How do gift cards work?

The short answer

Create prepaid cards, sell them properly, and know where their balance can be spent.

On this page

Create a card#

Path: Settings › Shop › Gift cards › New gift card.

Set the amount, optionally a colour, an expiry date and a note. A preview of the card is shown at the top.

Leave the code empty and one is generated when you save. The code field only becomes editable once the card exists, so you can retype it later if you print your own cards.

Where a card can be spent#

Path: Settings › Shop › Gift cards › Gift cards can be spent on.

Everything, the default, lets a balance pay for shop purchases at the Till and for memberships when you collect a payment. Shop only restricts it to the Till. Memberships only removes the Gift card tile from the Till entirely.

If your staff report that the Gift card option has disappeared from the Till, check this setting first. Set to Memberships only, it is not greyed out, it is simply not there. It is also absent whenever the ticket holds a membership.

Using a card at the till#

At the Till, choose the Gift card tile on the payment screen and type the code: the screen shows the balance and the amount it will cover. When you collect a payment on a member, type the code in the Gift card field instead: the amount deducted and the balance left appear next to it. The software accepts the code only if the card is active, still has a balance and has not expired.

If the ticket is bigger than the balance, the card is emptied and the difference is taken by another payment method (at the Till, press Use the amount from the card, then pay the rest). Only that difference is recorded as shop revenue, because the money for the card was already taken when you sold it.

A gift card cannot be applied to a purchase put on a tab. It only works when the purchase is paid straight away.

Changing or stopping a card

Editing an existing card lets you change the code, the note, the expiry and the Active switch. An inactive card is refused at the till and shown greyed out in the list. Each card shows its remaining balance out of its original amount.

In Reports, the Money chapter shows the balance still on your active gift cards as Gift cards sold, not yet used.

Two traps. Changing the Amount of an existing card does not top its balance back up: the balance keeps what is left of it. And deleting a card destroys its remaining balance, so a customer holding that card has nothing left. To stop a card without wiping it, turn Active off instead.

Troubleshooting

Sell it now, or no money is recorded

The new card editor has a Sell it now switch. Turn it on, pick a buyer if you want and a payment method, and saving records a payment for the card amount.

Leave it off and you have created a balance out of nothing. The card can be spent, but no money was ever booked against it.

The payment recorded by Sell it now is a plain payment whose note reads Gift card and the code of the card. It counts in your overall revenue and in Payments, but it is not a shop sale, so it does not show in the Revenue figure of the Sales tab or in the Shop row of Reports.

Did this answer your question?

PreviousWhat goes on my receipts, and where is my sales ledger?NextHow does a buddy pass work?