Gift cards can be sold at checkout, bought by clients on your booking site, or issued by you as a gift. You can also sell printed cards from a rack at your till: see Printed gift cards. Every card, however it started, is listed under Retail → Gift cards sold.
Before you start
- Who can do it: anyone who takes payments can sell a card at checkout. Seeing the list needs access to revenue setup; issuing a card from it needs permission to manage it. Voiding needs the Can void sales permission.
Sell a gift card at checkout
Open the gift card form
At checkout, under Add to cart, select Gift card.
Set the amount
Enter the Face value. Add a Note (optional) if you want something on the receipt line.
Choose how it's delivered
Under How should this card be delivered?, choose Send to recipient now to email their code when the sale is paid, or Hand to buyer if the buyer gives it themselves.
Add the recipient
Enter the Recipient email (needed for Send to recipient now), the Recipient name and a Gift message. Under Choose a design, pick a look for their email, such as Birthday or Spa. Preview the card shows what they'll get.
Add it to the sale
Select the add button, for example Add $50.00 gift card, then take payment as usual. See Take a payment.
Give a treatment instead of an amount
At checkout and on your booking site, the gift card form offers Amount or Treatment. Choose Treatment, pick the service and, when it has options, the option. The card holds the treatment's price on that day, locked at purchase, and the email tells the recipient it's enough for that treatment today. It can be spent on anything, so if the price rises later the recipient pays the difference, and if it falls the rest stays on the card.
Every active service with a fixed price can be given unless you switch it off: open the service and, under Online booking, turn off Can be given as a gift. Services with a "from" price, a hidden price or no price aren't offered. See Services and pricing.
Send a gift card on a date
Under How should this card be delivered?, choose On a date and pick the day, from tomorrow up to a year ahead. The card is issued and paid for at the sale, and the email goes at 9:00 that morning in the location's time zone. A gift for today is Send now.
Until it goes, the code stays hidden: the buyer's receipt shows who it's for and when it sends, with the last four characters of the code; the recipient doesn't see it in their wallet; and the desk doesn't offer it as credit. Your team can still read the code on the card's panel.
The panel's Delivery card says when it sends. From it you can:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Change | Move the date, or correct the recipient's name, email, mobile or message |
| Send now | Send the email straight away instead of waiting |
| Don't send | Keep the card active without emailing it, and hand the code over another way |
Resend to recipient and Let the buyer send it aren't offered while a gift is waiting, so a code can never go out twice. Refunding or voiding the card cancels the send. A dated or treatment gift is one card for one person: add another line for a second gift.
Text the gift too
When your business's own texting line is live and registered for gift card texts (set up under Settings → Clients & messages → Texting & calls), the gift card form also asks for the Recipient mobile, at checkout and on your booking site. The email is still needed: the text goes as well, never instead.
The text leaves from your own line when the email goes, at the sale or at 9:00 on the chosen day. It goes only to a number that belongs to one of your clients who hasn't opted out of your texts, and never in your quiet hours. Otherwise the email goes alone, and the Delivery card says why, for example Sent by email (this number has not agreed to texts) or Sent by email (it was quiet hours, so no text). A text that went shows in the delivery history as by text with the last four digits of the number.
A texting line registered before gift card texts were added doesn't offer the mobile: those gifts go by email.
To add, correct or remove the mobile before the gift goes, use Change on the Delivery card. Remove number clears it.
Issue a card as a gift from you
Use this for goodwill: an apology, a prize, a thank-you to a partner. Nobody pays for it.
Start
Go to Retail → Gift cards sold and select Issue a card.
Choose the amount
Pick an amount from $25 to $250, or enter a Custom amount.
Add a recipient, if any
Under For someone special (optional), enter the Recipient name, Recipient email and a Gift message. With an email, the card is sent to them.
Choose where it's valid
Under Valid at, leave All locations, or choose Selected locations and tick them.
Issue it
Select Issue a card. A message shows the new card's code.
Find and manage a card
The switch at the top shows All cards; Printed cards holds your printed batches and their stock. Search the list by code, recipient or purchaser, or filter by Status. Select a card to open its panel: the Code, Balance, who it's for, where it can be used, its expiry, and every Activity line (Issued, Redeemed, Refunded, Adjusted).
From the panel:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Resend to recipient | Emails the card to the recipient again |
| Let the buyer send it | Emails the buyer a link to choose a design, write a message and send the card themselves, so you don't take those details over the phone |
| Refund to card | For account credit kept from a deposit: sends it back to the card that paid the deposit |
| Void card | Clears the balance so the card can't be spent |
Card statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Active | Has a balance and can be spent |
| Depleted | Spent down to zero |
| Expired | Past its expiry date. Only cards imported from another system can have one. |
| Voided | Cancelled by your team |
| Not sold yet | A printed card that hasn't been sold. It has no value, and shows only when you filter for it. See Printed gift cards. |
Check it worked
The card is in the list as Active with its full balance, and Outstanding liability under Balance overview has gone up by the same amount. If you sent it to a recipient, Shared with in its panel shows their email.
If something goes wrong
The recipient didn't get the email
Check the address in the card's panel, ask them to look in spam, then select Resend to recipient.
A scheduled gift didn't send
The people who handle payment problems get a notice naming the card by the last four characters of its code and saying why: the card was empty, had no email address, or the send didn't finish. The card's panel shows Failed with the reason. Fix what it names, then use Resend to recipient.
A client wants to check their balance
They can open the link in their email, or enter the code on your booking site. Clients with an account also see their cards in their wallet. To redeem a card at checkout, see Redeem a gift card, package, or membership.
Where do I see what we owe on gift cards?
Open Balance overview at the top of the list for Outstanding liability, and the Gift-card liability ledger under Reports. See Gift card liability and expiry.