Aloha Gift Card Mag Strip Encoding

[wyalin]

Want to print some aloha gift card through non-dealer. I found a company can print 1000 at $325, which the dealer charge about $1100!

the only question is that I am not sure what's the encoding? hi-co or low-co?

Please advise. the aloha gift card interface read card like cred card but not the driver license.

Thanks

 

[wyalin]

Also is it track 1, track 2 or track 3
Thanks

 

[coorsman]

program the gift card identification number on either track one or track two, but not both tracks.

only use numeric prefix, serial, and suffix numbers for gift cards.

Do not use alphanumeric prefix and suffix characters with gift cards.



so only the gift card identification number can reside on the gift card and no leading zeros or any spaces.


Gift card serial numbers have a maximum length of 10 digits and a maximum value of 1299999999. Gift card prefixes and suffixes have a maximum length of five digits.

Programming leading zeros in the gift card prefix, serial, or suffix numbers will lead to incorrect behavior by the Aloha application software.

If you are using multiple gift card series, you should maintain a common length for all three components (prefix, serial, and suffix) throughout each series. For example, use 3-digit prefix numbers, 6-digit serial numbers, and 2-digit suffix numbers for each series.

Examples of acceptable prefix numbers include 100 through 199. Examples of unacceptable prefix numbers include 001 through 099 (note the leading zeros).

Examples of acceptable serial numbers include 10001, 10002…60000 (note the same length and lack of leading zeros). Examples of unacceptable serial numbers include 00001, 00002…60000 (note the leading zeros). You can use serial numbers of different lengths, such as 1, 2, 3, 10, 100, 1000, 6000, but this is not recommended.



Examples of acceptable suffix numbers include 100 through 199. Examples of unacceptable suffix numbers include 001 through 099 (note the leading zeros). You can use suffix numbers of different lengths, such as 123 and 1234, but this is not recommended since it will be hard to distinguish the prefix from the serial number between various series.



Cheers,
Coorsman

 

[wyalin]

thanks, Coorsman

what happens if we program the number on both tracks? 1 and 2

thanks again

 

[coorsman]

It will charge twice.

Cheers,
Coorsman

 

[PizzaLounge]

Hi,
I just attempted to configure our gift cards we received from First Data (Value Link Gift Cards) and when I attempt to swipe the card to purchase it, Aloha gives me an error saying the maximum gift card length is 14 but the card I am trying to use is 16 characters. Do you know how I can correct the problem of the incorrect card number length? Thanks in advance!

 

[PizzaLounge]

One additional bit of data, there is no "Gift Card Sales Tab" from maintenance > store settings in our Aloha Table Service 6.4.2
In the aloha reference guide, it states that this is where I can configure the gift card. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

[dauphin2]

Just verifying, you get this error when you attempt to sell the card or redeem it as a tender?

 

[PizzaLounge]

@Daupin2, I get the error when trying to sell the card. It was the first attempt at testing the card after configuring the edc and the payment tender. But like I said there is no "Gift Card Sales Tab" from maintenance > store settings in our Aloha Table Service 6.4.2.
The Aloha manual stated that there are some settings for gift cards in that tab but I do not have that tab!

 

[dauphin2]

Are you licensed for this? As far as I know using 3rd party Gift Cards require additional licensing, which might explain why you don't have that option.

 

[eburks]

@pizzalounge

A couple of suggestions although I do not have specific answers

You are talking about valuelink gift cards which are different from Aloha Stored Value Giftcards (somtimes called Ecards)

So.... I would start a new thread

Also, I think you will be setting this up to process via EDC although there will be some Aloha Manager settings to get right too

First Data was very slow to help me setup EDC for credit cards but First Data and Valuelink would be a place to start. Most vendors like that point you to your Aloha Dealer for setup

Last.... you have to open EDC and stop POS processing before you can view the EDC configurations

 

[PizzaLounge]

Thanks eburks. All that has been done already. I have configured the gift card merchant ID in the EDC. I have created the payment tender.

 

[Shift4SMS]

To the first question about encoding, high-co vs. low-co does not really matter for gift cards. Heck, it does not really matter for bank cards. The difference is that high-co can last a little longer -- on paper. In reality, customers losing cards, demagnification due to environmental factors, bending, etc., happen as much to both and these destroy cards faster than 10,000 swipes vs. 50,000 swipes of the card (or whatever number they tested with).

As to the format, buy a track 1/track 2 USB card reader and plug it in to a PC. These are very inexpensive, probably around $50. Bring up notepad and swipe one of the cards. This will tell you, or the encoding company, everything they need to know.


Steve Sommers

http://www.shift4.com

-- Creators of $$$ ON THE NET(tm) payment processing services

Blog:

http://paymenttidbits.blogspot.com/