Sometimes, it is difficult to find a gift for somebody. Often times, it is best to give them a gift card or certificate that allows them to shop on their own time and get the item(s) they want. A gift card is a pre-printed card on 30 millimeter plastic cards. A gift certificate offers the same value as a gift card (that is, same as cash) but is printed on a piece of paper. The Gift Cards module is an additional module that TransActPOS offers and allows you to sell, redeem, and maintain gift cards and certificates in your store. In this newsletter, you will learn some of the features that come with our Gift Card module.

With the Gift Card module, TransActPOS can create gift certificates for customers in your Customer File. These certificates can be customized to your liking and can include various information, such as the recipient's name, amount, purchaser's name, occasion, etc. The sky is the limit when it comes to creating these certificates. Once created, the printer listed in your Workstation setup options should print out the resulting certificate, but if it doesn't, you can easily press the Print button on the Gift Card screen for an additional copy.

You can also reprint these certficates in the event that one is lost. All of the certificate information is maintained within TransActPOS. Another great feature about these certificates is that if one is reported as stolen you can void the existing certificate and use the voided amount to reissue a new one for the customer. TransActPOS also keeps track of all purchases made with the certificate. The actual certificate doesn't even need to be present to check this information, as the customer information is maintained internally.

Another option the Gift Card module offers is creating 30 millimeter custom gift cards. This option is available out of the box, but additional hardware will be needed to print these cards out. Zebra offers card printers that have the capability to print anything you want on a 30 mil plastic card. This option is a middle road between the gift certificates (mentioned above) and the third party plastic cards (mentioned below). With this option, you can customize the card as much as you want like you would with gift certificates and have the lost/stolen functionality and reporting, but you incur the initial fee of buying the card printer, printer ink, and blank plastic cards. Keep in mind, that if you are reprinting the cards for lost/stolen reasons you will be incurring the fee that comes with printing a new card out (loss of ink and card).

For any additional information about Gift Cards, including how to enable vendor gift cards from Do it Best, consult the WebHelp link in the left side bar.