Gift cards are cash, so treat them like cash
Gift cards sell well in the Gulf around Eid, Ramadan, Mother’s Day, graduations and the end of the school year, and companies buy them in bulk for staff. They bring in money before the food is served and often bring a new guest through the door. The risk is that a gift card is effectively cash: a code that anyone can spend. A paper voucher with a handwritten amount, or a code in a spreadsheet, invites mistakes and worse. A proper gift card system tracks every load and every spend, by person, and keeps the codes out of sight.
Sell a gift card at the till
On the POS, tap Gift Card at the bottom of the screen. Type the amount, choose Paid with (cash or card terminal), add the buyer’s phone and tap Sell. A manager approves with their PIN unless the seller is the owner, or a manager selling for cash. Hand the customer the card code. Selling needs the Sell and top up gift cards permission.
Create, sell and top up in Business Admin
- Open Gift Cards and click New Gift Card. Leave the code empty to get a secure generated code, or type one only for pre printed cards.
- Optionally link a customer and set an expiry date. Leave the Initial Balance empty if the customer is paying.
- Click Create, then on the card’s row click Top Up Balance.
- Enter the amount, choose the reason Sale (customer paid), and pick the payment method: Card Terminal with its reference or auth code, or Cash with the branch taking the cash.
- Click Top Up. The card’s top up history records the date, amount, method, reason, who did it and any notes.
Free cards are possible too, for promotions, compensation, a loyalty reward, an employee benefit or a manual adjustment, but only the Business Admin can give value away, and nobody can load a card for a customer record that uses their own phone or email. Cash must land in an open till at that branch. The web page has no manager PIN field, so sales by anyone below Business Admin are best done on the POS, where a manager can approve.
Check the balance and pay with a card, in full or in part
To pay, the cashier taps Charge, chooses Gift Card under Other ways to pay, types the code and taps Check to see the balance. If the card covers the bill, it pays it. If it does not, use Split: the gift card pays what it holds and the rest goes on cash, card or another method. If the bill is smaller than the balance, what is left simply stays on the card for next time. In Business Admin, type the code in Search by code on Gift Cards and the Balance column shows what is left, in the card’s own currency.
Security built in
- Only the Business Admin sees full codes. Everyone else, including branch managers, sees the last four characters. The person who creates a card sees the full code once, to hand it over.
- Several wrong codes in a row lock code lookups for 15 minutes.
- A lost or stolen card can be blocked: switch off Active on its row, type a reason and click Deactivate card. The balance does not move automatically; issue a replacement if you want to.
- A card can have an expiry date. After it, the balance cannot be spent or topped up.
- A card takes the currency of its first load and keeps it for life, and it pays only bills in that currency.
Where gift cards work
Gift cards pay on the POS and, for shops, at checkout in the online store, where shoppers can also buy a card for someone and have the code emailed to them. They are not taken on the QR Digital Menu checkout. A gift card is also different from store credit, which is a balance you hold for a known customer, and from a Wink You app gift, which is sent in the Wink You app and paid with Wink You Gift and its 6 digit code.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check a gift card balance?
At the till, choose Gift Card at payment, type the code and tap Check. In Business Admin, search the code on Gift Cards and read the Balance column.
Can a customer use part of a gift card?
Yes. The bill takes what it needs and the rest stays on the card. If the card holds less than the bill, pay the difference another way with Split.
How do I top up a gift card?
On Gift Cards, click Top Up Balance on the card, enter the amount, choose Sale (customer paid) and the payment method, and click Top Up. Expired or deactivated cards cannot be topped up.
What if a customer loses their card?
Deactivate it with a reason so the balance cannot be spent, then issue a new card if you want to replace it.
Can a gift card have an expiry date?
Yes, set when the card is created, or leave it blank for a card that never expires. An existing card’s expiry cannot be changed on the Gift Cards page; issue a new card for a longer validity.
Can customers buy a gift card online?
In the online store, yes: shoppers buy a card for someone and the code is emailed to the person it is for. For restaurants, gift cards are sold at the till or in Business Admin.
Who can sell gift cards?
Staff with Sell and top up gift cards. On the POS a manager approves with a PIN, except for the owner or a manager selling for cash.
Gift cards sit with payments on winkyou.com/products/payments. Watch winkyou.com/support/pos/how-to-sell-a-gift-card-on-the-pos, winkyou.com/support/pos/how-to-take-a-gift-card-payment and winkyou.com/support/customers-and-loyalty/how-to-block-a-lost-gift-card.