Gift cards: how they work

A gift card in Stokk is a digital card with a balance. You sell it at the till, and the recipient gets it by text message, by email, on paper or by scanning a code on your screen. They open their card page, add the card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, and show it at the till when they pay. After every payment the balance on their phone updates within seconds.

What the customer gets

• A card page with the card, the giver's message, the balance and every payment made with it. It opens like a gift: the first time, they tap to open the envelope.
• A wallet pass. On iPhones with iOS 27 the card shows as a poster with your design full bleed; older iPhones get the classic store card. Android phones use Google Wallet. The pass shows the balance, a QR code for the till, how long it is valid and your contact details.
• A note when the balance changes. The pass tells them their new balance on the lock screen after a payment.

Where you work with gift cards

• At the till: /store/gift-cards in Store Operations. Scan a card to take a payment or top it up, or sell a new one. See Take a payment or top up and Sell a gift card.
• In the office: the Gift cards section (/gift-cards) shows the balance customers can still spend, every card and its history, and the designs and settings. See Manage gift cards.

Money and records

Every sale, payment, top-up and correction is recorded with who did it, where and when. A card's balance always equals the sum of its history, a payment is never taken twice even if the network drops, and two tills can't spend the same money at the same moment.

Validity

Cards are valid for 48 months from the day they are sold unless you choose otherwise in Settings, and a top-up starts the period again. In Iceland a gift card is valid for up to four years unless agreed otherwise, and a shorter period has to be stated on the card; every card, pass and email shows its valid-until date.

Keeping cards safe

Whoever holds the code or link can spend the card, the same as a paper gift card. Stokk never stores codes in readable form, and staff only see the last four characters. If a code may have been seen by someone else, a manager can issue a new code and link in one step; the old ones stop working at once.