Gift Card Q&A: Ask our product team anything about Square Gift Cards

[Tom]

👋 Hello Seller Community!

With the holiday season in the rearview mirror, our Square Gift Cards joined our forums to address all of your post-holiday gift card questions. Thank you to everyone who participated and stay tuned for a recap of the main themes that were brought up!

A few example questions:

• Gift Cards were a large portion of my sales during this holiday season, what are the best practices for managing redemptions?
• I'm new to Square, what do I need to know to get started with Gift Cards?
• If I could do "_______" with Square Gift Cards, it would make a big difference for my business.

[Thespringsresta]

link to gift card on my website is missing 

[Wendyct]

Hi @Thespringsresta! Do you mean that you used to have a link to your eGift Cards order page on your website but now it's missing? If you use Square Online for your website, visit our Support Center for a step-by-step guide to add the link to the eGift Card order page back to your site. If you aren't using Square Online, you can find the link to your eGift Card order site from the eGift Cards page in your online Square Dashboard. From there, I would cut and copy your order site URL and create a button that links to it from your website. 

[DancingBearChoc]

I ordered custom gift cards at the beginning of Jan and I’m wondering if I can get a ETA or tracking info? I do not see any link or contact method from the ordering process.

[Hawkspirit]

It took about 1.5-2 months for mine to arrive 😕

[Wendyct]

Hi there! After ordering your gift cards, you should be able to use the link in the confirmation email from our gift card partner, eCard Systems, to track your order status. After your order has been placed, estimated combined production time and delivery time is about 12 to 18 business days. If you’re unable to locate your confirmation email or have any additional questions about your order, please call eCard Systems directly at 1-866-776-7409 or email artwork@ecardsystems.com.

[Mystical_1331]

I would like to know if I could order gift cards with a preloaded amount already on them to give away to customers. I would also like to know if I could have cards for a membership type program to be scanned to give members rewards/discounts at time of check out.

[lornaz]

Hi! Thank you for your question. Unfortunately right now we do not offer preloaded physical gift cards. Our recommendation would be to manually load the gift cards from your Point of Sale system once you receive them. Another option would be to use digital gift cards. We recently launched the ability to purchase bulk eGift cards so you could create a 100% discount for digital gift cards on your dashboard and bulk generate eGift cards that way.

As far as membership cards and automatic group discounts, we've seen other Sellers leverage our Buyer ID and Automated Group Discounts features to accomplish a workflow like that: Buyer Identification via QR Codes + Customer Group Discounts. You can learn more about each feature here and here.

[Mystical_1331]

Thank you. That suggestion about the automatic group discount really simplified things for me.

[rjonin]

I'd like the Square gift card language removed when selling e-gift cards.  Is that something the company would consider?  The e-gift cards say there is no expiration date. That doesn't work for many businesses.

Best,

Alicia

[beekings]

I believe gift cards legally have to have no expiration date. At least in Washington State that is the law. I'm wondering if it has to do with compliance to the law.

[OurCupCakery]

Ohio the cards can't expire more the 2 years from being issued.  An expiration date has to be on the card for that to be valid.  How can we request an option to add an expiration date to gift cards?.

[Hawkspirit]

In most states/country it is illegal to have expiration dates on gift cards due to them being legal tender.   

[lornaz]

Hello! Thank you for your question. Currently, we do not support expiration dates on gift cards because there are different federal and state laws about gift card expiration across the many locations where our sellers operate. Check out this overview of gift card laws.

[artizansty]

If I could easily tie a gift card to a customer record, this would make a big difference to my business. It would add a level of traceability and means if a customer lost it, we could still allow them to redeem.

[Hawkspirit]

The only way I have done it is by when you sell the card to them, put their name in the system ("Add customer") and put the card number in the notes section.  then you can always view how much is left on the card.  if they loose the card, you can look up the card number and clear it and put that balance on a new card

[lornaz]

Hi @artizansty! Thank you for your question. You can link a gift card as a Card on File for a customer. That way, even if they lose the gift card, they are still able to redeem the balance on it. Card on File can be used for both physical and digital gift cards. Learn more about our Card on File functionality here

[artizansty]

Hey @lornaz thanks for the reply! 80% of my customer base is over 60 and do not have email addresses, how do you propose I get around the requirement to add an email address?

[lornaz]

Hi! Thanks for the response! That's a great question. Is there any way you can encourage them to add an email address? It helps ensure that they get notified when someone tries to charge their Card on File. Otherwise I don't know of a way to get around that requirement 😕 but I will pass along the request to our Customer Directory team.

@Hawkspirit's suggestion to add a note with the card number may be the best solution

[SelfieWRLD_NoVa]

Hi!  I'm Nytasha and have been operating my business, Selfie WRLD NoVA DC.  I am preparing to open a second and third location this month and would like Gift Cards to be sold and redeemed at any of the locations.  Is this possible, and if so, what do I  need to do to set this up?  I already sell Gift Cards at Selfie WRLD NoVA DC and plan to also sell gift cards at my two newest locations.  I want gift cards to be redeemable at any of the 3 locations. Looking forward to getting a response and getting this set up for my customers. Thank you!

www.selfiewrldnovadc.com

www.selfiewrldatlanta.com

www.selfiewrldvb.com

www.selfiewrld.com

[lornaz]

Hello! Thank you for the question. Awesome to hear your business is growing! If you set up these additional locations under the same account that you currently use, your Square gift cards will be redeemable across all your locations. Hope that helps!