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You can offer Gift Cards to your customers that they can then use to pay for your products and services. Gift Cards can be used for in-app sales as well as for the B2B and POS sale channels.


Below are some important considerations when using gift cards:

  • DEAR Gift Cards can NOT be used through third-party e-commerce channels such as Shopify or WooCommerce.
  • DEAR Gift Cards can only be issued in your store's base currency. The customer's currency must match the store base currency in order to generate a gift card.
  • If being redeemed via POS or B2B, the outlet or portal currency must be the same as your base currency.
  • Gift Cards, once enabled, will automatically appear as a product in your store and as a payment type during checkout.
  • B2B can only be used to redeem gift cards, not sell them.


Prerequisites

  • Familiarity with Processing a Sale (required)
  • Familiarity with Product and Service Management (required)
  • Set up POS Sales Channel (required to use Gift Cards in POS)
  • Set up B2B Sales Channel (required to use Gift Cards in B2B)
  • Permissions:
    • Users will need the Settings: Your Company - Settings permission to enable/disable gift cards and Settings: Financial – Chart of Accounts & Mapping permission to map a gift card account. 
    • User will need sales permissions to generate and redeem gift cards in DEAR web portal. 
    • All POS users can generate and redeem gift cards in POS. 
    • User will need the Sales: Gift Cards permission to view (expiration date, balances), import, export or cancel Gift Cards. This permission does not affect generation of gift cards during the sale process. 


Table of Contents


Setting Up Gift Cards in DEAR

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Gift Cards must be enabled and set up in DEAR before they can be used for in-app sales or in POS or B2B sales channels. Users can choose whether to also enable refunding/cashing in of refunds and gift card expiration dates. 


Enable Gift Cards in DEAR:

  1. Navigate to Settings  → General Settings  → Gift Card Settings.
  2. Toggle Enable Gift Card Support to Yes.
  3. Select the Gift Card Liability account.

NOTE: The Gift Card Liability account is created through DEAR (Settings → Reference Books → Financials → Chart of Accounts) or through Xero/QBO. For the Gift Card Liability account settings, use Account Type = Current Liability, System Account = None, and enable Accept Payments. After creating the account, you need to map the account via Settings → Reference Books → Financials → Account Mapping.

  1. Gift Cards can last indefinitely, or they can be set to expire after a period of time. To set an expiration date for your gift cards, set Enable Gift Card Expiration to Yes and select a Default Expiration Period (Year, Quarter or Month).
  2. Save your changes.

NOTE: To be able to cash in/refund Gift Cards, Gift Card Refund must be enabled here.

Generating Gift Cards

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Once enabled in Settings, a new item of type Gift Card will automatically appear in your inventory. Only one Gift Card item will be in your inventory at any time. Once enabled, Gift Cards can be generated during a sale.


NOTE: The customer's currency must match the store base currency in order to generate a gift card.


Gift Cards can only be generated in the DEAR app or in POS, not in the B2B sales channel. Gift Cards can still be redeemed in the B2B portal. Service sale should be used for in-app sales if no other products are being purchased at the time of generating the gift card. 


Generating Gift Cards in DEAR

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Once enabled, Gift Cards can be generated during simple sales, advanced sales and service sales. Gift Cards are treated similarly to Service items or Additional Charges during a sale – if the Gift Card is part of a larger order, Simple Sale or Advanced Sale should be used; if the Gift Card is a standalone order Service Sale should be used.


Generate a gift card in DEAR:

  1. Navigate to Sale → Service Sale/Simple Sale/Advanced Sale.
  2. Fill in the document header as described in Processing a Sale.
  3. Check Skip Quote – Gift Cards can be generated at the Order and the Invoice stage.
  4. (In Simple Sale/Advanced Sale) Add additional products to the order if required. 
  5. Save the sale.
  6. In the Invoice tab, click + Gift Card. The customer's currency must match the store base currency in order to this button to appear.
  1. On the Gift Card window, enter a Gift Card Code manually (for example, if you have physical gift cards to give out to customers) or generate one automatically.
  2. The default expiration date selected in the settings will be shown in the Expiration Date field. This can be manually changed or deleted if required.
  3. Enter the Gift Card Price.
  4. Save the Gift Card.
  5. Continue the sale as usual.


Generating Gift Cards in POS

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Gift Cards can be generated in the same way as a normal sale through POS. The Gift Card item will automatically appear in your store inventory once it has been enabled in the DEAR settings.


NOTE: You will need to list the gift card item in your POS catalog for it to appear as an item for sale. 


See Using POS - Basics (Make, Exchange, Return Sales) for more information on selling via DEAR Point of Sale.


Generate gift cards in POS:

  1. In POS, search Gift Card to bring up the Gift Card item.
  2. Click the Gift Card item to open a pop-up window.
  3. Enter a Gift card code manually, or click the Scan barcode icon to open your camera device to scan the code.
  4. An expiration date will be provided if Gift Card Expiration is enabled (Settings → General Settings → Gift Card Settings) This can be changed manually or deleted if required.
  5. Enter a Gift Card Price.
  6. Save the Gift Card.
  7. Complete the sale as usual.


Viewing Gift Cards

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In the DEAR app you can view all Gift Cards that have been issued and their remaining balances. Gift Card can be cancelled from this screen. To alter Gift Card balances or load existing Gift Card data into DEAR, see Importing Gift Card Data.


View existing gift card balances:

  1. Navigate to Inventory → Gift Cards.


Cancel a gift card:

  1. Navigate to Inventory → Gift Cards.
  2. Check the selection box for the gift cards you wish to cancel.
  3. Click Forfeit → Selected Cards.


Importing Gift Card data

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If you have existing gift card data from a previous system, you can import it in CSV form to DEAR Inventory. You can also use this functionality to change Gift Card balances once they have already been generated.


Import existing Gift Card data:

  1. In the DEAR app, go to Inventory → Gift Cards.
  2. Click Import.
  3. You can click the + in Import Gift Cards to see the information you will need to input.
  4. Download the Gift Card CSV Template and enter your existing data.
  5. When the file is ready, upload the CSV Template back into DEAR.


Gift Card Import fields

FieldDescription
Number (required)Gift Card number
Balance (required)Outstanding Gift Card balance
Expiry Date_YYYYMMDD (optional)Expiry date for Gift Card if applicable. Date format is YYYYMMDD


Change Gift Card balances: 

  1. In the DEAR app, go to Inventory → Gift Cards.
  2. Click Export → Selected Cards/All active to download the Gift Card CSV Template.
  3. Open the CSV file and make any changes to existing balances you require.
  4. When the file is ready, click Import. Upload the edited CSV file


Redeeming Gift Cards

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Once enabled in the Settings, a Gift Card will appear as a payment method when processing a sale in the DEAR app or through the POS or B2B sales channels.


NOTE:  DEAR Gift Cards can only be issued in your store base currency. If being redeemed via POS or B2B, the outlet or portal currency must be the same as your base currency.


Redeeming Gift Cards in DEAR

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Gift Cards can be redeemed during any type of sale.


Redeem a gift card:

  1. Go to Sale → Simple Sale/Advanced Sale/Service Sale.
  2. Fill in the document header as described in Processing a Sale.
  3. Gift Cards can only be redeemed at the Invoice stage and onwards.
  4. Add items to the sale order.
  5. Save the order.
  6. In the Invoice tab, there will be an option to use a Gift Card as payment. Authorise the invoice first.
  7. Click + Use Gift Card.
  8. A pop-up window will open. Enter the Gift Card Code and click Check Gift Card to see the available balance.
  9. Enter the Amount to redeem and click Save.
  10. Continue the sale as usual.


Redeeming Gift Cards in POS

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Gift Cards can be redeemed during a POS sale, even if they have been generated in-app. See Using POS - Basics (Make, Exchange, Return Sales) for more information on selling via DEAR Point of Sale.


Redeem a gift card in POS:

  1. In POS, add items to the order as usual.
  2. Click Pay to check out.
  3. Select Gift Card.
  4. A pop-up window will open. Enter the Gift Card Code. If the amount to pay is greater than the gift card balance, the full gift card balance will be used, and the remainder must be paid with another payment method.
  5. Complete the sale as usual.


Redeeming Gift Cards in B2B

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Only pre-generated Gift Cards can be redeemed in B2B. It is not possible to generate gift cards for customers via the B2B portal. 


Redeem a gift card in B2B:

  1. Create a sale order in the B2B portal as usual.
  2. When you have finished adding items to the cart, click the shopping cart item to view your order.
  3. Click Checkout.
  4. In Step 5: Confirm Order, you will have the option to Use a Gift Card.
  5. Enter the Gift Card Code and click Check Card to check the balance.
  6. Enter the Amount of balance you wish to redeem and click Apply Card to apply the amount to the order total.
  7. Go through the Checkout process entering your Account & Billing Details, Delivery Details, Shipping Method and Payment Method and complete the order.


Giving Gift Cards as a Refund

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Customers can be refunded in the form of Gift Cards.


Giving refunds as a gift card is a two-step process. First, the refund value is used to generate a Customer Credit, which is turn used to generate a Gift Card. As Gift Cards cannot be generated in B2B, this functionality is unavailable in that sales channel.


Giving Gift Cards as a Refund in DEAR

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Give a refund in the form of a Gift Card:

  1. Go to Sale → Sales and open a sale that has already been shipped and fully paid.
  2. Go to the Credit Note tab.
  3. Choose one or more items to issue a refund for (See Processing a Sale - Credit Notes for more information on refunds).
  4. Select + Customer Credit and enter the refund value.
  5. Authorise the credit note.
  6. Go to Sale → Service Sale.
  7. Follow the steps as in Generate Gift Cards in DEAR.
  8. In the Payment section, use the + Customer Credit option and select the Gift Card Liability account to load the refund value onto a new Gift Card.
  9. Complete the sale as usual.


Giving Gift Cards as a Refund in POS

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See Using POS - Basics (Make, Exchange, Return Sales) for more information on selling and handling returns via DEAR Point of Sale.


Give a refund in the form of a Gift Card:

  1. Go to Sell → Sales History and open a sale that has already been completed.
  2. Select a customer or add a new one.
  3. Click Return.
  4. Select the item to be refunded and click Refund.
  5. Choose to give the refund as Store Credit and Confirm.
  6. Go back to the Register.
  7. Search for the Gift Card item, enter or scan a gift card code and set the Gift Card Price to the refund amount.
  8. At the check out, use the Store Credit option to load the refund value onto a new Gift Card.
  9. Complete the sale as usual.


Cashing in/Refunding Gift Cards

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You must Enable Gift Card Refund in the settings (Settings → General Settings → Gift Card Settings) before gift cards can be refunded/cashed in.


NOTE: Refunds can only be processed for unused Gift Cards, not partial balances.


Cash in/refund a gift card in DEAR:

  1. Go to Sale → Sales and select a completed gift card sale.
  2. Go to the Credit Note tab. 
  3. Copy the gift card line in the additional charges section. If you have other items in the sale which will not be refunded, delete any unnecessary lines.
  4. Authorise the credit note.
  5. Enter the gift card value into the Refund section and save your changes.


Cash in/refund a gift card in POS:

  1. In POS, go to Sell → Sales History and select an unused Gift Card sale.
  2. Click Return.
  3. Click Refund.
  4. Choose how to refund the purchase (Credit Card, Cash, Customer Credit etc.).
  5. Confirm to complete the refund.

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