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Can I save Gift Cards for card-on-file puchases?

Is it possible to save Gift Card numbers just like CC numbers, so that the Gift Cards can be charged without the card being present?

 

Also, similarly, is there a way to retrieve Gift Card info if the card is lost?...so that any outstanding balance can be loaded onto a new card and the old card cancelled.

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Super Seller

you can see your outstanding gift card balances here.  https://squareup.com/dashboard/sales/reports/gift-cards.

 

you have to click on the transaction that bought the gift card to see its value and clear it if needed.  I don't see any way to find a list of gift cards with their balances individually.

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Square

@VanKalkerFarms - Thanks for your help with this one! 

 

@thelocalmarket - Our Card on File feature doesn't currently support automatic charging of gift cards, but I'm curious to hear a little more about your use case. Is there a reason you wouldn't prefer to charge a customer's credit card directly? 


Sean
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Sean, yes I would rather charge their CC. But in addition I'd like the gift cards to be fully functional too.

 

We've had customers say they don't like having to physically present the gift card. Square "feels" like it should be able to handle storing GCs for on-file charging. 

 

Also, what happens when a GC is lost? Can the lost card be cancelled and the balance retrieved?

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@thelocalmarket - Thanks for the follow-up. If a gift card is lost or stolen, if you locate the original transaction from the purchase of the gift card, the balance can be cleared. Otherwise, you would need to keep a running spreadsheet of the gift card numbers and customer names in order to clear a gift card by person. I'll be sure to share your feature request with our product liaison team. 


Sean
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Thanks Sean. I do see how I can clear a gift card. But without being able to view the balance, I can't return or transfer that balance to a new card for the customer.

 

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Super Seller

@Sean Am I just missing something but I don't see any place where I can see all gift cards in one place and be able to click on each to see the details of that card?  I started investigating this because we started selling gift cards on our website and I wanted to be able to cancel a card if it gets lost, I found it is easy to handle that part but finding the transaction was difficult.

 

https://squareup.com/dashboard/sales/reports/gift-cards

I can see how many cards are outstanding and how much total but it seems like on that page I would be able to see each individual card too.  trying to find the one transaction out of 15,000 that sold that specific gift card seems almost impossible.  

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I second this problem too. The only way to look up an individual GC is to find the purchase transaction. However, this requires the participation of the buyer of the GC, not the recipient.

 

In other words, gift receiver has to tell gift giver they lost the gift, then ask them to take the time to contact the store to search for the transaction and clear it.

 

While this is the same way that most gift cards have always worked (like cash, if lost then lost), this is an area that Square could make some value-added progress.

 

Allow GCs to be "registered" by the recipient, saved in the system like a CC can be, and the balance viewable at any give time.

 

Thanks Sean and team Square for working on it.

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@VanKalkerFarms - The Detail CSV gives you a bit more detail, but not full card numbers. From that spreadsheet you can see: Gift Card Token, PAN Suffix, Issue Date, Last Reload Date, Last Used Date, Current Outstanding Amount, Location. This could make locating a gift card transaction a little easier because you can search for a gift card by PAN. Also, if you have a printer, you can provide a gift receipt during the gift card purchase. As @thelocalmarket, the easiest option is to search by the credit card PAN used to make the gift card purchase. Lastly, if you use customer directory and added a customer to your sale - you could look up that customer, see their sales history, and then locate the gift card that way. Hope this helps!


Sean
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Aha, this does address one of my concerns. I had not thought that the detail csv reports would show more info than the dashboard does. But those details will allow me to verify an outstanding balance, which I could then transfer to a new card if the original is lost.

 

It's still a little tricky, because I'd have to "buy" the replacement card, which I could do with "cash" and then balance the discrepancy in my books. Tedious but very doable.

 

Is there any reason these csv reports could not include the full card numbers (instead of just last 4)? If I had the full numbers I could then allow a customer to use a card in its absence. Which is my original concern.

 

Thank you Sean.

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@thelocalmarket - Great question. In general, I know that we avoid sharing full card details in our reports and spreadsheets per PCI compliance. As for gift cards, I would assume it is for security reasons, as well. I'll be sure to share your feedback! 


Sean
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I so agree!!! Square this needs to be implemented. Having to present the physical card is great for saving waste and reuse BUT so many of my customers assume their gift cards are kept on file. At the least Gift cards should be searchable by purchaser OR intended recipient name.
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Beta Member

Thanks for this thread.  We're planning on using gift cards as the way to keep track of our new Choose Your Cuts Meat CSA for our farm.  We'll also offer just regular gift cards.  But for those that sign up for the CSA, I will be writing their name and other details on their card, and probably keeping it in a box or other handy storage so I have it when they buy stuff with their CSA balance, whether at a farmer's market, or when delivered or picked up on the farm.  Alternatively, I guess I could just write down the CSA customer's name and the card number, if they wanted to hold onto the card.  But we're really small and only do one market a weekend day.  I do think some customers will like not having to carry cash or CC with them to pay.  At least I hope that will be an attraction.

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can i add a plastic gift card to a customers file for later use? Is a plastic gift card associated to the receiving customer in any way?

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Square Community Moderator

Hey @SMW,

 

I found a similar existing discussion around charging gift cards on file.

 

It appears at this time that there's not a functionality for us to do so- but it's good to track the requests here in one thread for the Product Team.

Ashley C
Community Moderator, Square
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