Credit Card Processing

Gift Card Processing

Gift cards are one of the hottest, year-round commodities in business today, making gift card processing a must-have for your business.

Gift cards aren’t just for holidays anymore. Birthdays, graduations, weddings, special celebrations like Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and other milestones are all occasions for giving gift cards. This year-round gift card phenomenon is a ready-made market for merchants and businesses. Recent statistics bear this out:

• The average consumer spends $165 on gift cards during the Christmas holiday season alone, according to the National Retail Federation.

• Over half of all consumers spend more than the initial value of the card. The average “uplift” is 133% of the stored value.

• Of the gift cards used, between 15% and 20% are not redeemed for their full value, and this “breakage” is pure profit for the issuer.

At Merchant Accounts Express, we believe that gift cards make you, the merchant, stronger by retaining customers and attracting new ones.

TenderCard™, our classic gift card program, is a stored value program that replaces paper gift certificates. This closed-loop merchant gift card works simply: You load the funds collected from a customer onto a gift card through a programmed terminal. The cash represented on the card stays in your account (known as “float”) until the cardholder redeems the value on the card for goods and services. The sale amount is then deducted from the card and the remaining balance is printed on the receipt.

The advantages of TenderCard™ are many:

• More secure and efficient than paper gift certificates.
• Plastic cards are difficult to counterfeit, reloadable and last for years.
• Switching from paper to plastic can boost related sales by 200% because cards on display are more visible and familiar to your customers.
• If your business has multiple locations, gift cards sold at one can be redeemed at another.
• A cost-effective and unique marketing tool for merchants of all sizes.
• This gift card processing system provides free, comprehensive, 24/7 online reporting plus detailed monthly statements.
• Allows you to track customers’ purchase behavior for marketing purposes.
• TenderCard™ offers the fastest card production turnaround — with delivery in days, not weeks — and the industry’s smallest minimum order size of 100.
• Custom cards — including 4-color — are available.
• Starter kit packed with an array of gift cards and envelopes, point of purchase display stand, window decals, terminal quick reference guide and product catalog.

In addition to a traditional gift card program, Merchant Accounts Express also offers two more TenderCard™-based programs:

Gift Plus combines gift and loyalty programs. A loyalty program allows merchants to reward their core customers, who accumulate points based on rules set by the merchant. Customers can then redeem their points for tangible rewards; most often the reward is a monetary addition to the gift card.

Intra-Program Settlement involves merchants who are part of a defined group such as an association, franchise, mall or chamber of commerce. A gift card is issued by one merchant and redeemed at another affiliated merchant. Settlement between merchants is made through an ACH transfer of funds from issuing location to redeeming location when the card is redeemed.

If you’re ready to get started in gift card processing — or want to expand on your current gift card processing system — let Merchant Accounts Express show you the best TenderCard™ options for your business.