Issue Gift Card (Admin)

In addition to selling gift cards in the POS, you as an administrator can issue gift cards directly — without linking it to a POS sale. This is useful in several situations: compensation to dissatisfied guests, internal gifts to staff, marketing promotions, or migration from old paper cards.

Where do you find the function?

1. Go to Admin → Marketing → Loyalty → Gift Cards.
2. Click "Issue gift card".

Important: The difference vs POS sale

Three typical use cases:

1. Compensation to dissatisfied guest

A guest has had a bad experience — wrong food, long wait, cold dish. You want to compensate with a gift card.

1. Go to admin → gift cards → Issue.
2. Amount: 300 kr.
3. Recipient name: Karl Eriksson.
4. Personal message: Sorry about your visit yesterday. We hope for a new chance — /Mikael.
5. Select "Issuance type: Compensation" (if configured — otherwise "Other").
6. Click Issue.
7. The system:
   • Creates the gift card with balance 300 kr.
   • Logs the issuance in the card history.
   • Sends SMS to Karl.
   • Accounts on account 6990 (Other external costs) instead of 1580 — because it is a cost, not revenue.

2. Internal gift to staff

Bonus pay, Christmas bonus, or when staff have done something extra good.

1. Amount: 1000 kr.
2. Recipient name: Sara Johansson.
3. Message: Thank you for your work in December, all staff should have something nice!.
4. Issuance type: "Internal/Staff" → accounted as staff benefit on account 7210 (Wages).

3. Marketing / contest

Instagram contest winners, or partnerships with other companies.

1. Amount: 500 kr.
2. Message: Congratulations! You have won our Instagram contest from MyRestaurant..
3. Issuance type: "Marketing" → accounted on account 5910 (Ads).

Gift card list in admin:

On the same page you see all issued gift cards in a table:

Filters:

• Status (active, redeemed, void, expired)
• Date range
• Recipient phone (search)
• Issuance type (sale / compensation / internal / marketing)

Export:

Click Export → CSV with all cards + transactions for your date range. Used for audit and analysis.

Edit an issued gift card:

In admin you can:

• See balance and the entire transaction history
• Extend expiry date (e.g. if the guest gets in touch near expiry)
• Change recipient information
• Resend SMS (if the guest says they did not get it)
• Void with reason
• Adjust balance manually — with reason logged in the ledger

Important: Adjustment ≠ refund

• Adjustment = change balance administratively (e.g. "+100 kr goodwill bonus"). Logged as an adjustment in the card history.
• Refund = the guest wants money back. See separate article "Gift Cards – Refund and Returns".

Issuance dialog fields:

Permissions:

Admin issuance requires the manage-gift-cards permission. Owners and managers have this by default, regular staff do not.

Tips:

• Always document the reason — important for audit and if the Tax Agency asks
• Use issuance type consistently — it helps accounting categorize correctly
• Set reasonable amounts — 300–500 kr is standard for compensation, 1000+ for big problems

See also:

• "Sell Gift Card in POS"
• "Gift Cards – Refund and Returns"
• "Gift Cards – History and Reports"