# Gift cards as payment

Take a gift card at the register, split a sale when the balance does not cover it, and pay a refund back onto a card

Source: https://getolet.com/resources/help/payments/gift-cards-as-payment/
Updated: 2026-10-15

A gift card is a balance your store already holds for a customer, so paying with one draws that balance down rather than taking new money. It is a built-in payment method, and every store has it.

This feature depends on your plan. Check Settings > Billing to see what your plan includes.

## Before you can take one

The gift card method has to be active. Check it in the back office under [**Settings > Payment settings**](/resources/help/payments/payment-types-overview/), in the **Payment methods** table.

Its name is fixed, because it is the word your gift card balances are reported under. What you can change is whether it is active and which outlets offer it.

## Take a gift card at the register

1. On **Collect payment**, select the gift card method.
2. Scan the card, or type its code into **Gift card code**.
3. OLET looks the card up and shows its **Balance** before anything is taken.
4. Select **Continue**.


If the balance covers the sale, the sale finishes there.

## When the balance does not cover the sale

OLET says what the card will cover and what will still be owed after it, before you commit. Continue, and it applies the whole balance and leaves the rest on the sale. Take that remainder on any other method, cash or card, exactly as you would on a split.

The balance shown is a preview. The amount that actually lands is worked out against the balance at the moment the payment posts, which matters if the same card is being spent on two registers at once. The register tells you what was applied once it has happened, and that is the figure to read back to the customer.

## Refunding onto a gift card

A refund is paid out on one method. Cash and a gift card have no ceiling, so either can pay out the whole refund whatever the original sale was paid with. Putting a refund onto a gift card is how you return money to a customer whose original card payment can no longer take it. The full detail is in [Refunds and returns](/resources/help/selling/refunds-and-returns/).

## If it goes wrong

- **Card not usable.** The card exists but is not in a state you can spend from, and the message names the state. An expired card reads as expired from the day it expires.
- **The card has no balance left.** It has already been spent. Check the card's history to show the customer where it went.
- **Card not found.** The code did not match anything. Type it in full rather than scanning again, because a partial scan looks the same as a wrong card.
- **The gift card button is missing.** The gift card method is switched off, or unchecked for this outlet. Both are in **Settings > Payment settings**.

## Where to go next

- [Gift cards on the register](/resources/help/selling/gift-cards-on-the-register/), for selling, reloading, and checking a balance
- [Gift cards](/resources/help/catalog/gift-cards/), for managing cards from the back office
- [Payment methods overview](/resources/help/payments/payment-types-overview/)