Redeeming gift cards at the venue

Take gift card payments with the Scanner or the Gift Cards page — one-tap full balance or a part-payment, with the remainder staying on the card.

Redemption is deliberately fast: no PIN, no approval — any staff member with the redeem gift cards permission (on by default for every role) takes the payment in a tap or two. Redemption always works, on any plan — a venue that downgrades can still honour every card it sold.

From the Scanner

The Scanner (/dashboard/event-scanner) has a three-way mode strip when your venue uses more than one of its families: Tickets · Loyalty · Gift cards.

• In Gift cards mode, scan the QR from the customer's email, wallet pass, printed certificate or physical card — or type the code (it formats itself as you type; capitals and dashes don't matter).
• The Scanner also recognises codes across modes: scan a gift card while in Tickets mode and it offers a one-tap switch.
• The card's panel shows the balance, status and expiry, then:
• Take full balance (£X) — the one-tap path, or
• enter an amount on the keypad for a part-payment.

From the Gift Cards page

On /dashboard/gift-cards, find the card (search by the code's last characters, buyer or recipient) and redeem from there: the window shows what's left on the card — press Use the full balance, or enter the bill amount and press Redeem (if the bill is bigger than the balance, the card covers what it can and you take the rest as you normally would). An active card's list row carries a quick Redeem action (and Resend email, where the card has an address on file) so you don't have to open the card first; opening the row shows the card with every action — beside the list on a wide screen (with nothing chosen it says Nothing open), or in a window on a tablet or phone. A gift card opened from anywhere else — a customer's profile, a booking, a payment or the Activity log — offers Redeem, Adjust balance and Void card in its own window too, with the same permissions and checks; extending, resending, replacing and refunding stay on the Gift cards page. The buyer's or recipient's name on a card opens their profile, and "Back to the gift card" at its top left brings the card back.

At your online checkouts (optional)

Where your venue has an online checkout — booking deposits or event tickets — turn on Accept gift cards at online checkout (Settings → Gift cards → Selling online — the gear at the top right of the Gift Cards page opens it; OFF by default; its words name only what you have) and customers can spend their card on your public pages too:

• Booking deposits — a "Have a gift card?" box on your booking page. The card can cover part of the deposit (the guest pays the rest by card) or all of it — then there's nothing to pay by card at all.
• Event tickets — the same box at the ticket checkout, applied against the order total.

Order & Pay orders have their own separate switches, one per channel — Accept gift cards for table orders, Accept gift cards for collection orders and Accept gift cards for delivery orders (the same Selling online block, all OFF by default; collection and delivery follow the table switch until you set them yourself) — so you can accept cards at the table but not on delivery, or for bookings and tickets without accepting them on orders at all. A venue with Gift cards and no online checkout sees neither switch — its cards are spent at the venue.

The gift card is only charged the moment the booking or ticket actually confirms, so a failed booking never takes gift money. Spending online counts as redemption — it works on any plan — and the usual balance email and wallet-pass update follow. If a gift-paid booking or ticket is later refunded, the card payment refunds first and the remainder returns to the gift card: see Refunds, voids and corrections.

Partial balances and shortfalls

• A part-payment leaves the remainder on the same code — the customer keeps using it until it's empty or expires. If balance emails are on (the default), the customer gets a "£X used, £Y left" email after each redemption, and any wallet pass updates its balance.
• If the bill is bigger than the balance, ResoFlow takes up to the remaining balance and tells you plainly — e.g. "Still to take £15.00 another way." — so a redemption can never take more than the card holds. The customer settles the rest however you normally take payment.

When a card is declined

The panel says why:

• "This gift card has already been fully used." — the balance reached £0.
• "This gift card has expired." — it's past its expiry date. A manager can extend the expiry, which restores the forfeited balance — the right fix for a customer who turns up a little late. See Refunds, voids and corrections.
• "This gift card is no longer valid." — the card was voided or refunded.
• "This gift card was replaced — its balance is on the new card ending 1234. Ask the customer for the new card." — the money moved to a new card.
• "This gift card hasn't been activated yet." — a physical card that hasn't been sold yet (the Scanner offers the activation flow to staff who can sell).
• "Gift card not found. Check the code and try again." — the code doesn't exist; check for typos or try scanning instead.

A mis-keyed amount is fixed with a manager-gated balance adjustment — never by redeeming again.

Related: Refunds, voids and corrections · Physical gift cards · How do I check tickets at the door?