The new gift card experience will be rolling out gradually. During this period, use the Gift cards 1.0 tab in gift card articles to access standard experience instructions or the Gift cards 2.0 tab for new experience information.
Enabling gift cards in Retail POS offers you an additional source of cash flow and allows your customers the option to purchase gift cards that can be redeemed at your store.
Enabling gift cards
Before you can start selling your gift cards, you'll need to enable the gift card feature in Retail POS. All users can sell or redeem gift cards, but only Admin users can enable Retail POS gift cards.
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Enabling gift cards (standard gift card experience)
To activate gift cards:
- Navigate to Catalog > Gift cards.
- Click the Enable gift cards toggle so that it displays a checkmark.
- Click Save.
Once enabled, a tax-exclusive product called Gift Card will be added to your store. A gift card payment option is also added to the Sell screen, which can be used when a customer redeems their gift card.
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Enabling gift cards (new gift card experience)
To activate gift cards:
- Navigate to Catalog > Gift cards.
- Click the Get started button.
- You will be brought to the Gift cards page where you can continue setting up your gift card options.
Once enabled, a tax-exclusive product called Gift Card will be added to your store. A gift card payment option is also added to the Sell screen, which can be used when a customer redeems their gift card.
If you integrate with Xero, you must map the correct account code to your gift card payment type. If a gift card fails to post to Xero, you will be notified and an error message will appear on the gift card report page, where you can re-post the failed transaction to Xero.
For QuickBooks Online, you must map your liabilities account in the Retail POS <> QuickBooks Online mappings page.
Retail POS gift cards do not work with Shopify, WooCommerce, or third-party apps except for Wrapped. BigCommerce gift certificates can be redeemed in-store.
Selecting gift card sales channels
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Selecting gift card sales channels (standard gift card experience)
In the standard gift card experience, in-store gift cards are managed in Retail POS and are not available to sell online. For omnichannel merchants with eCom (E-Series), online gift cards are managed separately in the eCom Admin Panel and can only be redeemed online.
Gift cards are not synced between Retail POS and eCom (E-Series). Orders paid with gift cards in eCom (E-Series) sync as unpaid to Retail POS.
In the new gift card experience (coming soon), gift card settings will be managed in Retail POS and omnichannel merchants can choose to sell gift cards both online and in-store, online only, or in-store only. Customers will also be able to redeem gift cards in-store or online.
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Selecting gift card sales channels (new gift card experience)
Omnichannel merchants (Retail POS and eCom (E-Series)) can choose to sell gift cards In-store and online, In-store only, or Online only:
- In-store and online: Gift cards can be sold in-store or online.
- In-store only: Gift cards can only be sold in-store on physical gift cards.
- Online only: Gift cards can only be sold online.
Customers will always have the option to redeem gift cards in-store or online.
To select gift card sales channels:
- Navigate to Catalog > Gift cards.
- Under Sales channels, select if you want to sell your gift cards In-store and online, In-store only, or Online only.
Merchants who do not have eCom (E-Series) will not see the Sales channels section in the new gift card experience. If you activate eCom in the future, the Sales channels will appear on the Gift cards page.
- Click Save changes at the top of the page.
Getting physical gift cards
If you sell gift cards for in-store use, you’ll need to purchase or create physical gift cards. You can purchase from a gift card supplier or print out your own with unique codes.
It’s recommended to use code 128 barcodes with unique 8-character alphanumeric, non-sequential codes.
Non-sequential codes reduce risks associated with fake gift cards and help prevent bad actors from guessing the next gift card sequence.
Setting gift card limits
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Setting gift card limits (standard gift card experience)
In the standard gift card experience, it’s not possible to limit the amounts that can be added to a gift card during a sale.
In the new gift card experience (coming soon), you will be able to set minimum and maximum limits.
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Setting gift card limits (new gift card experience)
You can set limits on amounts that can be added to a gift card during a sale.
To set minimum and maximum gift card limits:
- Navigate to Catalog > Gift cards.
- Under Limits, enter a minimum amount (optional).
- Enter a maximum amount (required).
Amounts must be positive whole numbers without decimals or special characters. The Maximum amount must be greater than 0 and greater than the Minimum amount.
- Click Save changes at the top of the page.
Setting predefined gift card amounts
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Setting predefined gift card amounts (standard gift card experience)
In the standard gift card experience, it’s not possible to set predefined gift card amounts.
In the new gift card experience (coming soon), you will be able to set predefined gift card amounts that add quick-select gift card amounts to the Sell screen.
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Setting predefined gift card amounts (new gift card experience)
After setting up your predefined amounts on the Gift cards page, the Sell screen will feature quick-select options so you can quickly add a set amount when selling or topping up a gift card. If no predefined amounts are set, you’ll have to enter a custom amount to add funds to the gift card.
To set up predefined gift card amounts:
- Navigate to Catalog > Gift cards.
- Under Predefined amounts, add a fixed gift card amount in the Amount 1 field.
- Click +Add another predefined amount to add another fixed gift card amount.
You can have up to 4 predefined amounts. They must be within your minimum to maximum Limits and must be positive whole numbers without decimals or special characters.
- To delete an amount, click the trash icon next to the amount.
- Click Save changes at the top of the page.
Enabling gift card expiry
You must review and follow local laws and regulations before applying gift card expiry.
You can optionally choose to allow your gift cards to expire after a set period of time.
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Enabling gift card expiry (standard gift card experience)
- Navigate to Catalog > Gift cards.
- In the Expiry section, check the Activate gift card expiration box to allow your gift cards to expire after a set period of time.
- Under Validity period, enter a whole number in the first field and choose a time period (Years, Months, Days) from the dropdown.
- Click Save changes at the top of the page.
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Enabling gift card expiry (new gift card experience)
- Navigate to Catalog > Gift cards.
- In the Expiry section, check the Activate gift card expiration box to allow your gift cards to expire after a set period of time.
- Under Validity period, enter a whole number in the first field and choose a time period (Years, Months, Days) from the dropdown.
- Click Save changes at the top of the page.
Once you have enabled gift card expiry, all newly issued gift cards will have the chosen expiry date applied. Gift cards that have already been issued will not have an expiry date. Gift cards will be redeemable up to and including the date of expiry. Learn more in the Managing gift card expiry guide.
Mapping gift card expiry to Xero and Quickbooks
If you have a Xero or Quickbooks account connected to Retail POS, you will need to set up your store so that gift card expiry revenue posts to Xero or Quickbooks when gift cards expire. If you do not map the correct account for gift cards expiry revenue, these and all other transactions will not sync to Xero or QuickBooks.
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Mapping gift card expiry to Xero
To map your gift card expiry revenue to Xero:
- In Retail POS, navigate to Setup > Apps.
- Click the pencil icon next to Xero.
- Navigate to the Accounts for liability and expiry section.
- Using the Gift card expiry revenue dropdown, choose your desired revenue account.
- Click Save.
The remaining value of all expired gift cards will now be posted as revenue to Xero. When a gift card expires it will be posted to Xero as a journal entry.
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Mapping gift card expiry to Quickbooks
To map your gift card expiry revenue to QuickBooks:
- In Retail POS, navigate to Setup > Apps.
- Click the pencil icon next to QuickBooks.
- Navigate to the Liabilities section.
- Using the Gift card revenue dropdown, choose your desired revenue account.
- Click Save.
The remaining value of all expired gift cards will now be posted as revenue to QuickBooks.