# Gift cards: sell store credit your shoppers can redeem

GIFT CARDS: SELL STORE CREDIT YOUR SHOPPERS CAN REDEEM

Gift cards are stored-value credits that customers can spend at checkout. They
are great for gifting, for converting refunds into store credit, for rewarding
loyal customers, and for selling at the counter through your point of sale.


WHAT GIFT CARDS ARE GOOD FOR

 * Gifting — issue a card to someone and email them the code, ready to spend.
 * Goodwill credit — refund a customer with store credit instead of cash,
   keeping the spend on your store.
 * Promotional credit — issue cards as welcome offers or loyalty rewards.
 * In-store gifting — sell a physical or digital card to a walk-in customer
   through your point of sale.


WHAT'S ON A GIFT CARD

 * A unique code the shopper enters at checkout.
 * An initial amount and a current balance in the store currency.
 * A status: Active, Disabled, Expired, or Redeemed (balance fully spent).
 * An optional expiry date.
 * A recipient email for delivering the code and looking the card up later.
 * A full redemption history — every order the card was applied to, with the
   amount and date.


ISSUING A GIFT CARD FROM ADMIN

 1. Open Discounts → Gift Cards.
 2. Click Add Gift Card.
 3. Enter the recipient's email. Tick Send gift card to customer if you want the
    system to email the code immediately.
 4. Enter an amount.
 5. Enter a gift card code manually, or click Generate Code to auto-create one.
 6. Optionally set an expire date. Leave blank for a card that never expires.
 7. Click Add Gift Card.

The card is created in Active status and, if you ticked the send option, the
code is dispatched to the recipient by email.


SELLING GIFT CARDS FROM YOUR POINT OF SALE

From the POS home screen, use Sell Gift Card to issue a card to a walk-in
customer. Enter the recipient's email, the amount, and an optional code, expiry,
and recipient name — the system will email them the code if requested. Cards
sold through POS show up in the same Gift Cards list as cards issued from admin,
and they can be tendered as payment for future POS orders.


REDEMPTION AT ONLINE CHECKOUT

At checkout, shoppers see a gift card field where they enter a code and click
Apply. When a code is applied, the platform:

 1. Looks up the code and confirms the card is active and not expired.
 2. Applies up to the card's remaining balance against the order total.
 3. Records a redemption against the card with the amount, order, and timestamp.
 4. Subtracts the amount used from the card's balance.
 5. If the order total is larger than the balance, the customer pays the
    remainder with their normal payment method.

Partial redemptions are supported — a $50 card spent against a $30 order keeps a
$20 balance for next time. Customers can also apply more than one code on a
single order: each is taken in turn until the order is covered or the codes run
out.


LOOKING UP A BALANCE

Customers can see all the gift cards they hold — including the code (masked),
current balance, and status — from their account page on your storefront.

You can look up any card from Discounts → Gift Cards. The list shows the code,
creation date, expiry date, initial amount, current balance, and status;
clicking a card opens its history with every redemption.


EXPIRING OR DISABLING A CARD

An expiry date is optional. If you set one, the card automatically moves to
Expired on that date and can no longer be redeemed. If you need to revoke a card
before its expiry — for fraud or a lost card, for example — set its status to
Disabled from the gift cards list. A disabled card can be re-enabled later if
needed.


FAQ


CAN A CUSTOMER USE MORE THAN ONE GIFT CARD ON THE SAME ORDER?

Yes. The checkout accepts multiple codes one at a time and applies them in the
order they are entered, subtracting from each balance until the order total is
covered.


WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A BALANCE HITS ZERO?

The card's status changes to Redeemed and it can no longer be applied. The card
record stays in place so you and the customer can see the full redemption
history.


CAN GIFT CARDS BE COMBINED WITH DISCOUNT CODES?

Yes. Discount codes apply first, and the gift card is then used against the
remaining balance. A gift card behaves like a payment method, not a coupon.


DO GIFT CARDS EXPIRE BY DEFAULT?

No. A card has no expiry unless you set one when you create it. Local
consumer-protection rules in some regions limit how short an expiry can be —
check the rules in your market before turning on expiry.


CAN I SEE WHO USED A GIFT CARD AND WHEN?

Yes. Open the card from Discounts → Gift Cards and view its history — every
redemption is logged with the amount, the order it was applied to, and the
timestamp.