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Gift cards

This page shows how to sell gift cards, take them as payment and check a balance on the register, and how your head office manages them in the portal.

Fran-Trak gift cards belong to your company. A card sold at one of your stores works at any of your stores that accept gift cards.

The order screen has no separate gift card key. You sell cards from the Gift Cards department, take them as payment in the Take Payment window, and check a balance by scanning a card on the order screen.

Before you start

Gift cards must be switched on for the store. An administrator does this in the portal, in one of two places:

The tablet picks up the change within a couple of minutes.

The first time gift cards are switched on, your menu gets a Gift Cards department. It holds $10 Gift Card, $25 Gift Card, $50 Gift Card and Gift Card Reload. You can change the amounts or add more cards in Manage Menu Items. See Menus.

Keep the department name

Keep the department named Gift Cards. The register and the sales reports find gift cards by that name. Gift card items are never taxed.

Printed slips or plastic cards

Each tablet has a setting for what your gift cards are.

  1. Tap Tools, then Payments & card reader. This needs a manager.
  2. Under Gift cards, tap one:
    • Printed slips: each new card prints as a barcode slip on the receipt printer. The slip is the card. This is the default.
    • Plastic cards: your store hands out pre-printed cards. The cashier scans a card to activate it.

Plastic cards come from your head office. See Print a batch of cards.

Sell a gift card

Gift cards are sold only on a tablet that takes payment. A tablet whose main button says Complete Ticket cannot sell them.

  1. Tap the Gift Cards department.
  2. Tap the card amount, such as $25 Gift Card. To sell several, raise the quantity. Each one becomes its own card.
  3. Ring anything else the customer is buying.
  4. Tap Take Payment and take payment as usual.

After the payment, the tablet issues each card:

  • Printed slips: the tablet creates the card and shows Issue gift card. The slip prints after the receipt. Hand it to the customer.
  • Plastic cards: the tablet asks you to scan the card. Scan it, or type its number, and tap Activate this card.

When the tablet sells several cards, it shows 1 of 3, 2 of 3 and so on.

The slip shows the amount, the balance, a barcode and the card number. A new printed card also shows a PIN. The PIN prints only once, so the customer should keep the slip.

Using a plastic card on a printed-slip tablet

On the Issue gift card screen, tap Scan a card instead. Then scan the plastic card.

No plastic card at hand

On a plastic-card tablet, leave the number box empty and tap Print a new card. The card prints on a slip instead.

Sell a card for a different amount

  1. Tap Open item.
  2. Pick the Gift Cards department.
  3. Under What is it, type a name, such as "Gift card". Then type the Price.
  4. Tap Add $X, then take payment as above.

If the card does not issue

The payment stays in place. The tablet shows Card not issued and the reason.

  1. Tap Print the card (or Activate this card) to try again.
  2. Or tap Back to payment to return to the payment window.

If the slip does not print

The tablet shows the card number, the PIN and the balance on screen. Write them on the card or a slip for the customer. To get a printer working, see Test the printer.

Add money to a card

  1. Tap the Gift Cards department, then Gift Card Reload.
  2. Take payment as usual.
  3. When the tablet shows Reload gift card, scan the customer's card or type its number.
  4. Tap Reload.

A reload slip prints with the amount added and the new balance.

The reload amount is the item's price. Gift Card Reload starts at $25. To add a different amount, use Open item in the Gift Cards department and put "Reload" in the name.

A card can hold up to $5,000.

Take a gift card as payment

  1. Ring the sale and tap Take Payment.
  2. Tap Gift card.
  3. Scan the card, or type its 19-digit number. Gift card numbers start with 77.
  4. Tap Redeem toward $X.

If the card holds enough, the ticket completes.

If the card holds less than the total, the tablet takes everything on the card. It shows Gift card applied with what is left to pay. Take the rest with cash, a card or another gift card.

To give the money back to the card before the ticket completes, tap Remove next to the gift card payment. Tapping Back, then Discard, also gives it back.

Check a balance

  1. Scan the gift card while the order screen is open. Or type its number in Search name or PLU and tap Check balance.
  2. The tablet shows Gift card balance with the amount on the card.

If the card is not active, the tablet says so next to the balance.

Refunds and voids

  • A refund can go back onto the gift card that paid for the ticket.
  • Voiding a whole ticket that was paid by gift card puts the money back on the card.
  • Voiding a whole ticket that sold a gift card takes that money back off the card. If some of the card was already spent, the void leaves the card as it is. Ask your head office to adjust it.
  • A refund that gives back a gift card sale checks with the server first, whatever the refund method. If the card was already spent, the refund is refused and nothing is given back. See Refunds of gift card sales.

Messages you may see

Message What it means
That is not one of this business's gift cards. The card belongs to another business, or the number is wrong.
That card has nothing left on it. The balance is zero.
That card has not been activated, or has been closed. The card was never sold, is frozen, or was closed in the portal.
That card is already active. You scanned a card that was already sold. Use a new card.
That would put the card over its limit. A card can hold up to $5,000.
Gift cards are switched off for this store (the Tenders step in the portal). Turn on Allow Gift Cards for the store in the portal.
Gift cards need the server, and the tablet cannot reach it right now. The tablet is offline. Take another payment type.

Manage gift cards in the portal

Your head office sees every gift card for your company in the portal.

Who can do this: corporate administrators.

  1. Sign in to the portal.
  2. Click Administer, then POS Gift Cards.

The top of the page shows:

  • Outstanding (liability): the money still on active cards.
  • Sold, last 30 days and Redeemed, last 30 days.
  • Brand code: the four digits after 77 on every one of your cards.

Look up a card

  1. In Find a card, scan the card, type its number, or type its last four digits.
  2. Click Look up.

The card shows its status, balance and history: where it was sold, each sale, reload and redemption, and who rang it.

Freeze, adjust or close a card

  • Freeze stops a card from being used, for example when it is reported lost. Unfreeze allows it again.
  • Adjust balance adds or takes off money. Type a positive or negative amount and a note, then click Apply.
  • Close card voids whatever is left on the card. Type why, then click Apply and confirm. A closed card can never be used again.

Each change goes on the card's history with your note.

Use this to order plastic cards from a printer.

  1. Under Print a batch of cards, enter how many cards (1 to 500).
  2. Optional: add a label, such as "Holiday 2026".
  3. Click Mint and download and confirm.

You get a CSV file of card numbers and PINs. Send it to whoever prints your cards.

Keep the file safe

The download is the only copy of the PINs. Fran-Trak cannot show them again.

Cards from a batch stay inactive until a register sells one.

Reports

  • Outstanding cards CSV downloads every card that still holds money. every card downloads all cards.
  • The store table shows, for each store, the cards sold, the money Issued onto cards, the money Redeemed there, and the Net.

When stores have different owners, the net shows what each store owes or is owed for cards sold in one store and spent in another. Whether money changes hands is up to your company.