help documentation, selecting retail locations where certificates can be redeemed is relevant only when working through a terminal server, because certificate information is not transferred through data transmission channels.

The documentation also describes limitations: certificate information is not transferred through data transmission channels, and in the described transaction, no change is given when a purchase is below the certificate’s face value. Align these settings with the customer terms and a lawful payment arrangement; the feature itself does not confirm that the arrangement is permitted.

How to Run a Pilot and Evaluate Results

Start by limiting the number of formats and orders to a level the team can check manually. Assign responsibility for confirmation, packing, dispatch, and post-delivery requests. Before publishing the offers, walk through the entire process using a test order.

• Check the gift contents, stock, and supply of packaging.
• Calculate the full price and costs, including preparation and delivery.
• Make sure the customer sees the terms before paying and receives confirmation of them.
• Check that the customer’s and recipient’s contacts are separate, the card message is correct, and delivery details have been approved.
• Check messages and package inserts: financial information must go to the appropriate person.
• Check the procedures for confirming delivery times, failed delivery, reshipment, and reviewing returns.
• For certificates, complete the legal and tax review and test protection against reuse before selling them.

After fulfilling the first orders, compare more than just payment totals. Keep a simple register with confirmation, ready, dispatch, and delivery dates; reasons for refusals; and actual costs. For small order volumes, show absolute numbers alongside percentages so one failed delivery does not distort the assessment.

• Delivered order rate: the number of gifts delivered divided by the number dispatched. Mark parcels still in transit separately.
• On-time preparation: the number of orders ready by the agreed deadline divided by the number of orders whose preparation deadline has passed.
• On-time delivery: the number of gifts delivered within the agreed timeframe divided by the number of orders whose delivery deadline has passed.
• Returns and failed deliveries: count them separately and record the reasons, such as a packing error, damage, unsuitable product, refusal, or no response.
• Actual order contribution: subtract refunded amounts and all direct costs, including reshipping, from the money received. Compare the result across gift formats.

Use these figures to adjust specific steps: simplify the set, change the packaging, clarify delivery times, or review the price. Expand the offer once the team can reliably meet agreed terms and actual costs are clear.

Sources for Checking Launch Requirements

• Ukraine’s Law “On Consumer Protection” No. 1023-XII — Articles 9, 13, and 15: exchanges, distance contracts, and information for customers.
• Ukraine’s Law “On Personal Data Protection” No. 2297-VI — Articles 6 and 11: requirements and legal bases for data processing.
• Ukraine’s Tax Code No. 2755-VI — paragraphs 291.4 and 291.6: single tax group requirements and monetary forms of payment.
• Guidance from the State Tax Service of Ukraine on payments using gift certificates.
• Torgsoft help: “Стан складу” (“Stock Status”).
• Torgsoft help: “Аналіз активності покупців” (“Buyer Activity Analysis”).
• Torgsoft help: “Подарункові сертифікати” (“Gift Certificates”).