Quick answer
Gift cards hold a balance clients spend at your studio. Sell them online from your Store or at the desk, or give one as an owner or admin. Clients can pay with a card online for classes, appointments, packs, a membership's first payment and a course paid in full, and staff record other uses on the card.
Before you begin
Connect Stripe and finish verification before selling gift cards online.
Use an owner or admin account to design cards, give free cards, adjust balances and change the online settings.
Decide your amounts, design and whether clients may pay with a card online.
You'll know it worked when
Selling online shows On and the gift card link opens your card on the booking page.
A test purchase emails the card and it appears in Cards as Bought online.
A booking paid with a card shows the card amount in its Balance history and only the rest in Stripe.
Follow along in Junocal
Open the exact product area, then keep this guide beside it.
Sell gift cards online
- 1
As an owner or admin, open Store, choose New product and pick Gift card.
- 2
Add up to six amounts and, if you like, let buyers choose their own amount within a range. Each card can be from 5 to 10,000 in your currency.
- 3
Choose a design: Signature, Pastel, Celebration, Paper or Photo. Designs use your booking page colours and logo, and the preview shows the card buyers get.
- 4
Choose Public to show it on your booking page, or Unlisted to share it by its own link, then choose Add to Store. Listing a public card turns online sales on.
- 5
Open Gift cards and check Selling online. On means buyers can pay now. Needs payments means sales start once Stripe is connected and ready.
What buyers and recipients get
Buyers choose an amount, preview the card and choose Email it to someone or Send it to me, to print or hand over. They pay by card through Stripe, and Junocal emails the card with its code and a link to its balance page.
Share the gift card link shown under Selling online, or each card's own link from its Store page, for example as a Buy a gift card button on your website. When your Store only has gift cards, the booking page tab is called Gift cards.
Cards someone paid for never expire. The card, email and balance page say this and explain how to use the card.
Sell or give a card at the studio
- 1
Open Gift cards and choose Sell or give a card. Front desk sees Sell a card.
- 2
For a sale, choose Sold at the desk and record how it was paid: cash, card terminal, bank transfer or other, with an optional reference. The card never expires and counts in Sales and Reports.
- 3
For a gift, choose Free gift. Only owners and admins can give a card without payment. Tick Add an expiry date only for a promotional card: the card then says Promotional and shows the date.
- 4
Enter the recipient's email, the amount and an optional message, choose a design and send it. Junocal emails the card to the recipient.
Let clients pay with a card
Clients can use a gift card online for a class, an appointment, a pack, a membership's first payment (a subscription or a one-time pass) and a course paid in full. In a cart, the card covers the class and pack lines, split between them in proportion. At checkout they open Pay with a gift card and enter the code. The card pays first and they pay any rest by card. Member prices and discount codes apply before the card, and one card can be used per checkout.
The card's balance page has Book with this card. It opens your booking page and fills in the code at checkout.
Online, a gift card doesn't pay for membership renewals, which are charged in full, course instalment plans (choosing a card means paying the course in full), appointment series, rentals or parties. Shop products and first-visit registration fees go on the payment card, and a cart of only shop products asks the client to remove the card. On a membership, a card can't be combined with a discount code or an introductory offer. For a use at the studio, open the card on the Gift cards page and choose Record use with the amount and an optional note.
Paying online is on for every studio. Owners and admins can turn it off on the Gift cards page. With Stripe Tax, gift cards are used at the desk only, because tax is due on the full price.
Balances, refunds and chargebacks
Each card's Balance history lists uses, online payments, adjustments, refunds and voids, and who recorded each change.
Owners and admins can use Adjust balance to add or remove value with a reason, for example when a use was recorded twice.
For a card bought online, Refund unused value returns the unused amount to the buyer's payment card. Value already used stays spent.
For a card sold at the desk, give the money back, then choose Record refund at the desk. The refund is capped at what was paid and the balance goes to zero.
A free or promotional card isn't refunded. Use Void remaining value with a reason instead.
When a booking is cancelled early, or a booking, pack, membership or course paid partly with a gift card is refunded, the card part goes back on the card and the rest to the payment card. A partial refund is split between them in proportion.
If the buyer opens a chargeback, the card shows On hold and can't be used, adjusted or refunded until it closes. A lost chargeback voids the unused value.
Owners and admins see Unspent balances: paid value still to be spent, shown apart from free and promotional value.
Troubleshooting
Start with the symptom that matches what you can see. Check the existing record before repeating a booking, payment or import.
Selling online says Needs payments or Turned off
Check these first
Check the Stripe connection and verification in Payments.
Check whether an owner or admin turned online sales off.
Next step: Finish Stripe verification, or choose Turn on online sales as an owner or admin. A listed card goes on sale as soon as payments are ready.
A client cannot pay with their gift card online
Check these first
Check the card's status, balance, currency and expiry on its page.
Check that Paying online is on, Stripe Tax is off and the purchase is one a card pays for: not a renewal, instalment plan, shop product, appointment series, rental or party.
On a membership, check the client isn't also using a discount code or an introductory offer.
Next step: Correct the setting, or ask the client to finish or close any other checkout using the same card. Otherwise record the use from the card's page at the desk.
A card cannot be used, adjusted or refunded
Check these first
Look for On hold, Expired, Used or Void on the card.
Check for an open chargeback, a refund in progress or a credit under review.
Next step: Wait for the chargeback or refund to resolve, then try again. Expired and void cards can't be spent; an owner or admin can give a new card as a goodwill gesture.
A Stripe Dashboard refund didn't return the gift card part
Check these first
Check the booking in Sales and the card's Balance history.
Check whether the refund was made in Stripe rather than in Junocal.
Next step: Refunds made in the Stripe Dashboard only return card money. An owner or admin can use Adjust balance to add the gift card part back, with a reason.
Answers before you get stuck
Do gift cards expire?
Cards someone paid for, online or at the desk, never expire. Only a free card given by an owner or admin can have an expiry date. It is then marked Promotional, with the date on the card, the email and the balance page.
What can a client pay for with a gift card online?
Classes, appointments, packs, a cart's class and pack lines, a membership's first payment and a course paid in full, unless Paying online is off or the studio uses Stripe Tax. It doesn't pay for renewals, instalment plans, shop products, registration fees, appointment series, rentals or parties. Staff can record any other use on the card's page.
Can I sell gift cards on the Free plan?
Yes. Gift cards work on every plan, Free included: sell them online or at the desk, give promotional cards and let clients pay with them. Store downloads and items to collect need a paid plan.
Is the Free plan's 4% fee charged twice?
No. On the Free plan the fee is taken when a gift card is sold online. When the card later pays for a booking, the fee applies only to the part the client pays by card.
Why does a card show On hold?
A chargeback is open on the payment that bought it, a refund is in progress, or it is a cancellation credit whose rental payment is under review. Spending waits until that is resolved.
Did this guide solve the problem?
Make the change, or ask with your account attached
Open the relevant Junocal screen now. If your question depends on a particular client, payment or class, contact support from the app to include the page and studio context.