Differentiating between tokens and coupons

The TopClass shopping cart and eCommerce engine facilitate a number of ways to provide a promotion or discount to learners when purchasing content or products.

Tokens

Tokens are issued by the administrator for use by specific learners to purchase specific learning activities. When a learner redeems a token, they are not charged for the learning activity they purchase. Tokens may incur a flat fee, set by the administrator as a processing fee, which will be charged to the learner instead.

Tokens are created for use by one learner and one activity only. To assign a token to several students to purchase one particular product, an administrator must create a token for each student.

Expiry dates can be applied to tokens so that any tokens not redeemed before their expiry date cannot be used.

Coupons

Administrators can create coupons for learners to use when purchasing activities or products through the catalog. Coupons are used for special offers and promotions. When checking out, the learner inputs the provided coupon code and receives the designated discount, such as 20% off. Coupons can have a specific monetary value or give a percentage discount.

Coupons are not restricted to specific learners, but they can be restricted to specific learning activities.

When an administrator creates a percentage coupon, the administrator can specify how many times that coupon can be used before it becomes invalid. For example, if the administrator specifies the limit is 50, then only the first 50 users to use the coupon will get the associated percentage discount.

A 100% coupon will give a free item, less any extra expenses such as shipping and handling or transaction costs.

Expiry dates can be applied to all coupons.