Square gift cards on different accounts

[Anthem]

The question has been asked before but I wanted to freshen it up to this group in hopes these power users have a helpful experience.

Has anyone used gift cards across different accounts (franchise style, independent owners)? I have three business partners, we each own our locations independently, run on different square accounts but share customers. We use paper gift cards because I'm not aware of a way to create Square gift cards that can be used at all of our locations. 

Anyone have a hack that has worked or aware of something in the feature request pipeline that might create an opportunity for different square accounts to use a shared Square gift card? 

[Ria]

Hi @Anthme - Thanks for stopping by The Community ✨

Great Question.

Here are some sellers who I believe would be great to converse about gift cards with that may be very resourceful to you:

@HC_Charlie @alexandriak @bagelboss @GourmetOnWheels @homeprogreen @JupiterGames @shopfybr @LocavoreStore @londontea @vinesandrushes @allwhowander @VanKalkerFarms @sugarlab @ryanwanner @porktaco @TCSlaguna @Doran @pieous @pessosices @page158 @MichiganFarmsta

As always, feel free to stop by The Community with question, concerns and even feature requests. We are more than happy to assist. ✨

[HC_Charlie]

Wish I could add some value here but I only have one location. My only thought would be if someone presented a gift card from another associated company, you could transfer the balance to another gift card for that company. However, you'd need to be able to at least scan/verify the balance on the card and that wouldn't be possible. Would probably have to log in to each account to check and that would be cumbersome and not any more efficient than paper certificates.

[homeprogreen · Accepted solution]

The Square Gift cards are linked to the account that loaded them so can’t be used at a location that has a different Square account. Different locations for same account work fine though 

[allwhowander]

@homeprogreen is correct. You could look into custom branded Visa/MC prepaid credit cards that can be used anywhere, but that would probably be cost prohibitive. They are also prone to technical difficulties when run through Square POS. 

[Anthem]

Thanks @homeprogreen for adding to the dialogue. Yes, you are 100% correct, and exactly what I'm hoping to change or see if someone has found a hack that could be a step in the direction we are looking to go.

With the development aptitude, I've experienced as a seller and beta member at Square, we certainly have the programming capability to develop a tool allowing different accounts to self-identify into a shared group. This group could then gain access to shared tools, gift cards being the topic here. However, I could see the opportunity for the newly formed group to gain access to shared marketing tools, customer lists, coupons, and discounts, etc. 

I realize my suggestion is a solution that does not apply to the vast majority of independent businesses using Square. However, I can't help but wonder how tools like this might enable franchise brands or regional chains with separate ownership to use Square and appear as a unified brand like their customers see them. It might also allow them to have a central manager for marketing initiatives that could be made available to all group members and employed as desired (following the "at participating locations" model). 

[pessosices]

Keying in @kellyj  on this —- we talked once or twice about this kind of thing and would be interesting with @Anthem ‘s perspective on it

[homeprogreen]

The only way that I can see it working across different accounts is if Square was to come up with something like a Square branded prepaid debit card. Then it could be sold by any square merchant and used at any place that runs Square 

[Anthem]

Thanks @pessosices we have talked about this in beta convos before. I’d love to hear if there has been any progress on the topic. Maybe I’m just being duplicative but thought it was worth bringing up in general discussion to see if others had thoughts or needs for the same. 

Not sure how many existing users could benefit from the concept of a shared account universe but really curious how many doors might be opened to non-square businesses with the addition of this type of complex systems approach.