Gift Card Purchase/Sale

When a customer purchases a gift card:

Selling a customer a gift card is very similar in process to selling a customer any other item.  Make sure when selling a gift card that you choose an appropriate gift card - for example, if the card has a denomination printed on it, bear in mind that the barcode on the card will accept any denomination regardless of what is printed on the card, so use the right card for the situation. 

After you've chosen the card, simply scan the barcode as you would with a regular price label.  A screen will come up prompting you to either add funds or use funds.  If the card has no credit on it you will not have the option to use any funds.  The code on the gift card will also pop up in the search bar.

After clicking "Add Funds" (A), a window similar to the pop-up that appears when taking cash from a customer will present itself, allowing you to enter whatever amount the customer would like.  There is also a button called "Make Free" (F), but this should only be used by supervisors or with a supervisor's authority.  Once the desired amount is entered, press "OK" (Enter).

The gift card will then appear as an item with a price of whatever value you just entered.  If this value is not the correct value (if you've made a mistake or the customer changes their mind) you may delete the item from the transaction and re-scan it to enter a new amount.  Keep in mind that a gift card's balance will not be stored until payment has been given and the transaction has been completed.  You can delete the card's item listing at any time before completing the transaction to remove the card and cancel adding funds.

Once a card has been purchased, you can scan the barcode of the card to double-check that is has been loaded with funds in the correct amount. The "Use xxx Gift Card" button will display the amount of funds on it and provides an easy way to confirm.

When a customer makes a purchase with a gift card

Paying with a gift card is also easy.  After the customer's items have been scanned into the transaction you can scan the gift card's barcode to bring up and use its balance and click on the "Use xxx Gift Card" button (U).

If the gift card amount is less than the transaction total, the customer will be required to pay the remainder with some other form of tender.  (See Combine Payment Types.)

If the gift card amount is greater than the item amount and the customer has a store loyalty account, a multi-colored button will appear under their account information that says "Add up to xxx in Store Credit."  

Clicking on this button will add the remainder of the card's funds to the customer's account as store credit.  It will also add another item for the store credit addition.

If the customer does not have a store loyalty account, they'll most certainly want the remainder of their gift card balance to be available for their next purchase, there will be a "credit balance" amount where the transaction total typically goes.  This is the difference between the item cost and the gift card value.

When you click the "Use xxx Gift Card" button (U) the cards ENTIRE value is loaded into the transaction and completely empties the card.   BUT there are two very easy solutions to giving the customer the remainder of their gift card balance:  

1) Purchase another gift card!  You can even use the same card they originally gave to you.

To add their leftover balance back on to a card so they can keep it for next time just re-scan the spent card and add the amount that equals the "Credit Balance" value.  The transaction ends up looking like the customer used a gift card to buy another card, which they may ask you about.  However, this just means they get to keep the leftover funds.

This method can also be used if a customer requests to keep their balance on the card.  For instance, if a parent comes in with several children who all received gift cards for Christmas, it might not be desirable to add all of their leftover credit to their parent's loyalty account.  It makes much more sense that they would each get their gift cards back with the remaining balance on it.  Using the method described above will allow you to give the customer their gift card back and still use their loyalty account for the purchase.

2) Another method is to simply finish the transaction with the remaining balance of the card still left on the transaction screen. If you click the + button to finish the transaction, and a balance from the gift card remains, a box will appear that allows you to select what you want to do with the remaining funds:

In this window, you can select "Back on Card" to return the remaining balance directly to the original gift card without scanning it. "Store Credit" will apply the balance to the customer loyalty account, provided that account has been active in the transaction. "Cash" will prompt you to return the correct amount of change to the customer from the cash drawer, and empties the gift card completely for re-use at a later time. "Cancel" returns you to the transaction screen, in case you have anything additional to do in the transaction rather than completing it.

A receipt for the gift card will print at the end of the transaction.