I have gift cards now working over a network.
This is getting real close to being released. All of the features are now working except the gift card reports which will probably not be in this release version. All that I need to do now is clean up, finding the little annoying things while searching for any real bugs.
The download link will be in one of the last posts in this thread.
I have also updated the documantation for gift cards. Remember that the gift card reports are not done yet.
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GIFT CARDS
To sell gift cards or use them to purchase merchandise you must first allow gift cards to be used in your store by going to the “Payment options” of the POSCONFG.EXE program. Once there you must set “Gift cards” to “YES”. Just as important while you are in this feature you must also press [F1] to configure gift cards. You will have 3 options.
1. Do not sell gift cards.
2. Gift card number is typed, scanned, or swiped.
3. Randomly generated gift card numbers.
If you choose option 1 you will not be able to sell or use gift cards in your store. If you choose option 2 then to sell a gift card you must either type in the gift card number, scan the barcode on the gift card, or use a card reader to read the magnetic stripe on the gift card. These last two options would require that you have obtained actual gift cards to use in your store with either, or both, magnetic stripes or barcodes on them. Option 3 will generate a random number for each gift card however when you are asked to enter the value of the card you may press [ESC] to go back and type in a number. Gift card numbers must be at least 6 characters long and up to 20 characters.
There are three options you may choose to utilize...
“Allow payouts to cash out the gift cards.” If this is set to “YES” and payouts are also set to “YES” (from the main POSCONFG.EXE program menu) then from the POS.EXE program you can choose option “2. Returns – Payouts” then from the sale screen press [F10]. You may now choose to return to the customer the remaining value (or partial value) of the gift card as any form of payment. Normally this feature is only used when gift cards as used as “Prepaid Accounts” to return unused value at the end of the season / year.
“Allow zero value gift cards” If this is set to “YES” then you may create gift cards with a 0.00 initial value. This is used if you want to issue gift cards instead of cash when there is a return, make some up and keep them handy. It can also be used to pre-register “Pre-paid Accounts” Another use is to give store credit like in a game cartridge swap store.
“Allow money to be added to an existing gift card.” This also should be allowed if you are using gift cards for “Pre-paid accounts.” NOTE: You can always added value to a card on a “Return”
The next set of gift card options are...
1. Print a certificate to use as a gift card.
2. Do not print a certificate to use as a gift card.
If you have obtained actual gift cards to use in your store then you would not want to print out a certificate to use as a gift card. If you have no actual gift cards then you must print a certificate to use as a gift card. If you choose to print a certificate to use as a gift card you will be able to enter up to 10 lines of text to print on your gift card certificates or the receipt issued when the gift cards are sold if certificates are not printed. This text may be used to explain any conditions on the use of the gift cards. While typing the text you may also use the up or down arrow keys to move to the labels GIFT CARD, CURRENT VALUE, and NUMBER #. If you type in new labels they will be used on certificates and receipts.
If you sell more than one gift card in a single transaction then a certificate to use as a gift card will print out for each gift card. You can sell up to 30 gift cards in a single transaction.
OTHER USES FOR GIFT CARDS
PREPAID ACCOUNTS
Gift cards can also be used as prepaid accounts. For example, let’s say you run a cafeteria or day camp and you want the kids to be able to purchase stuff but not have to carry cash. You can have their parents open a prepaid account by purchasing a gift card for each child. Since the gift card number may be up to 20 of any keyboard character you can use the child’s name as the gift card number or their student ID number. You can add additional money to the card at any time.
STORE CREDIT
You can use gift cards for an “exchange” type of business. For example if your store allows customers to bring in old game cartridges for credit to use the value to purchase new or additional used game cartridges, you can buy back the old game cartridges by putting the value on a gift card. Then the money can only be used in your store. Redeeming merchandise from a customer is handled as a “2. Return.” NOTE: To use store credit you must have previously created some zero value cards to be kept by the register for new returnees. Old returnees can use their current gift cards.
SELLING GIFT CARDS
Once you have set up gift cards you can sell them by going to a “Purchase” transaction and pressing [F10]. This will allow you to sell up to 30 gift cards in one transaction. Gift cards are not taxed and cannot be discounted or reduced.
When you sell a gift card you are not actually selling anything. A gift card is actually an interest free loan from your customer to you. If the card is lost or otherwise unredeemable then the gift card is a tax-free gift to you. (Not really, you still owe the money to the customer, he just has no way to ever collect it.) Therefore if after you sell a gift card and then check your sales on the closing screen you will notice that you have not sold anything in your net or gross sales. Your payment method sales will increase because the program has to account for money in the register but your actual sales will be unchanged. This also means that the “Z” reading for your register will also be unchanged. On the closing screen will be the total number of gift cards sold and their value.
INCREDABLY IMPORTANT
The current value of each gift card is not kept in the card, it is kept in your computer. There is a master index file for all cards on your hard drive and also a file for each card. This means that if anything happens to these files, or your computer, that the value of all outstanding gift cards will revert to NOTHING! Your customers will be VERY unhappy! Backups of your gift card files are essential. When you close the register at night you must backup your gift card files. This will probably require a high volume storage device such as a CD or RAM drive. To backup your gift card files you must make a copy of the subfolder that has the same name as your register files. For example, if you named your register data files MYSTORE then in the folder you keep your POS program files there will be a sub folder named MYSTORE, this is the folder you must back up. If you are using this software over a network then the subfolder will be on the server drive only.
Since the card value of each card is stored in the register that sold it (or the store network) this also means that if you have two or more stores, that a gift card can only be used in the store that issued the card unless you have somehow networked together the computers in multiple stores.
The program keeps a transaction file of each gift card. These files can be accessed through the “Payment options” feature of the POSCONFG.EXE program by pressing [F1] then pressing [F1] again for “Gift card reports.” You select the gift card you want by the gift card number and this will display a list of every transaction made with that card.
Code: Select all
GIFT CARD NUMBER BALANCE
DAVID BLAINE 79.31
TRANS TYP DATE TIME AMOUNT BALANCE
2563A T 08-24-2006 12:21:02 +50.00 50.00
1547C T 08-31-2006 16:12:15 -5.36 44.46
2837A T 09-01-2006 08:42:03 -.82 43.64
8517B T 09-01-2006 12:02:34 -6.87 36.77
1785C T 09-01-2006 15:52:41 -18.85 17.92
3011A T 09-02-2006 08:21:17 -8.25 9.67
8678C T 09-02-2006 10:52:12 +75.00 84.67
3112A T 09-02-2006 12:04:43 5.36 79.31
While this report will not tell you what was purchased with each transaction you can use the transaction number to go to the register that rang up the transaction and look up the details of the transaction either the file of past transactions or the journal. This is assuming that you enabled those features.
When purchasing, you can use gift cards as a payment option (if you have allowed gift cards.) When paying by gift card you will be asked for the gift card number. You will not be allowed to enter an amount. The program will charge the remainder of the amount due to the gift card so if you wish to charge only part of the sale to the gift card you must enter the other forms of payment first. If the gift card does not hold enough value to cover the sale the gift card will be cleared out and the value subtracted from the amount due. You will then be asked for an additional form of payment even if you have not allowed multiple forms of payments for a single sale. You will only be able to use one gift card on one sale. If you have zeroed out a gift card by tendering if for a sale and the amount on the gift card did not cover the total of the sale you can use up to two additional gift cards (3 total) to try to cover the amount of the sale.
VOIDING GIFT CARDS
If for some reason you have sold gift cards in error and completed the sale, you cannot void the transaction. The only way to void a gift card is to use “Payouts” to cash out the individual cards.