Gift Cards Not Reading

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tntpizza
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Gift Cards Not Reading

Post by tntpizza »

I'm having an issue lately with trying to load more gift cards to be purchased. When I go to add a 'purchasable' card the swipe isn't being accepted. The enter by ID is also grayed out. Its the same batch of cards I've used in the past, just numbers that were never used. The swiper is working. Credit cards are fine and when I open notepad it displays the number. Seen this before??
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Scott
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Re: Gift Cards Not Reading

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Obvious question: When you first go into the gift card setup is the box checked that is labeled "Unique IDs are Printed on Cards"?

As for the mag stripes, try opening notepad, and swiping a card or two while notepad is open and in the foreground. You should see one line of data per card swiped show up in notepad. Also this data should be different for each card.


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Re: Gift Cards Not Reading

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Yes, Unique IDs are Printer on Cards is checked. Using notepad displays the card data. I've been using gift cards this way for years. I'm down to 1 'purchasable' card left and having issues adding more. I was able to add 10 new cards a few weeks ago then it stopped working. Strange...
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Re: Gift Cards Not Reading

Post by Scott »

What version of the POS are you currently running?


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Re: Gift Cards Not Reading

Post by tntpizza »

6.81.00
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Scott
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Re: Gift Cards Not Reading

Post by Scott »

Strange. I tried it on 6.91.00 at first, and then 6.81.00 and then wide beta 2 for v7. It worked on all 3.

Have you tried from a different station? Maybe memory is getting corrupted? The only thing that grays out the ID box is when the Use Unique IDs box is *not* checked. There is nothing else to gray that out.

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Re: Gift Cards Not Reading

Post by tntpizza »

I've tried from both stations. I tried toggling the 'use unique IDs' off and on. No change. Machines have been rebooted. I've tried stop and starting the DB on the server. Same results.
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Re: Gift Cards Not Reading

Post by Scott »

Have you tried 6.91? Not that it would change much, but I am at a loss as to what is causing your issue. Note: if you go to v6.91, you will need to change your credit card processing module to match. These are on the main downloads page as "Classic" versions.

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Re: Gift Cards Not Reading

Post by tntpizza »

I upgraded to 6.91 last night. Same results. When I'm told to swipe the gift card the window just goes away and no data is accepted.
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Re: Gift Cards Not Reading

Post by Scott »

So the ID field is grayed out?

The ID field alone is very strange because it is only controlled by the checkbox on the previous page. Box checked = field enabled, box not checked = field disabled. This does correspond with the global data which was newly created from your original global data when you upgraded to 6.91. I really don't know what to tell you other than to call. If that field won't enable by checking the box, we're dead in the water, and I there is no other way to control that field within the POS. There has to be an external factor.

For now, can you zip up your database and email it to me? I can see if the field enables for me. I'm not sure what else to try, as I have never encountered such a thing, nor does it make any sense.

For the swipe portion, we need to verify the reader and track data. Open notepad in Windows, and then swipe one of your new gift cards. A single line of data should appear in notepad. The very first character must be a %, and two track markers (question mark symbols) must be present, and the data must all be on a single line, and the cursor should be directly below this data at the start of a new line. Below is a sample scan from a working gift card, note the highlighted characters in the string.

%D78923^GFT-CRD^86261?;78923=86261?
| <-- cursor will be here.

These should be present and the scan should yield a single line of data as above. The bulk tool MUST have these characters in order for it to work, but the regular add gift cards is not as picky, but still needs unique data for each card, and data to be on a single line.

Another thing, is your data on your new cards unique when compared to your previous batches? If the above information is in place, then take one of your new cards that won't scan and go into the POS side, and do a Gift Card Status for that card. The card should not be known to the system. If it is, then the track data is the same as some other card already in the system. In this case you could use the Bulk add tool to bulk delete. Any cards with existing balances will not be deleted, only unactivated cards, and cards with no balance will be removed. As a safety precaution, do a backup before doing this!


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Re: Gift Cards Not Reading

Post by tntpizza »

I figured out the issue. The system doesn't like single or two digit card numbers. My batch of gift cards are numbered 1 - 300 cards 100-300 work fine. 1-99 do not. When I swipe a card with a single or two digit number nothing happens. When I use a card with 3 digits or more (also tested with cc #) it works fine.
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