Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why electronic gift cards vs paper certificates?
A: The electronic gift card has become the standard gift-giving product for successful merchants large and small. The primary reasons are:
• Increased Sales - the ability to display and promote gift cards as a distinct product allows merchants to significantly boost their prepaid gift sales
• No Cash Back - unused value remains on the card to bring the customer back again to use up the balance
• Real Time Electronic Processing - reduces fraud and losses associated with paper gift certificates and costly tracking and accounting procedures

Q: What are the other benefits to a merchant?
A: Gift Cards are secure (cannot be photocopied) and function as a small "billboard in the wallet" to market the merchant's brand to new and existing customers.

Q: What is the difference between a Gift Card and a Stored Value Card?
A: There is no difference in the functionality of the cards, both keep track of prepaid value. With the gift card, the customer is buying a convenient, flexible gift-giving solution that allows the receiver to choose their gift. With the stored value card, the purchaser is buying the card for their own use — either for convenience for frequent purchases, or because of an "extra value" incentive, or both.

Q: How does a Gift Card work?
A: A customer asks to purchase a card or takes one from a display for purchase. The customer pays for the gift card just like they would when purchasing any other product. The merchant then swipes the card through their card terminal or POS reader and activates it for the dollar amount desired. The card is immediately ready to be used at any participating store location.

Q: What happens to the money when a gift card is used?
A: Unlike credit cards, a gift card transaction only keeps track of money that has already been paid. The money itself is not affected by adding or redeeming gift card value. However, for franchise merchants with multiple locations, the system will keep track of cards that are purchased at one location and redeemed at another, so that funds can be transferred (usually once per month) from the "purchase" location to the "redemption" location.

Q: Will I be able to use my existing equipment?
A: eCard Systems' card programs are certified to run on a wide variety of credit card terminals and point of sale systems. However, older equipment models often do not have sufficient memory or processing capacity to run more than one application and some POS systems do not yet have compatible interfaces. If that is the case, an inexpensive standalone terminal may be used for processing gift card transactions, or you may upgrade to a newer, multi-function terminal and process credit cards and gift cards on a single machine.

Q: What type of reporting will I receive with this program?
A: Merchants have online administrative access to their card account which allows them to log in to run a variety of transaction reports such as transaction summary, detail and card balance reports. An end of day totals report may also be generated from the card terminal at the point of sale for the purpose of reconciling card sales/redemptions with POS system records.

Q: When should cards be reordered?
A: Normal card production time is 15 business days from proof approval to ship date. Allowing a few days for shipping time, you should order cards 4 weeks prior to when you need them. Larger, multi-location merchants may want to produce an extra supply of cards which we can warehouse for immediate shipment as locations order them.

Q: Are cards reloadable?
A: Yes. Gift Cards may be reloaded as many times as you wish. Often an incentive is offered to encourage customers to reload their cards. For example, you might offer to give a customer $55 worth of value for a $50 reload. Or, a free product or service with every reload. Get creative. The “add-value” feature provides many marketing opportunities to enhance customer relationships, increase purchase frequency, and build brand awareness.

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