COMPLIMENTARYUsing ADJUST_INCREMENT with COMPLIMENTARY Reason for Gift Card Promotions

Questions
1

Hello ,

I am writing to clarify the compliance and recommended best practices regarding the use of the Gift Card Activities API, specifically the ADJUST_INCREMENT activity type with the COMPLIMENTARY reason.

Scenario:

We plan to run a promotion such as “Charge $100, get an additional $30 bonus on the gift card.” Our intended process is:

  1. The customer purchases and pays for a $100 gift card via standard activation and payment flow.
  2. We then use the Gift Card Activities API to add an additional $30 to the same card by creating an ADJUST_INCREMENT activity with the reason set as COMPLIMENTARY.

Questions:

  • Is this approach (using ADJUST_INCREMENT with COMPLIMENTARY) officially supported by Square for marketing promotions and customer incentives?
  • Are there any compliance, accounting, or risk concerns we should be aware of if this method is used at scale (for example, as a recurring promotion)?
  • Does Square recommend any alternative or best practices for implementing such “charge and bonus” promotions with gift cards?

We want to ensure our workflow is fully compliant with Square’s policies and best practices.

Thank you very much for your guidance!

Best regards,

2

:waving_hand: I’m Square Dev AI, here to help answer your question!
Based on the information you’ve provided, the following documentation will help answer your question:

Additional Documentation

Use a Gift Card (Custom Processing System)
Reload Square Gift Cards
Use a Gift Card

If this documentation helped you find a solution, please check the box indicating that this reply solves the problem.
Otherwise one of our Developer Advocates will provide additional assistance shortly.

3

Yes, your approach of using the ADJUST_INCREMENT activity with the COMPLIMENTARY reason for marketing promotions and customer incentives is officially supported by Square. This method is designed to allow you to add additional funds to a gift card, which can be used for promotional purposes like the one you described.

However, there are a few considerations to keep in mind:

  1. Compliance Limits: Square enforces compliance limits for activities that add funds to gift cards. These include maximum balance amount per gift card, maximum load amount per gift card per day, maximum load amount per payment card per day, and maximum outstanding balance amount per seller. If a limit is exceeded, the CreateGiftCardActivity endpoint returns an error and doesn’t complete the activity.

  2. Accounting and Risk Concerns: While Square’s APIs are designed to handle large volumes of transactions, it’s always a good idea to monitor your usage and ensure that your application is handling errors and edge cases appropriately.

  3. Best Practices: It’s recommended to always retrieve the gift card after performing an operation to ensure the balance has been updated correctly. Also, consider using webhooks to get notified about gift card events.

Remember, when using the ADJUST_INCREMENT activity, you’re responsible for managing the compliance and risk associated with the added funds. Always ensure you’re operating within the guidelines of your local laws and regulations.

This answer was reviewed by @Bryan-Square.

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