Gift card troubleshooting

Most gift card problems are lookup problems — a mistyped number, a card that was never issued, or a balance question the ledger can answer. Here's how to work through them.

Before you start

Have the physical card and access to the Gift Cards page in the back office.

Steps

Re-enter the card number by hand — Scanners misread worn cards; typing rules that out.
Search the Gift Cards list — If the card isn't there, it was never issued in Pedestal.
Read the ledger — The card's detail page explains every balance change.
Void a card only when you mean it — Voiding zeroes the card permanently — use it for fraud or duplicates, not balance corrections.
Use reloads for corrections — If a card was shorted, reload the difference rather than reissuing.

Common mistakes

Voiding a card to "fix" a balance and destroying its remaining value.
Assuming a card from your previous POS system works in Pedestal — legacy balances need to be migrated first.

Troubleshooting

Cards from your old system don't scan.

Use Import Existing Cards on the Gift Cards page to migrate outstanding balances from your previous POS.

A card was voided by mistake.

Issue a new card for the lost balance, using the old card's ledger as the reference.

When to contact support

You need legacy gift card balances migrated from a previous POS.
Ledger entries appear that no staff member can explain.