Gift Cards: General set up questions about plastic and eGift Cards with Square

[LSPA]

The title of this thread has been edited from the original: Gift cards tagging

We are new to Square and hoping to gradually migrate from our current POS (Millennium for Spa & Salon).  Initially, we are looking to migrate from Gift Certificates (Millennium) to Gift Cards/E-Gifts (Square). 

1) Is there a way to tag Gift Cards in reports, e.g., Guest, Charity, Marketing.

Guest - gift cards sold;

Charity - free donation to charity

Marketing - comp to unhappy customer or free gift for marketing (store credit)

We want to track unused & outstanding gift cards as liability on our balance sheet.  And; track Charity and Marketing donations for our CPA.

2) How do I disable (not show) promotion code field on eGift page on Square?

3) Can I create Square online store to simply redirect to Square's eGift's page?

4) I read solutions to record free gift cards for charity or marketing via discount coupons, etc. What's the elegant solution or may be Square has a fix now?

[Helen]

Welcome to Square and to the Seller Community @LSPA. I've answered each of your questions below. If you have any more questions please reply here to let me know! 

1) Is there a way to tag Gift Cards in reports, e.g., Guest, Charity, Marketing.

• There isn't a way to tag gift cards in this way. You can view Gift Card sales from the Gift Card report but that currently only shows the amount of the gift card and the type (eGift card/plastic card). I can see how tags like this would be really useful and I'll share your request with the Gift Card team.
• You can check the balance of all outstanding Gift Cards from the Gift Card report > click Export and selct Detail csv.

2) How do I disable (not show) promotion code field on eGift page on Square?

• It's not possible to disable the promotion code field at this time. Can you share why you'd like to remove this? 

3) Can I create Square online store to simply redirect to Square's eGift's page?

• Your eGift Card site is a standalone page so you can share the URL to your eGift Card page without having an Online Store! From eGift Cards section of your Square Dashboard, toggle Sell eGift Cards Online ON and you'll see the link to your eGift card. 

4) I read solutions to record free gift cards for charity or marketing via discount coupons, etc. What's the elegant solution or may be Square has a fix now?

• Currently to load a gift card for a charity to use, you can apply a 100% discount to the sale as outlined in this thread. You can also use Square Marketing to promote discount codes by email that can be used at your business. 

[LSPA]

Thanks Helen.

1) Okay. We need ability to separate Gift cards into 3 buckets: Guest sales, Charity and Marketing.  The last two categories are donations via gift cards for either charity or marketing.  Last year, the donations were around $10,000+ for 2017.  For tax reasons -- we want ability to correctly report donations to IRS.  Open to ideas or alternatives. 

2+3) We are a luxury Spa and rarely discount services (no Groupon, etc.).   The request is more for the image/marketing message that we wish to communicate to our Guests.  Alternatively if there is a way to customize and incorproate eGift into our wesbite that allows us to remove the discount/coupon section..

4) Thanks! 

[Helen]

Hi again @LSPA!

Hmm, I do see why you'd need more granular reporting for your Gift Cards. One workaround to achieve separate reporting for different 'types' of gift cards is to create a different Square location for each type. Then you would know that all the gift card sales for one location were for donations, for example. But, in practice, that might be cumbersome — to switch between locations you have to sign out of the app and sign back in to select another location. I'll keep my eyes peeled for workarounds shared in the Community! 

I also see how customization for eGift card website would be helpful. Hopefully we can offer more customization options (currently you can upload your own design) we'll definitely announce new features here in the Community! You can subscribe to the Products Update board and you'll receive an email any time a new update is posted. 

I hope this is helpful. Don't hesitate to reply if you have any other questions.

[LSPA]

Thanks Helen.  Could you confirm if Square classifies Gift card sales as liability, i.e., no sales tax and gross sales.  When a gift card is redeemed for product or service than liability become sales and is taxable.

[Helen]

When you sell a gift card, that sale will be included under Total Collected in the Sales Summary section of your online Dashboard.

To view your gift card liabilities the Gift Cards report would be the best place to look. That report has the number of cards activated (and the overall amount loaded onto the cards) and the amount redeemed. The Gift Card Detail CSV mentioned above also includes current card balances.

[LSPA]

>> When you sell a gift card, that sale will be included under Net Sales in the Sales Summary section of your online Dashboard

If I buy a $100 Square Gift card and then immediately use the gift card to buy a $100 product.  Then, above will result Net Sales of $200.  

[Helen]

Actually I was mistaken, I'm sorry! When you sell a gift card that sale will be included in the Total Collected, but not in Net Sales. 

However, when a purchase is made with a Square gift card, that sale will be included in the Net Sales. 

The Gift Card team is aware that Gift Card reporting is limited and is working to improve this!

[LSPA]

If it is helpful to the product development team, I could share with you offline gift cards reports from our current POS.  The gift cards reports allows us to stay compliant with the IRS requirments.

The Square gift card module is already tracking the relevant data -- it is just a matter of manipulating data into useful report for a merchant. 

[Helen]

Thank you @LSPA! We hear you. I'll let the product team know you'd be willing to share those reports. If they need more detail they'll reach out to you directly. Thanks again!