The card from two Christmases ago
Somebody hands over a card. Nobody at the counter knows whether it has been used, how much is on it, or whether it was ever real. You either honour it blind or argue with a customer in front of other customers.
Most small businesses that sell a gift card track it on paper, in a spreadsheet, or in somebody's head. The customer cannot check it and neither can you, quickly. Write it down here once and the person holding it can read the balance themselves, any hour, without ringing you. You keep every cent you were paid for it. We never take a payment for one and never hold a balance against one.
Where it hurts
Somebody hands over a card. Nobody at the counter knows whether it has been used, how much is on it, or whether it was ever real. You either honour it blind or argue with a customer in front of other customers.
A customer rings to ask what is left on theirs. Somebody has to stop what they are doing, find the book or the spreadsheet, and read a number back. The customer waits, and so does everyone behind them.
You have sold cards for years. If somebody asked you today what you still owe in unredeemed cards, you would have to add it up by hand, and you would not be sure of the answer.
How it works
It works the same for a gift card, a block of prepaid hours, a membership or a points balance. Nothing to install, no card stock to order, and no new till.
A gift card, a block of prepaid hours, a membership, a points balance. Name it, put the amount on it, and it gets a code. That is the whole setup, and it takes about as long as writing it on a slip.
They type the code on a page of their own and see what is left, whether it is still good, and who issued it. No account, no app, no phone call to you. An AI assistant asked the same question gets the same answer.
When they spend part of it, you put the amount in and it comes off. It refuses to go below what is actually there rather than quietly taking more, and the holder sees the new number straight away.
What this is not
You sell the card your own way and the money goes where it always went: to you. We record that the card exists. That one decision is what keeps this simple for you and keeps us out of a business that needs a licence.
A card here is good with your business, for your own goods and services. It cannot be swapped for cash, moved to someone else, or spent anywhere but with you. Every holder is told that in the same words, on their own page.
No interest, no fees taken out of a balance, no cut for us. A card sitting unused is worth exactly what it was worth the day you sold it, which is what your customer expects and what the law in several places requires.
Several provinces and states forbid an expiry date on a gift card outright. Leave the dates empty and it never expires, which is the safe default and the one we suggest.
Prove your website is yours once, about five minutes and free, and the card list is waiting for you on the other side. Or leave your email and we will walk you through it.
No spam. One email with how to set it up.