You must review and follow local laws and regulations concerning gift card expiry.

Enabling gift card expiry

You can optionally choose to allow your gift cards to expire after a set period of time. Learn how to enable gift card expiry in Setting up gift cards.

Disabling gift card expiry

After enabling gift card expiry, all newly issued gift cards will have the chosen expiry date applied. Any changes made to the expiry settings will only affect new gift cards. Existing gift cards will be redeemable up to and including the date of expiry.

To disable expiry for new gift cards:

1. Navigate to Catalog > Gift cards.
2. In the Expiry section, uncheck the Activate gift card expiration box.

   

3. Click Save changes at the top of the page.

Changing the expiry date of gift cards in your store will not retroactively change the expiry date for gift cards that have already been issued, it will only apply to newly sold gift cards.

Checking gift card expiry dates

You can check gift card expiry dates on the Sell screen or on the receipt after a gift card is sold.

Checking gift card expiry dates on the Sell screen

To check when a gift card expires:

1. Navigate to the Sell screen.
2. Search for "gift card" and click the Gift Card product. 
3. Input the gift card number or scan the unique code on the gift card and verify the number.
4. Click Find Gift Card.
5. The Gift card (number) window will display the gift card number, current balance, and the expiry date, if applicable.

   

6. Click X (Esc) to return to the cart.

Checking gift card expiry dates on receipts

A customer can check their receipt to see when their gift card expires, as expiry dates are printed on the receipt after a gift card is sold.

To view or reprint a receipt after a sale:

1. Navigate to Sell > Sales history.
2. Click on the sale to expand the row.
3. Click Print receipt.

   

4. Select a print template, if applicable.
5. View the gift card expiry information on the receipt preview or reprint a paper copy.

   

Honoring an expired gift card

You can’t reissue an expired gift card, but you can choose to honor it if you wish. Retail POS can’t process a sale using an expired gift card through the normal gift card payment type, so you’ll need to create a new payment type to process the sale. This avoids the need to process the payment as cash or other payment types, keeping your cash drawer and reporting accurate. You can also use this approach to redeem gift cards that are managed on an external system.

Setting up the expired gift card payment type

1. Navigate to Setup > Payment types.
2. Click Add payment type.

   

3. In the Payment type dropdown, select Other payment method.

   

4. Click Begin setup. Retail POS will create the payment type and redirect you to the Other payment method setup page.
5. In the Payment information section, name the payment method "Expired gift card" or similar to differentiate it from the regular gift card payment type.
6. Use the Outlets dropdown to select outlet(s), if applicable.
7. Click Save payment type.

   

Honoring expired gift cards at the register

When you're ready to process the payment on the Sell screen, make sure the amount entered into the box at the top right is the exact amount of the gift card and choose the Expired gift card payment type.

1. On the Sell screen, add products to the cart and attach a customer to the sale.
2. If you’d like to record the expired gift card details, click Note to add a note to the sale. Notes will be printed on the receipt. You can also add a note after the sale by navigating to Sales history > expanding the sale row > Edit.

   

3. Click Pay.
4. In the Amount to Pay field, enter the exact gift card balance.
5. Click the Expired gift card payment type.
6. Select another payment type for the remaining balance, if applicable.
7. Complete the sale.

The gift card will remain as expired in your store records, so make sure to take the gift card from the customer after the sale and discard it so it can’t be reused.

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