Archived Processing Visa Gift Cards

[PaRaD0x]

Last night while doing backup, a guest tried to pay with a Visa Gift Card (had Debit on it). Should they swipe? Do they need to have set up a pin or anything else ahead of time? We couldn't figure it out, and they just ended up paying some other way. How do you handle those? She said it was supposed to have $100 on it.

 

[SFSFun]

Generally those get run through like a credit card.

 

[Anelmi]

Swipe and tell them to hit "the green circle" at the prompt. You also can't tell what the balance is on your end, either before or after the purchase. They have to call the number on the back of the card.

 

[PaRaD0x]

So wait, they don't need to have setup a pin? Even if it says debit on the card? Hers did, on the upper right hand corner of the card. And what if they don't swipe?

 

[SFSFun]

All Visa/MasterCard gift cards will say debit, but the most common ones do not require a pin. Some cards do need to be setup with a pin and require your SSN to register it (due to banking laws).

The card itself probably has instructions on the back that say "tell merchant to process as a credit card."

I've never cashiered at Target so I can't say for sure how to handle it if it won't swipe, but at my other job we would just key it in like a credit card.

 

[redeye58]

Many of those cards have the option of being used like a debit but are commonly run thru like credit.
Used to be if the card had insufficient balance to cover the purchase it was declined & was locked from use for 24 hrs.
More recently I've seen most that are like Target gift cards in that it takes off the balance available then asks how else you want to pay the remainder.