Money taken for a gift card isn't revenue yet. It's money you owe the holder until they spend it. Owneli tracks that balance so you always know what's outstanding, and your accountant gets the numbers without a year-end scramble.
| What happens | Effect on your books |
|---|---|
| A card is sold | Cash in, and what you owe goes up. Not revenue yet. |
| A card is spent | What you owe goes down, and the sale counts as revenue |
| A card expires with money on it | The balance stops counting as owed. Whether you can keep it is for your accountant, and it's regulated in many places. |
Packages work the same way. See Understand the finance reports.
Printed gift cards count only once they're sold. A box of blank cards, or a card in a sale that isn't paid yet, adds nothing to what you owe. See Printed gift cards.
Before you start
- Who can do it: the reports need access to reports. The Gift cards sold page needs access to revenue setup.
Check what you owe right now
Go to Retail → Gift cards sold and open Balance overview. Outstanding liability is what clients can still spend, beside Active cards and Redeemed all-time.
Gifts that haven't been sent yet
A gift card sold to be sent on a later date is owed from the day it's sold, like any other card, so it's already in Outstanding liability. On the Gift-card liability ledger, the Outstanding liability tile says underneath how much of that is still waiting to go, for example Not yet sent: $1,240.00 (16 cards). To see those cards, filter Gift cards sold by On a date.
Read the liability ledger
Open the report
Go to Reports and open Gift-card liability ledger.
Choose the period
Pick the dates, for example last month.
Read the totals
The tiles show the Opening balance, Closing balance, Outstanding liability, and what was Issued in range and Redeemed in range. If expired cards still hold money, Outstanding liability says how much underneath.
Read the days
Each row is a day: Value issued, Value redeemed, Refunded to cards, Voided, Other adjustments, Expired, Net liability change and Balance at day end.
Other reports that help
All are under Reports.
| Report | What it answers |
|---|---|
| Liability summary | Everything you owe clients right now: gift card balances and unused package sessions |
| Liability activity | Every gift card or package sale and redemption that moved the balance |
| Deferred revenue & MRR | What you owe beside your recurring membership revenue |
| Finance summary | Revenue, refunds, fees and gift card liability for a period, on one page |
Expiry
Gift cards sold or issued in Owneli have no expiry date, so they never expire. Cards brought over from another system keep the expiry date they had there.
When an imported card's date passes, it shows Expired and can no longer be spent. Its panel shows the date, and warns when it's close, for example Expires in 3 days.
Check it worked
The Closing balance for last month matches the Opening balance for this month, and Outstanding liability on the report matches the figure on Gift cards sold.
If something goes wrong
A card expired, but the client wants to use it
An expired card can't be reopened or extended. If you choose to honour it, issue a new card for the amount from Retail → Gift cards sold with Issue a card, so the ledger stays accurate.
Can I write off old balances on cards nobody uses?
Not by yourself. In most places the money is still owed until any legal expiry or unclaimed-property rules apply. Take the Gift-card liability ledger to your accountant.
Do gift cards pay commission?
A sale can pay commission if one of your commission rules covers gift cards. Spending a card doesn't. See Commission and compensation.