Introducing Square eGift Cards

[martina_a]

We are excited to announce eGift Cards, a virtual gift card product for sellers looking to start a gift card program for the first time, or to expand their existing one.

Key highlights include:

• You can now sell eGift Cards via a free, custom order site powered by Square.
• Your customers can redeem eGift Cards in-store or on your Square Online Store
• Redemption at the point-of-sale is a breeze. eGift Cards and plastic Gift Cards can link to customer profiles in your Directory, just like with Card on File. Or, you can type in the 16-digit eGift Card code at the point-of-sale.
• eGift Cards are free to sell and redeem. You just pay processing!

Square eGift Cards are a convenient, virtual option for you to boost sales and grow your customer base. They expand the reach of your gift card program by allowing your customers to buy virtual gift cards online that are redeemable in-store or through the Square Online Store.

With eGift cards, your customers can purchase gifts online from a customizable, free order site powered by Square, and email them to friends or family either instantly or scheduled for a later date. Simply embed the eGift card order link on your website or share the link to your customers via email marketing or social media.

These eGift cards can be redeemed in your store by typing the gift card number into the Square Point of Sale app. They can also be used for purchases in your Square Online Store. Now you can run a gifting program with both physical and virtual gift cards under the same roof with unified tracking and reporting.

After setting up your eGift Card order site, be sure to let your customers know:

• Create a button on your site that says “Order Gift Cards”
• Send an email campaign with Square Marketing
• Share on your social media pages

Let’s dive into how it works!

First, head to your Square Dashboard and go to the Gift Cards section.

Select the eGift Card designs you’d like to feature on your order page, and go to the Settings section to set the denominations you’d like to make available. When you're finished, toggle Sell eGift Cards Online on.

Copy your order page URL to share with your customers. Toggle Sell eGift Cards in Store on to sell eGift Cards from your Point of Sale. You can also send a free Square Marketing email announcing eGift Cards to your customers. Just click, “Send Marketing Email.”

When your customers buy eGift Cards for their friends or family, they can select from the amounts you determined, and a fun design.

The recipient will receive an email like the one below.

The recipient can opt to link the eGift Card to their customer profile in your Directory.

When it’s time to redeem the eGift Card, search search the recipient by their phone number to retrieve the Gift Card on File.

Or, you can type the 16-digit code during checkout.

Visit your Dashboard to set up eGift Cards for your business today!

[Valentina]

Hi @Angie9!

When your customer purchases an eGift Card online, you'll be able to see the purchase in the Transactions section of your Dashboard, as well as within your Transactions in-app. If you ever want to look at all of your eGift Cards in one place, head over to the Gift Card section of your Dashboard! 🎁

[viproom]

Site does not work to set up e-gift card. I have been trying for two days now. It gets stuck on the configuration page.

Please help!

Thank you

[AdamB]

Thanks for posting about it, @viproom. If you switch to a different browser temporarily does it work for you?

[DavesDogs]

Question: We are a food truck that is probably going to get temporarily shut down by the COVID-19 situation. Our cutomers have been encouraging us to sell e-gift cards as a way of them prepaying for future orders to carry us through if that happens. So, I've been experimenting with them. I've bought a couple myself, but it doesn't seem to be being reflected as income in the daily sales reports. It's listed on the list of items that were "sold" but not as actual income. E.g., I just purchased a $5 e-gift card, and yet while the sales report says we collected $5, the gross/net sales are both $0. (I deliberately did this after midnight to make sure no other sales were received.) So, does that mean Square holds that money until the card is redeemed? If so, that's definitely not going to be doing what we need it to do.

[DavesDogs]

Also, we are getting no e-mail notification of e-gift card sales. Why not?

[Kassi_]

Hey there @DavesDogs -

Welcome to the Community. 

Yes, that eGift card will show up in the balance of your transfers and they are included in your Sales.

Gift Cards will have their own category on your Sales Summary report, so you can see them after the transaction is completed. 

[DavesDogs]

Thank you for your response, but I'm not sure I'm understanding (based on what I'm seeing). My basic questions are--if someone buys an e-gift card, do we get the money when they purchase that card or when they redeem that card? Why isn't it showing up as revenue on the sales report? AND Why aren't we getting an e-mail when that e-gift card is purchased?

I purchased a $5 e-gift card last night after midnight. When I look at today's sales report, while it is showing up in the "details" ($5 card purchased; $4.55 net), the sales report at the top says "Gross sales today are $0.00. So far this is the same as the closest Monday from the previous year." (We don't open on Mondays.) 

If we don't earn that money until the card is redeemed, it does not do what people are trying to do--which is basically to prepay for future orders and give to money to DAVE'S DOGS now. 

[Kassi_]

@DavesDogs -

Yes, you will see the funds whenever the customer first purchases the gift card.

It shows the Sales Report under its own section named "Gift Cards" and it will be included in the Total Sales of the report. 

Have your received emails before whenever an eGift card was purchased? 

[grinderjohn]

Hi - we have two locations we'd like to sell E-gift cards for. When someone buys an E-gift card, does it work at both, or do we have to sell separate cards for each location? When setting up the E-gift cards, there's a field for 'Reporting Location', but the E-gift card link doesn't change for the two different locations. Thank you.

[nika]

Hey @grinderjohn- Your egift cards can be used across different locations!

[Pbenson91]

My question might seem silly. I am wondering if someone buys a e-gift card from my online store using my link, can the customer use that gift card for any other online or in person store that accepts square? Or is that gift card tide to my store only. Thank you in advance. 

[pessosices]

Hey @Pbenson91 

Square Gift Cards sold by your Square Account are tied to your Square Account, and can only be redeemed and used at your store, online or in-person.

[Pbenson91]

Awesome!! Thank you so much for the fast reply!

[egift]

So can customers use the egift card during online checkout or not? 

[pessosices]

Hey @egift 

Yes customers can use your e-gift cards for online orders for pickup and shipping - just not delivery right now. 

[egift]

Why not delivery? I guess that's why I'm not seeing anywhere to enter the gift card info

[pessosices]

@egift I'm not really sure - it was working for a while and then just one day stopped. My guess is that it has to do with the new On-Demand Delivery options through DoorDash & Postmates, and that those can only handle actual payment - but that's just my guess. 

Square reps did say that they're working on it, so hopefully it happens soon.

For eligible orders, a text link that says "+ Add Gift Card" will show up in the Payment Info section of Checkout

[egift]

Thank you so much! You have been super helpful!!