Get Started With Toast Gift Cards

Set up Toast Gift Cards to sell physical and digital eGift cards at your restaurant. This guide walks you through enabling gift cards in Toast Web, configuring purchase limits and tipping, sharing your eGift Card Shop link with guests, and importing existing cards from another provider.

In This Article:

• Toast Gift Cards Overview
• Before You Begin
• Step 1: Add the Toast Gift Card Module
• Step 2: Enable Gift Cards in Toast Web
• Step 3: Adjust Your Gift Card Settings
• Step 4: Set Up Your eGift Card Shop
• Step 5: Import Existing Gift Cards (Optional)
• Step 6: Order Physical Gift Cards (Optional)
• Common Setup Errors
• Related Articles

Toast Gift Cards Overview

Toast Gift Cards is a module in the Marketing Essential Suite. It lets your restaurant sell physical gift cards and digital eGift cards, track balances, and accept gift cards as payment on the POS and online. For details about features, balance lookups, multi-location sharing, and chargeback prevention, see Gift Card FAQ. 

Note: For locations in Canada, Ireland, and the UK, see Gift Cards for Canada, Ireland, and the UK. If you use a third-party gift card processor (for example, Givex, Paytronix, or Incentivio), see Get Started With Gift Card and Loyalty Partner Integrations instead. 

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Before You Begin

Applies to: Toast Web, Toast POS

Permissions needed:

• 6.3 Payments Setup (required to enable gift cards and adjust gift card settings)
• 3.3 Gift Card Adjustment (required to manually adjust a gift card balance on Toast Web)
• Not sure if this is the correct article to add this. So this can be removed if it doesn’t make sense to have this permission here. 4.4 Gift/Reward reports( To view gift card and loyalty reporting)

What you'll accomplish: Your restaurant will be set up to sell physical and digital eGift cards, accept gift cards as payment, and share your eGift Card Shop link with guests so they can purchase and check balances online.

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Step 1: Add the Toast Gift Card Module

Before you can enable gift cards, the Toast Gift Card module must be added to your Toast account.

1. Visit Toast Shop and add the Toast Gift Card module to your account.
2. Wait for the module to provision before continuing to Step 2. 

Expected outcome: The Toast Gift Card module appears on your account, and the Gift cards section becomes available under Payments in Toast Web.

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Step 2: Enable Gift Cards in Toast Web

Once the Toast Gift Card module is added, enable gift cards so the Gift Card button appears on the POS and the eGift Card Shop link is generated.

1. In Toast Web, navigate to Finance > Payments > Gift cards > Gift card setup, find the Gift Cards section.
2. Select Yes for the Enable Gift Cards setting.
3. Save and publish your changes.

Expected outcome: Gift cards are enabled for your restaurant. The Online Gift Card Purchase and Online Gift Card Lookup links appear on the Gift card setup page — share these on your restaurant's website or social media so guests can purchase gift cards, check their balances, and add value at any time.

Important: If you see the error message The gift card provider has not yet been configured for this restaurant, gift cards are not yet enabled. Complete the steps above. If the error persists, see Get Help with Gift Card Error: Gift Cards Not Set Up.

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Step 3: Adjust Your Gift Card Settings

In Toast Web, navigate to Finance > Related > Settings > Payment options, scroll to the Gift Card section to adjust the following settings:

• Minimum Amount — Set the minimum gift card purchase amount.
• Maximum Amount — By default, the eGift card purchase limit is $500 per transaction, and physical gift cards purchased in-store have a $2,000 value limit. These defaults help protect your restaurant from increased chargebacks and gift card fraud. To sell more than $500 in gift cards to a single guest, see Sell Gift Cards Over $500. 
• Receipt Options — Select Tips Enabled if you want guests to be able to leave a tip when paying with a gift card. Tipping with a gift card is supported on Toast POS, Kiosk, and Toast Go® only — it is not available for Toast Online Ordering or Toast Mobile Order & Pay™.
• Allow gift cards to be discounted? — When enabled, check-level discounts can be applied to gift cards. If you use Toast Loyalty, guests can also use rewards points to purchase gift cards.

Expected outcome: Your gift card purchase limits, tipping, and discount settings are configured for both POS and online sales.

Note: Guests cannot use Toast Gift Cards with orders submitted through an online ordering integration such as DoorDash, Grubhub, or Uber Eats.

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Step 4: Set Up Your eGift Card Shop

If you plan to sell eGift cards online, configure an eGift card image and locate your eGift card ordering link so guests can buy eGift cards from your website or social media.

1. In Toast Web > Takeout & delivery > Restaurant info, scroll to the eGift Card Image tool.
2. Select Choose Image and upload a custom image or logo for the eGift card. If no image is uploaded, Toast defaults to using the Restaurant Logo on the same page.
3. To find your eGift card link, scroll to the Share Your Public Links section on the right side of the screen and copy the Buy E-Gift Cards link. These links are also located in Toast Web > Payments > Gift cards > Gift card setup.

Expected outcome: You can share your eGift Card Shop link on your restaurant's website, social media, or marketing materials so guests can purchase eGift cards online.

Note: The recommended image size is a 16:10 aspect ratio (for example, credit card shape) with a width greater than 370 pixels. For a more customizable shop with banner, custom name, description, disclaimer, preset gift card values, and shop-level purchase limits, see Set Up Your Toast eGift Card Shop. 

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Step 5: Import Existing Gift Cards (Optional)

Skip this step if you do not have existing gift cards from another provider. Complete this step if you do.

When a guest purchases a gift card, the sale is recorded as a liability — your restaurant owes goods or services when the card is redeemed at a later point in time. If you are switching from another gift card provider, import your active and inactive gift cards into Toast so the cards can still be redeemed and any outstanding liabilities can be honored.

1. Contact your previous gift card provider and request an Unmasked Liability report.
2. Follow the formatting and upload instructions in Import Gift Cards to import your active and inactive cards into Toast. 

Expected outcome: Your existing gift card balances are imported into Toast and available for redemption.

Note: Toast is not responsible for any charges or communication associated with obtaining your Liability Report from a previous vendor. Not all imported third-party gift cards are swipe-compatible on Toast hardware — cards that cannot be swiped can be keyed in manually. For compatibility details, see Physical Gift Card Compatibility and Gift Card Encoding Requirements FAQ. 

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Step 6: Order Physical Gift Cards (Optional)

Skip this step if you only sell eGift cards. Complete this step if you plan to sell physical Toast Gift Cards at your restaurant.

Order Toast Gift Cards through Toast's official partner, eCard Systems. Once your physical cards arrive, they are ready to be sold and do not need to be uploaded to Toast Web.

1. Place your order at the eCard Systems Toast Portal.
2. For full ordering details — generic versus custom card designs, production times, reorders, contact information, and what eCard Systems handles versus what Toast Customer Care handles — see Order New Toast Gift Cards. 
   
   

Expected outcome: Your physical Toast Gift Cards arrive at your restaurant, ready to be sold and activated at the POS.

Note: Production times are up to six business days for generic cards and up to 12 business days for customized cards, not including shipping. While waiting for your physical gift cards, you can set up eGift cards (Step 4) to start selling right away.

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Common Setup Errors

If gift cards are not behaving as expected during or after setup, use the table below to identify the likely cause and the next-step resource.

For more troubleshooting scenarios beyond setup, see I'm Having Trouble Selling A Gift Card. What Should I Do?

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Related Articles

• Manage Toast Gift Card Sales
• Set Up Your Toast eGift Card Shop 
• Order New Toast Gift Cards 
• Import Gift Cards 
• Gift Card FAQ 

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