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Gift Cards

ProfitSystem offers standard features to allow a store to offer a gift card/certificate service. The feature includes the ability to sell gift cards, and to accept gift cards as payment for sales. A gift card is no more than an advance payment for some future item or service.

The shop may elect to not use plastic cards, but rather to issue a formal numbered certificate (note: for the remainder of this documentation, we will refer to this service as 'Gift Cards', but all references to such also apply to Gift Certificates).

To begin selling and accepting gift cards, you must first set up your ProfitSystem to do so. Once your system is set up for gift cards, you can sell them as shown below under "Selling Gift Cards" The procedure to redeem a gift card is shown under "Accepting Gift Cards as a Payment"

Please review Considerations at the end of this topic!

Setting up the Gift Card function

Turn on Gift Card Tracking:

  1. Go to Setup -> General Setup -> System Setup (or Housekeeping -> General Setup -> System Setup), click on the 'Other Settings' tab at the top.
  2. Locate the checkbox labeled'Track Gift Card Balances?', check that box, and click on the Save button.
  3. When prompted, quit and then re-start ProfitSystem on all your shop's computers.

Check your Accounting Classes for GIFTCERT:

  1. Go to Setup -> Accounting -> Accounting Classes (or Housekeeping -> Accounting Setup -> Accounting Classes).
  2. Search for an Accounting Class named GIFTCERT. Make sure the checkbox labeled 'Allow price changes?' is checked. If it isn't, check it, click the Save button, then click Done and then re-start ProfitSystem on all your shop's computers.

Check your Inventory for an item named GIFTCERTIFICATE:

  1. Go to Inventory -> Retail Inventory (or Inventory -> Inventory) and search for a Style Number named 'GIFTCERTIFICATE'​. Make sure the item exists, and that the item's 'Service/not inventoried' box is checked. If it isn't, check it, then click the Save button.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Gift Card functions in ​ProfitSystem rely upon the existence of the GIFTCERT Accounting Class and the GIFTCERTIFICATE Inventory item in order to function. These items ship by default in the ProfitSystem software. If either have since been deleted from your system, please contact BBL Systems' tech support for assistance with putting them back into the program.

Selling Gift Cards

To sell a Gift Card, please perform these steps: 1. Go to the ticket for a customer 2. Click the Sale button. 3. Enter the Style Number 'GIFTCERTIFICATE'. Enter 'NA' in the Size field, leave the Color field blank, and enter the dollar amount of the Gift Card in the Price field. Enter the Sales Associate's ID in the Sales 1 field, then click the Save button. 4. The 'Gift Card' window will appear. If you are using Gift Cards with a magnetic strip on the back, swipe the card through your credit card swipe reader now (if not, click in the 'Acct#' field, type in the card or certificate number and press Enter), then click on the Process button. 5. Now, click the Payment / Return Check button. The normal Payment screen will appear. Enter a payment that will completely pay for the entire Gift Card/Certificate just sold. Note that you cannot enter merely a partial payment; The Gift Card amount must be paid for in full at that very moment.

Accepting Gift Cards as a Payment

Accepting a Gift Card as a Payment is easy. When entering a Payment on a Customer's Sales Ticket, select 'Gift Certificate' as the Tender Type. The 'Gift Card' window will appear.

If you are using Gift Cards with a magnetic strip on the back, swipe the card through your credit card swipe reader now (if not, click in the 'Acct#' field, type in the card or certificate number and press Enter), then click on the Process button.

The screen will tell you in blue text how much balance is left on the Gift Card. You can apply part or all of the Gift Card balance, just enter into the 'Amount paid' field the amount you wish to take off the Gift Card and apply as that payment.

Reviewing a Gift Card Balance

ProfitSystem allows you to look up the balance on a Gift Card without having to go to a Payment screen. This is handy if a customer has forgotten how much balance is remaining on her Gift Card. To do this:

  1. Select Find -> Gift Card Balance (or Register Functions -> Gift Card Balance).
  2. The 'Gift Card' window will appear. If you are using Gift Cards with a magnetic strip on the back, swipe the card through your credit card swipe reader now (if not, click in the 'Acct#' field, type in the card or certificate number and press Enter), then click on the Process button. The window will tell you in how much balance is left on the Gift Card and when the Gift Card was last used.

Gift Card Report

ProfitSystem contains a report that you can run at any time to show you how much money your shop currently has 'tied-up' in Gift Cards:

  1. Select Reports -> Cust/Event/Prospects Reports -> Gift Card Balances (or Reports -> Cust/Event/Pros Reports... -> Gift Card Balances).
  2. Enter the beginning and ending Transaction Date range for which you wish to see when Gift Cards were last used, then click OK
  3. The report will show the Account (Gift Card) number, the date and time it was used during the specified date span, and the current remaining balance of the Gift Card. ​

Considerations:

Gift Certificate numbers/codes may be up to 20 alpha numeric characters and we recommend non-sequential alpha numeric codes.

The ProfitSystem Revenue report will list Gift Cards as they are issued and when they are used as payments for liability tracking.

Gift Cards may be purged based upon the Last Transaction date utilizing the Purge functions. Doing so delete any remaining balance on any Gift Cards.

You may wish to create your own Gift Certificates using a Word Processor or a Printing program, or have your own Certificates professionally printed. If you do, remember it is a good security practice to NOT utilize a sequential numbering scheme for gift cards/certificates.. Sequential numbering makes it easier for fraud. Gift Cards must be closely monitored and provides opportunity for theft. This is due to the fact that gift cards are assigned anonymously to customers. Any individual (including employees) may use them to pay for goods. A bad employee just needs to simply memorize a gift card/certificate ID number and use it to pay for personal items.

Purchasing pre-numbered gift cards

If purchasing Gift Cards with magnetic stripes insure they will work with your computer's credit card swipes. Most swipes are set to read track 2 or track 2 & 3. So a suggestion would be to put the Gift Card number in track 2. Obtain a test card and test BEFORE purchasing a large card batch.

The program is flexible on the length of the gift cards, it can be any length up to 20 alphanumeric characters. Most shops use 10 digits or 16 digits. Most shops usually pick a starting prefix number and have the supplier count up from there. Something like 5603000001 for a 10 digit number, and the vendor would use 5603000001, 5603000002, 5603000003, etc.

At sale time you need to register the gift cards with the program, usually by either swiping the magnetic stripe or scanning a barcode on it.

You'd need a USB magnetic stripe reader if you'd like to swipe the cards directly. The card number can be encoded on to track 2, and any standard magnetic stripe reader will be able to read it and send it to the computer. Most mag stripe readers read track 2 and/or 3. The Clover or PAX devices used for credit card processing can't be used to scan gift cards. They're locked down to only work with credit cards.

Many gift card vendors will also encode the gift card number into a bar code on the back of the card as well. This lets you scan the card with a barcode reader to register it with the program. This is a good backup if the magnetic stripe becomes damaged. The barcodes on gift cards can usually be read by any standard barcode reader.

The Gift card number should also be printed on the card below/above the swipe. Insure that it is hidden/masked until the card is sold.

Gift Card numbers/Codes are not pre-loaded into the system. They are added from the card/certificate as they are sold/loaded within ProfitSystem.

Technical:

When gift cards are sold, they show as revenue on the revenue report under Gift Card Revenue, or whichever revenue account is configured for the accounting class they use. When gift cards are used as payment, they show as Gift Card Payment in the revenue section of the revenue report.

For it to work correctly

The revenue account # for the accounting class used for the GIFTCERTIFICATE style code should be the same as the account # number entered for Gift Certificate on the WinPOS accounts/settings tab for the Accounting Setup. This account # should also appear on the revenue report.

To check

Go to the Retail Inventory and look up the GIFTCERTIFICATE style. Make a note of the accounting class used. Go to the Accounting Class form and locate that accounting class. Make a note of the revenue account used. Go to the Accounting Setup and make sure that revenue account is entered for the Gift Certificate account number. Finally, go to the Revenue Report setup and check all the sections to make sure that revenue account appears in at least one section.