How To Sell Small Business Gift Cards In 2023

The free Square POS app allows you to have an unlimited number of devices on your plan. On the Plus plan, you must pay an extra fee for every device you add to your setup and pay per location.

Physical gift cards, which include a barcode, numerical code, and/or QR code (depending on your design) cost between $0.81 and $2. The price difference depends on how many cards you order and how customizable you want your cards to be.

Square’s most unique gift card sales features are its eGift card functions, gift card purchase tracking, and the gift card features available at the register.

It’s free to sell eGift cards, and users can:

• Purchase a single gift card using multiple payment sources, which is useful for several people going in on a group gift for a boss or friend
• Send friends eGift cards online using the recipient’s email
• Check their gift card balance and reload their gift card online
• Purchase gift cards in bulk, which is great for companies purchasing gift cards for employees or a specific customer group

At the register, employees can sell and refund digital and physical gift cards, attach a gift card to a customer’s phone number or email, issue physical and digital gift card refunds, and reissue gift cards if a customer loses their gift card. If you have multiple locations, you can accept gift cards at multiple locations.

With Square’s gift card tracking, you can monitor gift card purchases, activation, and spending activity. Since customers are attached to gift cards, you can monitor customer activity and target your most loyal customers in future promotional gift card marketing campaigns.

Note: If you have Square Loyalty integrated into your system, customers can earn points on gift card purchases.

Square handheld POS system, Square Register, and Square iPad stand.

To take sales with Square, all you need is the $49 Square card reader (or $69 second-generation Square card reader) and a mobile device, which allows you to take in-person chip and digital wallet payments. Square physical gift cards have a QR code that iOS and proprietary Square device users can scan to redeem gift cards. If you are an Android user, you can type in the 16-digit card number. If a customer is using an eGift card, you’ll just type in the gift card code as a discount code.

Restaurants and retail stores should consider purchasing one of Square’s proprietary hardware solutions, such as the Square Stand ($149), Square Terminal ($299), or the Square Register ($799). The Square Terminal allows employees to take orders and payments at the table or while customers roam a store. The Square Register allows you to take orders and payments at a countertop register.

You can also purchase the $119 Square barcode scanner to scan gift cards. The barcode scanner is only compatible with the Square Stand, Square Register, Square Terminal, and Android devices.

Square Payments charges a payment processing fee of 2.6% + $0.10 for in-person transactions and 2.9% + $0.30 for online transactions. Card-not-present (i.e., manually-keyed-in card numbers) have a 3.5% + $0.15 processing fee.

If a customer purchases an eGift card in person, you will be charged the in-person payment processing fee.

Square does not integrate with any outside payment processors, so higher-volume businesses may want to choose a different POS provider for better payment processing rates.

Note: You can sell Square gift cards using any POS software if you’re using Square as the default payment processor. If you decide you want to use another POS software such as TouchBistro but like Square’s gift card features, you can use Square as a payment processor and sell Square gift cards that way.

Square is pay-as-you-go, meaning there is no commitment, and you can stop using the POS at any time without incurring any penalty.

One thing to know is that Square does not come with your own merchant account; as a payment service provider (PSP), Square has an aggregate merchant account model, which can sometimes lead to account instability, withheld funds, and (rarely) sudden account terminations.

TouchBistro starts at $69/month for one register, billed annually. The Dual plan includes two user licenses and costs $129/month. The Team plan includes five user licenses at $249/month, and the Unlimited plan includes unlimited user licenses at $399/month.

TouchBistro add-ons include:

• Online Ordering: $50/month
• Reservations: $229/month
• Gift Cards: $25/month
• Loyalty: $99/month
• Marketing: $99/month

The company also charges a nonrefundable setup fee that starts at $200 and includes your hardware setup plus software walkthrough.

TouchBistro is an affordable restaurant POS system specifically designed to make the lives of servers, kitchen staff, and restaurant management easier. The POS was created by seasoned restaurant staff and has taken every aspect of the restaurant management experience into account.

Here are some things to know about TouchBistro and its gift card system for small businesses:

• Sell gift cards on an online ordering page, customer web app, and in person
• Schedule digital gift cards to be sent to friends and family on a certain date and time
• Customers can earn gift cards as part of loyalty rewards
• Personalize physical gift cards for holidays, birthdays, and other occasions
• Customers can redeem gift cards at any restaurant location
• Take gift cards at a customer’s table and at the register
• Suitable for any type of bar or restaurant (cafe, fine dining, fast-casual, food truck, brewery, etc.)
• Restaurant management features such as KDS, menu management, table management, and tableside ordering

TouchBistro countertop iPad POS, iPad stand, handheld iPad POS, cash drawer, card reader, and receipt printer.

TouchBistro runs on iPads and iPad Minis, which you may source yourself or purchase from TouchBistro. To accept gift cards, you can use an iPad camera to scan gift card QR codes.

TouchBistro-compatible payment hardware, such as Genius and Ingenico card readers, can be plugged into iPads to take mobile payments. Alternatively, when it’s time to pay, you can bring a separate credit card terminal to guests, take cards to the register, or send customers to the front to pay at a register.

The company also supports hardware from third-party suppliers such as Chase Payments Solutions (formerly Chase Merchant Services), Square, Star Micronics, Verifone, and Epson.

Check with TouchBistro before purchasing any hardware to make sure the hardware models are compatible with TouchBistro software. Alternatively, you can contact TouchBistro for a quote on hardware and make your purchases through the POS company.

TouchBistro integrates with several payment processors, including its own TouchBistro Payments, powered by Chase. TB Payments uses a cost-plus processing model.

The software also integrates with several payment processors, including Square and Worldpay, allowing you to choose the most cost-effective option for your restaurant.

TouchBistro does require a contract that you cannot exit early without penalty and does not offer month-to-month pricing. Your contract length will be specified in your TouchBistro pricing quote.

If you do end up canceling your plan, you must send a written notice to TouchBistro at least 30 days before the end of your subscription term, or you’ll be automatically charged for another term.

Each Lightspeed Retail plan comes with one register’s software license. Additional registers cost $59/register/month.

Lightspeed Retail add-ons, such as Service Orders, a Lightspeed product that helps businesses like bike shops provide both products and services from under one roof.

Lightspeed offers standard features such as the ability to sell physical and digital gift cards, recharge gift cards, and issue promotional gift cards as part of marketing campaigns. You can also attach your Lightspeed loyalty program with gift cards to further your conversion efforts.

Lightspeed’s best gift card features are its gift card expiration functions, security settings, and gift card customizations.

The software offers one of the only gift card program builders that allows you to attach an expiration date to gift cards and honor expired gift cards.

We also like that you can set custom security settings around gift cards, such as restricting employee access to gift card numbers to minimize the risk of anyone editing gift card information or amounts.

When it comes to customizations, you can:

• Order physical gift cards from a number of gift card providers and import the information to Lightspeed
• Offer several images that customers can choose to attach to digital gift cards
• Choose between several different fixed prices to load to a gift card
• Create gift cards with open amounts so customers can purchase their own custom amount
• Create gift card minimums and maximums to drive a minimum number of sales and protect yourself from instances of fraud

Lightspeed’s best retail POS features include thorough inventory management, a built-in B2B sales catalog builder, several Lightspeed add-ons such as the loyalty program and the free scanner app, and several third-party software integrations so you can build the retail sales solution you need for your store(s).

Lightspeed Retail card reader, iPad POS device in case, eCommerce site on PC and smartphone device.

You can purchase a Lightspeed Payments-compatible WisePOS E-card reader for $299 and an iPad for $329.

Lightspeed offers accessories such as an iPad stand for $199, a cash drawer for $129, a barcode scanner for $199, a label printer for $124, and a receipt printer for $399.

Contact a Lightspeed representative and ask about a discount on a retail POS hardware bundle.

Lightspeed requires all qualified Lightspeed Retail users in the US and Canada to use Lightspeed Payments, the company’s in-house payment processor.

You will be charged a payment processing rate of 2.6% + $0.10 for all in-person payments, and 2.9% + $0.30 per online transaction. This is on par with providers such as Square, Clover, and Shopify.

As mentioned, month-to-month plans are available, but you’ll have to commit for at least one year to get the lowest price. However, if you cancel your plan, there is an early termination fee, so consider starting with a month-to-month plan before committing long-term.

Also, you must verify that you have received your Lightspeed hardware within five business days of receiving it, or the equipment is not covered under Lightspeed’s 30-day warranty (14 days for Apple products).

The above pricing is monthly software fees for users who purchase their Clover hardware upfront and in full from Clover.com.

You can also purchase your Clover POS system from a number of Clover-authorized sellers, so prices will vary. Read our Clover pricing guide to understand more about how much you may pay for your Clover hardware, software, and payment processing fees.

There is no monthly fee to use the Clover Gift Cards app, but you’ll be charged $0.05 for every $2 gift card value sold. You can use a different gift card app, but the pricing structure may be different.

Clover is a popular POS system with a variety of POS software and hardware options best suited for small retail, quick-serve restaurant (QSR), service-based, and mobile-first businesses.

Here are some popular features of Clover POS and its gift card system for small businesses:

• Sleek, purpose-built POS hardware, including a handheld mobile POS system
• Easy to customize your POS with free or purchased apps
• Sell QR code gift cards from POS or website
• Easy digital gift card redemption from smartphones
• Customers can send digital gift cards with text, email, or app
• Online ordering website included on all Clover plans for restaurants
• Integrates with third-party gift cards for POS systems, including Loopz, Givex, GiftFly, LoyLap, and Factor4

Clover countertop POS system, handheld POS system, barcode scanner, cash drawer, and card reader.

Gift card-compatible Clover hardware options include Clover Station ($1,699 or $1,799), Clover Mini ($799), and Clover Flex ($599) if you purchase your hardware directly from Clover.com.

You can mix and match these devices and purchase additional Clover POS accessories. Note that all these devices have built-in barcode scanning, though only Clover Station has a cash register.

Note: You cannot use any other software with Clover POS hardware. If you purchase Clover hardware and then decide to switch to another POS software provider, your Clover hardware will become useless.

If you use Clover’s parent company, Fiserv, for payment processing, you’ll get the following flat-rate payment processing:

• Card-Present Transactions: 2.3% + $0.10 per transaction
• Card-Not-Present Transactions: 3.5% + $0.10 per transaction

Card-not-present transactions include any phone order, third-party ordering platform order (e.g., Grubhub and Order With Google), invoice payment, online order on a Clover-hosted website, manually-keyed-in card payment, and any form of payment that is not a swipe/chip/tap card payment, cash, or check.

If a large amount of your revenue comes from online or phone orders, choose a different payment processor or POS provider for your restaurant.

Business owners who get their POS package from Clover.com are required to sign a 36-month or 48-month contract, which is not favorable but also not uncommon in the POS market. The company also charges an early termination fee if you decide to cancel.

At the same time, business owners who purchase from Clover.com will have Clover hardware support and (usually) fewer Clover scams to worry about.

If you want to get month-to-month contracts, no early termination fee, and/or better payment processing fees, read our post on the best Clover resellers.

Revel Systems’ pricing starts at $99/month per terminal, with a two-terminal minimum, making the minimum starting price $198/month. There’s also a one-time implementation fee of $674, but getting an established business’s POS up and running with any custom features it may need can be worth it.

Gift cards are a paid add-on, but you’ll have to contact Revel to find out how much it will cost to add the company’s gift card features to your POS package.

Revel Systems is a highly flexible retail POS system that works best for established small businesses in the retail and restaurant industry. The software makes it easy to manage multiple locations and a large inventory. It has many niche customizable features, such as drive-through sales capabilities.

The following are some of Revel System’s small business gift card features:

• Restaurant and retail business management
• Sell digital gift cards on an online ordering website
• Design and order physical gift cards from your POS portal
• Preloaded and custom-pricing gift card sales
• Reloadable gift cards
• Issue promotional gift cards
• Gift card tracking and reporting
• Import current gift cards if switching from another POS or gift card app
• Gift card integrations include Givex, Incentivio, eCard Systems, Paytronix, LoyaltyPlant, Valuetec, and Synergy Loyalty Solutions

Revel iPad POS register, iPad stand, iPad customer-facing display, cash drawer, receipt printer, and card reader.

Revel Systems POS registers, self-ordering kiosks, and kitchen display systems. You may purchase compatible iPads yourself or source them from Revel.

The company also offers standard POS equipment like card readers (Ingenio and Link2500 brand), cash drawers, and barcode scanners. You can integrate Revel-compatible card readers as well.

Revel also offers niche hardware, such as self-serve kiosks and drive-through menu boards.

Business owners must call Revel for a personalized hardware quote, which isn’t unusual for larger POS providers, but we’re still not a fan of less-than-transparent upfront pricing.

Note: To source hardware from somewhere other than Revel, you must get express written permission from the company. This is to ensure that you’re getting Revel-compatible hardware before spending the money.

Revel offers its own payment processor, Revel Advantage. Each business owner will get a custom quote for their payment processing fees.

Alternatively, you can integrate your Revel POS with an outside processor or payment gateway, such as Fiserv, Elavon, Heartland, TSYS, Worldpay, or Chase. Depending on your sales volumes and time in business, you could save money on fees if you shop around for a better payment processing rate.

Note: You will have to pay an added monthly fee to use a third-party payment processor. Take this into account when researching payment processors.

To qualify for the lowest monthly rate, you must commit to a three-year processing contract with Revel Advantage and agree to annual billing.

However, since Revel charges a substantial late fee, we recommend that you get a shorter contract at first. You won’t get the $99/month base price, but it’s worth it to pay more for a few months than regret a three-year contract.

Toast offers a $0 down, pay-as-you-go Quick Start Bundle plan. While you pay $0/month in subscription fees, you will pay a lot in payment processing fees. You can also only have one free POS terminal on this plan, which is not ideal for mid-size restaurants. If you use the Quick Start Bundle plan, you can add gift card functionality for an even higher payment processing fee.

On higher-level plans, you’ll pay $25/month to implement gift cards at your restaurant, $75/month for an online ordering platform, and $50/month to start your own loyalty program.

We recommend starting with at least the Core plan, which does require you to pay for your Android-based hardware upfront but will save you a lot of money in payment processing fees.

Restaurants that are planning to scale fast but have no upfront capital to invest in hardware should consider signing up for the Quick Start Bundle plan, and then bumping up to a paid plan (with more POS systems) as quickly as possible. Alternatively, restaurant owners interested in Toast may consider getting one of these best small business loans to get hardware now and pay for it over time.

Toast offers a Restaurant Basics plan for new restaurants, which includes everything in the Standard package plus employee scheduling, payroll, 401(k)s, and business insurance. This plan costs $110/month plus $4/employee/month.

The $165/month Growth plan includes the Toast digital ordering and delivery platform (you can get this as a paid add-on if you’re on the Core plan).

Toast’s general POS offering is excellent, with its suite of products made to help restaurant staff effectively manage the kitchen with excellent kitchen display systems, take orders from anywhere with advanced handheld ordering systems, and generate more revenue with software like an online ordering platform as well as one of the best loyalty programs available for restaurants.

Our favorite gift card program features from Toast include the customer-centric gift card purchasing and redemption features.

Customer-centric gift card features include customers’ ability to:

• Purchase gift cards and schedule a gift card to be sent at a specific date and time, as well as include a special message for the recipient
• Send gift cards using an email or phone number, which is great for customers who don’t remember the recipient’s email or check their own email if they’re purchasing a gift for themselves
• Choose from several different designs with pre-loaded or open-ended amounts
• View and reload physical and eGift cards from an online portal
• Add gift cards to their Apple Wallet

Toast’s best gift card redemption features include:

• Guests can redeem gift cards online, at the POS, and at self-serve kiosks
• Guests can redeem gift cards by swiping a physical gift card, using an eGift card code, and by scanning a QR code attached to an eGift card
• Servers can accept gift cards via the Toast Go 2 handheld POS system, so customers can pay with a gift card at the table
• Guests can still be prompted to leave a tip after using their gift card as payment
• Multilocation businesses can accept gift cards at any location regardless of which location a customer originally purchased a gift card from, or if they purchased online

You may also combine your gift card and loyalty programs so loyalty customers can earn points when they redeem gift cards.

Toast online ordering on smartphone, Toast admin dashboard on PC, Toast KDS, Toast Go 2 handheld POS, Toast countertop POS.

Toast software only works with Toast’s proprietary Android-based hardware.

Toast hardware comes at the following prices:

• Toast Go 2 Handheld POS: $627
• Countertop POS: $875
• Outdoor Wi-Fi Access Point: $104
• Kitchen Printer: $269
• Cash Drawer: $134
• KDS: $629 + $25/month
• Self-Serve Kiosk Terminal: $809 + $90/month

The Toast Go 2 is one of the best handheld restaurant POS systems on the market, and we highly recommend it for sit-down restaurants and bars.

On the pay-as-you-go Quick Start Bundle plan, you can get the handheld POS for no upfront cost and no monthly fees, as long as you agree to pay higher per-transaction payment processing fees. If you pay upfront for your POS hardware, you’ll pay between $69/month and $165/month for your POS software.

In general, we do not recommend the pay-as-you-go plan because the higher per-order fees will cost you more than the original price of the hardware once you get in enough orders.

If you can, pay for your POS hardware upfront. Otherwise, look into equipment financing to help you cover the costs of the restaurant hardware you need in your establishment.

You must use Toast’s payment processor, and you’ll get a custom payment processing rate unless you purchase a Starter Kit, which includes hardware and fixed payment processing fees.

That fixed fee ranges from 2.49% plus $0.15 per transaction (Core plan) to 2.99% plus $0.15 per transaction (Quick Start Bundle plan.) If you add online ordering to the Quick Start Bundle plan, you’ll pay an extra 0.40% per transaction, whether the order is placed online or in person.

Toast requires a minimum 2-year contract that includes a processing contract (you cannot use an outside processor with Toast so you are limited to using Toast Payments) and has an early termination fee. Make sure you closely read your contract to make sure you understand all the terms and fees.

Shopify’s eCommerce pricing plans range from $39/month to $399/month. You get 25% off if you pay for an entire year upfront. Each eCommerce plan (that comes with a full store) offers the “Shopify POS Lite” app for free.

For more retail features, such as store pickup and unlimited staff accounts, you’ll need the $89/month/location Shopify Pro subscription, which you can add to an eCommerce plan.

Alternatively, Shopify now offers its POS Lite app and POS Pro apps as separate products. This means that you don’t need a Shopify eCommerce subscription to sell in person and with a simple online store (not a full custom Shopify online store).

The POS Lite app without an eCommerce subscription costs $5/month, but Shopify charges a high transaction fee for sales that signing up for an eCommerce plan (all eCommerce plans come with the POS Lite apps for free) is a better solution for everyone except very small retailers. The POS Pro app without the eCommerce plan is good for the majority of in-person sales.

Your payment processing rate decreases on higher-level plans. Businesses with larger transaction volumes should strongly consider upgrading to save money in the long run.

Additionally, while there are many free Shopify apps on the company’s app market, some require you to sign up for a paid subscription.

Shopify started out as an eCommerce store builder but has since branched out to offer a number of ways to sell physical and digital items. Shopify POS is fully integrated with all your online sales channels, making this POS especially useful for retailers and creatives who sell on several platforms.

Shopify’s best gift card sales features include:

• Sell gift cards on any of your available sales channels, just like you would sell on any products
• Redeem gift cards on Shopify POS, Shopify website, Facebook store, Facebook Messenger, or using a “Buy” button on an external website, social media post, etc.
• Sell gift cards as part of a larger gift package
• Issue promotional gift cards and refund gift cards
• Print out gift certificates using your own printer, so you don’t have to buy gift cards if you don’t want to
• Customers can add gift cards to Apple Wallet

When it comes to regular retail sales, Shopify allows you to sell on all major social media platforms, major marketplaces such as Etsy and Amazon Marketplace, via text message, and of course, in person. You may sell retail items, services, sell B2B and B2C, start a dropshipping or rental item business, or pretty much any kind of business with a Shopify online store and in-person POS software.

Also, Shopify has over 8,000 software integrations available for you to create your own custom solution. In fact, Shopify integrates with a number of gift card software apps such as Gift Up!, Rise.ai, Growave, and Govalo if you like Shopify’s strong multichannel retail sales capabilities but want more gift card functions than Shopify provides.

Shopify POS register stand with card reader.

The Shopify app itself runs on most phones and tablets.

The Shopify Chip & Swipe Reader, which is the bare minimum requirement for taking card and mobile phone payments, starts at $29. The most expensive hardware is the $639 Shopify Star® mPOP™ With Scanner, an all-in-one customizable retail hardware package.

Not sure what equipment your retail POS system needs? Read our post on Shopify hardware choices, which includes pricing and where to source your hardware.

Shopify payment processing rates range from 2.4% to 2.7% for in-person transactions, depending on your plan. Online transactions range from 2.4% + $0.30 to 2.9% + $0.30, depending on your plan. You can use an outside payment processor with Shopify POS, but you’ll pay an extra transaction fee between 0.5% and 2% to do so.

Shopify plans are month-to-month with no contract, but you can receive a discount by committing to a one- or two-year plan. It’s worth noting that Shopify Payments is a third-party payment processor like Square, which means you will not have a traditional merchant account.