Sciometa POS · How-to guide
Selling Gift Cards
Set up the gift card programme, give staff a button to sell one, and take a card as payment at the till.
Open Gift Cards in the dashboard
Select Gift Cards in the left-hand menu.
The page has three parts:
- Cards — every card sold, with filters for serial, status, purchaser and store.
- Org Defaults — the settings for the whole organisation.
- Store Settings — per-restaurant overrides, for when one location differs.
Set up the programme
Open Org Defaults and work through the settings.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Sell gift cards | The master switch. Off, no card can be sold anywhere. |
| Currency | Fixed once the first card exists — it cannot be changed afterwards, so set it before you start selling. |
| Till product | The product staff tap to sell a card. See step 3. |
| Amounts | The minimum and maximum a card can be loaded with. |
| Validity | How many months a card stays usable. Check your local rules before shortening this. |
| What can a gift card be used for | Food and drink only, or also accommodation or retail. This affects how the sale is treated for VAT, so pick the one that matches what you actually sell. |
Give staff a button
A gift card is sold through a normal product, so the till needs one to press.
The Till product setting is what links that product to the gift card programme. Without it, staff have nothing to tap and the card is never issued — the most common reason a correctly configured programme still cannot be sold.
Set it in Org Defaults, and in Store Settings for any restaurant that uses a different product.
Selling and redeeming a card
Both happen at the till — in the Sciometa POS app, and in the till in your browser.
Selling one
- Tap the gift card product. Instead of being added to the order like a normal item, it opens the gift card dialog.
- Choose one of the preset amounts, or enter a custom one within the minimum and maximum you set.
- Take payment as normal. The card is issued when the sale completes, and the serial is printed on the receipt.
Redeeming one
- Ring up the order as usual.
- At payment, choose the gift card as the payment method and scan or enter its serial.
- If the balance does not cover the order, the remainder is taken by another payment method in the same transaction — a card does not have to be spent in one visit.
The remaining balance is printed on the receipt, so the customer always leaves knowing what is left.
Still not working?
| What you see | Most likely cause |
|---|---|
| Staff cannot find a gift card button at the till | No Till product is set (Step 3), or the product is not available in that store. |
| "Sell gift cards" is on, but selling still fails | Check Store Settings for that restaurant — a store-level override can be off while the organisation default is on. |
| The amount is rejected at the till | It falls outside the minimum or maximum in Org Defaults. |
| A card will not redeem | It has expired (check Validity), has already been spent, or belongs to a different organisation. |
| A sold card is not in the Cards list | The filters default to a single day — widen the Sold date, and check the store filter. |
| Selling worked all month and now it refuses | Your plan includes a number of cards per month and it has been reached. It resets at the start of the next month, or a higher plan raises the allowance. |
| A card cannot be sold while the internet is down | Expected. The serial is issued by the server as the sale completes, so selling needs a connection. |