Gift cards are one of the easiest ways to bring new customers through your door. Someone buys one for a friend, that friend walks in, browses your humidor, and suddenly you’ve got a new regular. TORO supports two types: Gift Cards (physical barcode cards) and Virtual Gift Cards (account-based store credit). Both work great — they just differ in how the customer presents them.
Gift Cards — Physical Cards #
TORO Gift Cards are proprietary physical cards with a barcode. The customer hands you the card, you scan it, and the system handles the rest.
Selling one:
- Start a transaction.
- Search for Gift Card and add it to the transaction.
- TORO will prompt you to scan a gift card — scan the barcode on the physical card.
- Enter the dollar amount the buyer wants to load.
- Add a payment and process the transaction like any other sale.
Redeeming one:
- When the customer is ready to pay, select Gift Card as the payment method.
- Scan the barcode on the physical card.
- TORO shows the remaining balance so there are no surprises.
- The purchase amount gets deducted, and whatever’s left stays on the card for next time.
Virtual Gift Cards — Account-Based #
Virtual Gift Cards are store credit tied directly to a customer’s account via their phone number. There’s no physical card — the balance lives electronically on their profile. When the customer is attached to a transaction, the employee can see their balance and apply it as payment right from the payment screen.
Selling one:
- Start a transaction and attach the customer’s account.
- Add the Virtual Gift Card item to the transaction.
- Enter the dollar amount to load.
- Process payment — the credit is immediately available on the customer’s account.
Redeeming one:
- At payment, the Virtual Gift Card button shows the customer’s balance.
- Tap it to apply the balance toward the purchase.
- If the balance doesn’t cover the full amount, collect the rest via another payment method.
For the full deep dive — managing all VGC balances, handling negative accounts, notification settings, and more — see Managing Virtual Gift Cards.
Checking Balances #
Customers will ask “how much is left on this?” — here’s how to check.
For Gift Cards, go to the Customer menu on the main screen and click Find Gift Card. Scan the card and you’ll see the balance right away.
For Virtual Gift Cards, go to the Customer menu on the main screen and click Find Account. Find the right account, then click View Account Details — the Virtual Gift Card balance is in the bottom left.
Things Worth Knowing #
Gift Cards vs. Virtual Gift Cards — what’s actually different? Gift Cards are physical barcode cards the customer hands you. Virtual Gift Cards are electronic store credit tied to the customer’s account via their phone number. Both carry balances across multiple transactions, and both work the same way from an accounting perspective.
Gift Cards don’t expire unless you’ve specifically configured an expiration policy in your store settings. Most shops leave them open-ended.
You can issue a refund onto a Gift Card instead of giving cash back. It’s a clean way to handle returns when you’d rather keep the money in-store as credit.
Gift Card and Virtual Gift Card sales are tracked separately in your reports. This matters for accounting because they represent deferred revenue — the money came in, but the goods haven’t been delivered yet. Your reports will reflect this correctly.
TORO can also notify employees at the payment screen when a customer has a Virtual Gift Card balance above a configurable threshold. See Virtual Gift Card Notifications for details on setting that up.
