Is it possible to batch load physical gift cards?

[ICStache]

I am new to Square and switching from another POS system, so please forgive my ignorance and possibly putting this in the wrong thread. 

This is a common occurrence for us and would love some input. We preload a lot of physical gift cards, sometimes for giveaways, marketing things or customers order them in bulk...For example, we had a customer call today and order 70 gift cards for giveaways that he wants to pick up later this week.  In our last POS, we had to load each card at the register and the register wanted payment for each card in order to activate it. That became a problem because of the quantity and having to find a lull in the checkout line and it took FOREVER, plus we wouldn't have the physical credit card to charge to so we had to charge to "Other". THEN when the customer came into pay, we would run his credit card, in essence showing double the amount of $ coming in and messing up our card liability reports.

In our old, old system (2 POSs ago), we could preload them through our back office and then charge him a flat cost with no tax. 

So my question is, is there a way to batch preload physical cards in Square, especially when it is a bunch of them? I have read that some people do a 100% discount, but does that mess up the liability report. How are others making this work?

[TheRealChipA]

Hey @ICStache.  Welcome to Square and to the Community.  I think I can clear up your questions and concerns.

First, when you start a transaction, you can add as many cards to it as you want to it.  Then when the customer pays with their card, they are all activated at one time.

Second, Square has a feature called Open Tickets that allows us to save transactions that are in process but haven’t been paid.  We can add more items to them and save them again, as well as make other changes as needed.  Then, when the customer is ready to pay, we can retrieve the transaction for the customer to pay, even if that is not the same day.  The transaction won’t post until it is actually paid.  Here is a link to the help document on Open Tickets.  Review it and let me know if you have any further questions.

Lastly, I do 100% discount gift cards all the time for donations and gifts for special customers.  The card liability numbers don’t card how much the customer paid.  They only reflect how much the card was loaded for.  All you have to do is load the card, close the transaction (even if you are closing it to $0 paid by customer) and everything else works normally.

Let me know if I missed anything or if you have any other questions.  That’s why we are here in the Seller Community!