Get Started With Toast Gift Cards

For locations in Canada, Ireland, and the UK, see Gift Cards for Canada, Ireland, and the UK in Support Center.

Toast Gift Card Setup
Enable Gift Cards
Import Existing Gift Cards
Use Physical Gift Cards
Set Up eGift Cards Online
Adjust Your Gift Card Settings
Gift Card Staff Training
Additional Resources

Toast Gift Card Setup

If you are using a third-party gift card partner, see Get Started with Gift Card and Loyalty Partner Integrations

Toast Gift Cards is a module in the Marketing Essential Suite, you'll need to ensure you've added the Toast Gift Card module for your restaurant in Toast Shop, then enable gift cards in Toast Web.

Watch the following video, read the steps listed below, or watch our Toast Classroom On-Demand.

Enable Toast Gift Cards

Once you have purchased the Toast Gift Card module, follow the steps below to enable gift cards.

In Toast Web, navigate to Payments > Gift cards > Gift card setup.
Under the Gift Cards section, find the Enable Gift Cards setting and select Yes.
Save and publish your changes.

This is also where you'll find the links to your Online Gift Card Purchase and Online Gift Card Lookup pages. Be sure to share them on your restaurant website or social media pages so your guests can purchase gift cards, check their balances, and add value at any time!

If you see an error message stating, “The gift card provider has not yet been configured for this restaurant,” it may be a result of having not yet enabled gift cards as the above process outlines. Doing so should remove this error message. If it doesn’t, please start a chat with Customer Support in Toast Now to help resolve your issue.

Import Existing Gift Cards to Toast

Do you have existing gift cards from another provider? If no, skip this step. If yes, make sure to complete this step.

When a guest purchases a gift card from you, this sale is reported as a liability rather than as revenue, because you have an obligation to provide goods and/or services when the gift card balance is redeemed at a later point in time. If you have an existing gift card program, you can transfer the numbers and balances into Toast so the cards can be used by your customers and any outstanding liabilities for already-purchased gift cards can be honored.

To obtain your Gift Card Liability report, you must contact your previous gift card provider. When requesting a Gift Card Liability report from your previous provider, please request an "Unmasked Liability" report. When importing these gift cards, we will assign a Toast Gift Card number to these cards so they can be compatible with our system. You may import both inactive (unsold) and active (sold) gift cards. Learn more about how to successfully complete an import using our Import Gift Cards article.

Please be aware that Toast is not responsible for any communication or charges associated with obtaining your Liability Report from a previous vendor.

Learn more about which physical gift cards are compatible with Toast by checking out this Support Center article, Physical Gift Card Compatibility.

Back to top

Use Physical Toast Gift Cards

Do you plan to use physical gift cards at your restaurant? If no, skip this step. If yes, make sure to complete this step.

If you plan on using physical gift cards, you can order them through our official Toast Gift Card partner, eCard Systems. Learn more about ordering gift cards in this Support Center article, Order New Toast Gift Cards. Once your new gift cards have been received, they're ready to be used and don't need to be uploaded to Toast Web.

While waiting for your physical gift cards, we encourage you to set up Toast eGift cards to sell to your guests right away. See the Set Up Toast eGift Cards Online section of this article to enable eGift Cards.

If you have gift cards from other providers (and have imported the Gift Card Liability Report), you can always key in gift card numbers on your terminal, but there is no guarantee that the cards will be able to be swiped in with Toast. You can find more information about gift card encoding requirements in this Support Center article, Gift Card Encoding Requirements FAQ, and learn more about which physical gift cards are compatible with Toast in this Support Center article: Physical Gift Card Compatibility. If you need to request additional assistance to see if your gift cards are supported, you can contact Customer Care or your Onboarding Consultant (if your restaurant isn't live on Toast yet).

Set up Toast eGift Cards Online

Do you plan to use eGift cards at your restaurant? If no, skip this step. If yes, make sure to complete this step.

When selling eGift cards online, you first want to make sure you have configured an image for the eGift card itself and have located the URL to your eGift card ordering site.

In Toast Web, navigate to the Takeout & delivery page and select Restaurant info at the bottom of the Toast Online Ordering section.
Scroll down until you see the eGift Card Image tool.
Select Choose Image and upload an image or logo you would like to display on the eGift card. If nothing is uploaded for an eGift card image, Toast will default to using the Restaurant Logo (located on the same page).

Note: Recommended size for your eGift card image is 16:10 aspect ratio (ex: credit card), with a width >370px.

Copy and share the Buy E-Gift Cards and E-Gift Lookup links with your guests. These are located on the right side of the screen, in the Share Your Public Links section. These links can also be found by navigating to the Payments section in Toast Web and selecting Gift cards > Gift card setup.

Back to top

Adjust Your Toast Gift Card Settings

In order to adjust your gift card payment settings, you need to have the 6.3 Payments Setup permission. Learn more about user permissions in this Support Center article: Permissions Reference Guide.

In Toast Web, navigate to Payments > Payment methods > Payment options, and scroll down to the Gift Card section. You can adjust these settings as needed:

Minimum Amount - Set a minimum gift card purchase amount.
Maximum Amount - By default, the eGift card purchase limit is set to $500 per transaction in order to help protect your restaurant from incurring increased chargebacks and fraud. Physical gift cards purchased in-store have a value limit of $2000.
- The gift card fraud landscape continues to be an issue impacting all sorts of merchants that sell gift cards. Bad actors find ways to defraud restaurants and guests, creating chargebacks and poor guest experiences. Moving forward, the default gift card purchase limit is set to $500 per transaction in order to help protect your restaurant from incurring increased chargebacks and fraud instances. If you need to sell more than $500 in gift cards to a single person, check out this Support Center article to learn how: Sell Gift Cards Over $500.
Receipt Options - Select Tips Enabled if you'd like guests to be able to leave a tip when paying with a gift card. Tipping with a gift card is currently available for POS (Point of Sale), Kiosk, and Toast Go®. It is not available for Toast Online Ordering or Toast Mobile Order & Pay™.
Allow gift cards to be discounted? - if selected, check-level discounts can be applied to gift cards. If you use Toast Loyalty, this means that guests can use their rewards points to purchase gift cards as well.

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

Toast Gift Card Staff Training

If you'd like to train your staff on how to sell physical gift cards, check and adjust balances, and use gift cards as payment, use the following video:

Access gift cards by navigating to the application bar on the right of your screen.
Select the Gift Card button from the menu.
Tap Sell Cards.
- For physical cards: select Classic Gift Card, enter the load amount, and swipe or input the card number.
- For eGift cards: select eGift Card, enter the load amount, recipient information (email/phone), and confirm delivery details.
Review the gift card details with the purchaser and complete the transaction.

By following these steps, you can effectively sell gift cards to guests, whether physical or electronic, and provide them with a seamless experience.

Additional Resources

Back to to