Clearing Gift Cards

[SIDL]

I am a sole proprietor massage business. I don't sell a lot of plastic gift cards or e-gift cards. But this is changing rapidly. I think the availability to purchase gifts for clients with the card services is wonderful but it is a pain in the patooty!

Currently I am having to keep track of them manually (on paper). Why? Because when checking someone out if they don't have all of the documentation I can't clear them. Then, I have to remember to use my computer later to find the information, which is not easy*, and clear the balance or enter a new balance for them. Which is another step manually.

* This is a huge pet peeve at this time. Just locating the purchased gift cards and

e-gift cards to clear them is exhausting! 

I propose a Gift Card list be available in the Square Checkout App with full identifying information of the Gift purchase including the balance and a way to make the proper balance adjustments to each individual gift. Obviously this may be done manually, but so much more conveniently for the client and me.

Perhaps an automated receipt would be sent to the purchaser with a thank you.

When the balance is zero it should be moved to a completed gift list within the app.

This would be so helpful to have a simple place to review how many outstanding gifts are waiting in the wings. As a small business, knowing I have these financial obligations is important.  I have to be able to support these purchases for future sessions.

Now, I am not a tech wizard but surely this challenge is doable.  Hopefully one of your team members will be happy to take it on.

Thanks,

SIDL

[dkhtodd]

We have several now $0 balance gift cards. We want to reset them so we can use them for different customers. When I try, I get an error "Clear Balance failed. Invalid Card. Please try a different card."  I have tried this on several. What am I doing wrong?

[Valentina]

Are you trying to clear the balance of gifts cards that currently have a $0 balance @dkhtodd?

Thanks for the help here! ✨

[dkhtodd]

yes I’m clearing a balance to reset a card.  

[Valentina]

Sorry, what I was trying to clarify was ~

What amounts are currently available to spend on the gift cards you would like to clear the balance of?

It sounds like you said the gift cards currently have a $0 balance, and that you are trying to clear the balance of these gift cards that have a $0 balance. Is that right, @dkhtodd?

[dkhtodd]

I understood Clear Balance to mean it basically resets the card like it's never been used. If I were to just re-use a $0 balance card for a new customer and they were to Check Points, it would show a previous load and usage. I don't think that's very professional.

[Valentina]

Tapping Clear Balance will clear any remaining balance and unlink the gift cards from customer receipts. Once the gift card balance has been cleared, you will need to process a separate transaction to reload it - this is not required if the gift card balance is $0.

If you're continuing to see an error when clearing the balance of your Square Gift Cards, please get in touch with our team so we can take a closer look at what may be going on here, @dkhtodd.

[pessosices]

Hey @Valentina 

So to clarify, any time a gift card reaches $0, does it automatically unlink the gift cards from Attached Customers, Loyalty, Receipts, and all that?

[Valentina]

Thanks for asking for further clarification, @pessosices!

Yes, the Gift Card will automatically be unlinked when it's balance hits $0 💸 @dkhtodd

[thefibreshop]

No, this is not the case. I have a gift card from a customer who has used 100% of the card. I want to reset it so I can reuse the card, as currently when I do a transaction history on the card it shows the original customers' information. I too keep getting an error when trying to reset the card. 

[Valentina]

The card will unlink when cleared, @thefibreshop 🧶 Is your Square Point of Sale app and/or hardware up to date?

You also stated that you are getting an error message - are you able to clarify what error message you are seeing? A screenshot would help! If you are still running into trouble after ensuring everything you are using is updated, please get in touch with our team. If you reach our over the phone or email with the customer name and the last 4 digits of the Square Gift Card, our team can attempt to clear it for you from our side.