Why can’t us the sellers have access on our end to client gift card information?

[Chevyk]

In my 27 years in this industry I’ve never not had full access to gift card reporting and full information. I have a client that purchased a gift certificate for herself to use towards her appointments and she can’t find it. I can pull up the transaction but it only gives me the last four numbers of the gift card and no way to charge it towards her appointments. So now my reports are off. Square says it’s for security, but I’ve seriously never seen this type of information withheld from the business owner. I’ve shut off the gift certificate option and I’ll use a third party that allows me to pull up the gift by name and make it less of a hassle. Lmk when square changes this so I can keep business in one place.

[crystalimages]

Are you using the plastic gift cards from square's partner?

Have you thought about using the eGift cards? With these, you email the card to the customer so there's nothing to lose and you can resend the card information at any time should they lose the email. You can also print them if you wish, but the info is still digital and in your square dashboard. 

There's nothing to order, no upfront cost to your business in ordering physical cards.

More eco-friendly. Don't have to worry about lost cards, etc. 

You can even print them yourself if you wish, but it doesn't have a magstripe, just enter the card manually.

If you use a lot of these, I guess I could see the manual entry being an issue, but it's pretty simple. 

You can also scan them with the device camera. The customer can open the eGift Card on their phone and scan from that. 

Other features with these, you can now refund to an eGift Card, so you don't lose your money, but the customer can make another purchase. In-Store Credit.

Customers can add more funds to the card right from the card on their phone, or from your online store where they can also check their balance. If you have customers who shop with you regularly, they can add funds at their convenience for future purchases.

It does not show you the full card number in the dashboard, just the last 4 digits. 
I'm assuming this is to prevent employees from using the card personally if they have access. 

But you can send the card to the customer again and they will get the full number. 

[Chevyk]

A lot of customers prefer to physically hand a gift to someone during the holidays and special occasions. They feel it’s more personal and shows thought. Using a third part at this time allows me to track the physical cards should the recipient loose it, and it allows me to set the gift certificate for a service instead of a dollar amount so should it be discounted for any reason say like Black Friday the recipient doesn’t know their gift was purchased at a discount. So if I’m using third party for these purposes it just makes sense to keep them all in one place. It’s just disappointing because everything else I do is through square.

[crystalimages]

I totally understand that. Just trying to throw out some options. You could still print the egift card, but it is another step in the process. 

I love that you have the option to allow a customer to purchase a service instead of a dollar amount, I think that would be neat if square could do it. I guess the only complication is we still have to know a dollar amount for IRS purposes. I'm guessing the system you use does charge the buyer a dollar amount, but the person using the "gift" doesn't know the price?

[Chevyk]

Yes. The buyer know my reports reflect it as a discount which also goes towards my write offs when filing taxes.