How do I check Gift Card balances?

[pmvadam]

The title of this thread was updated from its original title: “Check Gift Card Balance Option GONE?”. 

We've had Square Stands for a few months now. When we joined, we imported several hundred gift card balances from our previous POS. The team at Square was great getting them in the system, and we're able to continue processing transactions with the old cards, meanwhile selling only Square cards for ongoing business.

PROBLEM: Just recently, the "check balance" button under gift cards in the library disappeared. Now it just says to "swipe or enter number" on the gift card screen (in the library). However, it appears it will only offer information on 16 digit numbers. Is this something that came through an update? Is there no way to check values of cards from our previous system now (less than 16 digits)? I have one iPad mini that must not have updated, and I'm still (temporarily) able to check balances there, but it's not ideal. Often, customers want to know what's left on their cards. Thanks!

[VanKalkerFarms]

Yes, there was an update to loading and checking gift card balances a few days ago.  See this post for the most up to date info.  

gift card post

[pmvadam]

Thanks, I read it, but there's nothing concerning support for imported cards.

[bellefood]

Did you ever resolve the issue of checking balances for imported gift cards? I am running into the same problem and can't find a way to fix it. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

[Helen]

@bellefood Sorry to hear you're also running into this issue. Can you let us know a bit more about what's happening? When did you contact our CS team to import your third-party gift cards? 

[RHatch]

The balance is there it is just different.   On your Square POS App go to gift card item.  Swipe the card and look at the top of the screen.  It shows the last 4 digits of the Card and the balance.

[pmvadam]

Thanks. That works on new cards I sell. Unfortunately, I have several hundred older cards that were imported and do not carry 16 digit numbers. When I type in a 7 digit gift card number to check the balance, it "wiggles" red (like a bad credit card number would). I'm unable to check the values on these cards. 😕

[RHatch]

Did you try to add zeros in front of the number to make it 16 digits and see if that works?   Export a list and see if you can see these cards in your dashboard.  Not the best option for checking balances but it will work until resolved.

I would email support I am sure it was overlooked when they did the update. 

[dkhtodd]

For the last several months when a customer gives us their gift card to use and we slide it, it showed the remaining balance. The last 3 weeks or so this is not showing. That also means if we slide it and they don't have enough on the card, the transaction errors out and we have to go through more steps to use the remaining credit and a second payment. This was a lot easier and seamless before. 

Why did this change?

[dkhtodd]

For the last several months when a customer gives us their gift card to use and we slide it, it showed the remaining balance. The last 3 weeks or so this is not showing. That also means if we slide it and they don't have enough on the card, the transaction errors out and we have to go through more steps to use the remaining credit and a second payment. This was a lot easier and seamless before. 

Why did this change?