How can I refund a transaction directly onto an egift card instead of a plastic gift card?

[Richmenlooks]

How can I refund a transaction directly onto an egift card instead of a plastic gift card? We do a lot of online sales and with that receive a lot of returns. Per our store policy, we only offer store credit in which we issue an e-gift card to the customer for the credit by doing a 2 step process by returning the return items/transaction onto a plastic gift card and then a second transaction to issue an e-gift card with that plastic gift card. With this 2 step process it has been very time consuming for our employees and causing a lot of "customer favored" disputes. Which is putting a dent in our business because customer file a dispute with their bank claiming they never got their credit. We provide substantial amount of support to show our "2 Step" process for their credit but the bank still files in the customers favor. Any advise? 

[crystalimages]

I'm curious about this also. I feel like a lot has changed since I looked into the eGift Cards in the past. 

It seems like you should be able to, but only if a card had been purchased previously and you attach it to the customer. or I guess you could purchase an eGift card (the minimum amount is $1, though you can set another minimum amount), attach it to the customer as a "card on file" and return the purchase to that card. I'm not certain you can return to an eGift card, but it seems set up the same as plastic cards. Remember, there is a $2,000 limit for gift cards, including the current balance on the card. In this example, you could only add $1,999 to the $1 card.

If this is possible, I'd like clarification on it. It's a bit of a work around, but it would be an option. You could also let the customer know you can refund everything except the $1, or you just have to eat that cost to ensure they get refunded as store credit and not lose the full purchase.

Again... I'm not certain this will work. 

[crystalimages]

So, I successfully completed this. After one unsuccessful attempt.....

I had to purchase a $1 eGiftcard.

I attached the eGift card as a card on file to the customer I was refunding.

On the iPad, I found the transaction in question,

then I was able to refund to the card on file which is the eGfit Card.

I confirmed the activity of the eGift Card showed the added credit as well as the original purchase amount.

I first attempted to do this from the dashboard, but the only option I saw was refunding to the original card. So, it appears this must be done on the POS app. 

The only other thing that might be confusing, is I had to send the eCard to myself to get all 16 digits and attach it to the customer. I guess this is a security measure so employees can't use the cards without the owner knowing, just like you can only see the last 4 of a credit card.  You could let the customer know that they will receive the email and need to activate the card to process the refund, or you can re-send the eGift card and change the email to your company email to get the full card number. I guess you could send it to yourself first, attach it, add the refund, then re-send to the customer email. 

If this is something you do regular enough, you could purchase a handful ahead of time and send them to your own email, then pull them quickly from the email to get the 16-digit number. Or print them out for your employees to grab easily.

We don't do a lot of refunds period,  but I'm glad to have gone through this process so that I have this option.

As far as the charge-backs, the banks may just not agree with your policy of in-store credit no matter what. Especially if you have had a lot of them. That's not to say it's your fault, but if they see a pattern... particularly with online sales.  With large online companies just processing refunds so easily, I guess the banks think small business can do the same...  Customers see and hear what they want.  One of the best memes I've seen: "No matter how big you make the sign, they won't read it."