Virtual Gift Cards are store credit that lives on a customer’s account. There’s no plastic card to swipe, no code to type in — it’s all tracked electronically in TORO. A customer walks in, you look up their account, and their balance is right there. It’s one of the cleanest ways to handle store credit, gift balances, and even refund credits.
This guide covers the full picture: how Virtual Gift Cards work, how to add money to one, how customers use them to pay, and how to manage all your VGC balances from one screen.
How Virtual Gift Cards Work #
Every customer account in TORO can carry a Virtual Gift Card balance. Think of it like a wallet attached to their profile. Money goes in (when someone buys them a gift card, when you issue a refund to their account, or when cash rounding credits get applied). Money comes out (when they use their balance to pay for a purchase).
TORO calculates the balance in real time from the transaction history:
Balance = Total Loaded + Total Refunded – Total Spent
There’s no physical card involved. The balance is tied directly to the customer’s account, so as long as the account is pulled up on the transaction, the employee can see the balance and apply it as payment.
Adding Money to a Virtual Gift Card #
There are a few ways credit ends up on a customer’s VGC:
Selling a Virtual Gift Card directly:
- Start a transaction and attach the customer’s account (or create one if they don’t have one yet).
- Add the Virtual Gift Card item to the transaction.
- Enter the dollar amount to load.
- Complete the payment — the buyer pays cash, credit, whatever they’d like.
- The amount is immediately available on the recipient’s account.
The line item notes will show which account the credit went to, so it’s always traceable.
Issuing a refund to a VGC:
When processing a refund, you can choose to credit the amount back to the customer’s Virtual Gift Card instead of giving cash. This keeps the money in-store — good for your business, and usually fine with the customer since they’ll be back anyway.
Cash rounding credits:
If your store uses cash rounding, the rounded-up difference can be credited to a customer’s VGC (or to a charity account). Over time, those small amounts add up.
Using a Virtual Gift Card as Payment #
When a customer wants to pay with their Virtual Gift Card balance:
- Ring up their items as usual, with their customer account attached to the transaction.
- Open the payment screen.
- You’ll see a Virtual Gift Card button showing the customer’s name and current balance.
- Tap it to apply the balance toward the purchase.
- If the balance covers the full amount, you’re done. If not, the remaining balance is applied and you can collect the rest via cash, credit, or any other payment method.
A few things to know about VGC payments:
- The button only appears when a customer account is attached. No account, no VGC option.
- You can’t overspend. If the purchase is $50 and they have $30 on their card, TORO will apply the $30 and leave the remaining $20 for another payment method.
- Negative balances block new transactions. If a customer somehow owes money on their VGC (negative balance), they won’t be able to use it until the balance is settled. The employee will see a message explaining this.
The Balance Notification #
TORO can automatically remind your employees when a customer has money sitting on their Virtual Gift Card. When the payment screen opens, a popup says something like “John has a Virtual Gift Card balance of $47.50.” The employee mentions it, the customer decides whether to use it, and everyone wins.
This notification has a configurable threshold (default $25) so tiny leftover balances don’t interrupt every transaction. See Virtual Gift Card Notifications for the full setup details.
Viewing All Virtual Gift Card Balances #
This is where the Manage Virtual Gift Cards screen comes in. It gives you a bird’s-eye view of every customer account that has a Virtual Gift Card balance — positive, negative, or zero.
To get there:
- From the main screen, tap Dashboard.
- Go to Customers > Manage Virtual Gift Cards.
TORO loads all accounts and calculates each one’s VGC balance. You’ll see a progress bar while it works — this is normal, especially if you have a lot of customer accounts.
What You’ll See #
The main table shows every account with a VGC balance, sorted by balance amount. Each row shows:
- Account Name — the customer’s first and last name
- Account ID — their account identifier
- Virtual GC Balance — the current balance, formatted as currency
- Phone Number — their phone number on file
- Email — their email address on file
At the top right, you’ll see a running Balance total — the sum of every balance shown in the table. This tells you how much total VGC credit is outstanding across all your customers.
Filtering the List #
Two checkboxes at the top let you narrow things down:
- Only show negative accounts — Filters to just the customers who owe money (negative balance). Useful for tracking down who needs to settle up.
- Ignore zero balance — Checked by default. Hides accounts with a $0.00 balance so you’re only looking at accounts that actually have activity. Uncheck it if you want to see everyone.
The table is sortable — click any column header to reorder. This is handy for finding your highest-balance customers or sorting alphabetically.
Actions from This Screen #
View Account — Select a row and click this to open the full customer profile. You’ll see all their account details, transaction history, and settings.
View Transactions for Account — Select a row and click this to see the last 90 days of transactions for that customer. Great for investigating a balance question or seeing their purchase history.
Notify Selected Accounts — Select a customer row and click this to send them a notification about their balance. Opens the email dialog where you can customize and send a message to that customer.
Notify All Negative Accounts — This one is powerful. It loops through every account visible in the table and opens the notification dialog for each one. Use this when you want to reach out to all customers with negative balances and remind them to settle up. Each notification opens individually, so you can review and customize each message before sending.
Refresh — Recalculates all balances from scratch. Use this if you’ve been making changes and want to see the updated numbers.
Disabling Virtual Gift Cards for Specific Accounts #
Every customer account has VGC enabled by default. But if you need to turn it off for a specific person — maybe they’ve abused the system, or they’re a wholesale customer who should only pay by invoice — you can disable it on their account profile. When disabled, the Virtual Gift Card payment button won’t appear for their transactions.
Negative Balances #
In rare cases, a customer might end up with a negative VGC balance. This means they’ve spent more than they’ve loaded — essentially, they owe the store money.
TORO takes this seriously:
- New transactions are blocked. If a customer has a negative VGC balance, the system won’t let them start a new purchase until the balance is settled. The employee will see a clear message explaining the situation.
- Adding credit is always allowed. The customer can always load more money onto their VGC to bring the balance back to positive.
- The Manage Virtual Gift Cards screen helps you track these. Use the “Only show negative accounts” filter to see who owes money, and the notification buttons to reach out to them.
Things Worth Knowing #
- Balances are calculated, not stored. TORO builds the balance from actual transaction history every time. This means it’s always accurate and fully auditable.
- VGC sales count as revenue. When someone buys a Virtual Gift Card, the sale shows up in your reports. When the recipient spends it, that transaction is also tracked — with the VGC as the payment method.
- Gift Certificates are different. TORO also supports code-based Gift Certificates, which are a separate system. See Working with Gift Cards for the comparison.
- No expiration. Virtual Gift Card balances don’t expire. A customer who loaded $100 three years ago still has $100 waiting for them (minus whatever they’ve spent).
