What Orchid Does With This File
Orchid POS imports your open (unredeemed or partially redeemed) gift cards as outstanding store liability balances. Your customers can present their gift card after cutover and Orchid POS will look up the remaining balance against the migrated card number. The gift card LIABILITY transfers - the customer's claim on your store doesn't expire just because you switched systems.
Required File Format
Excel (.xlsx) or CSV - one row per gift card
Required Fields
- Gift Card Number (the physical/printed number on the card; this is how Orchid POS looks it up at point of sale)
- Issue Date
- Original Value (the amount the card was loaded with)
- Current Balance (the unredeemed amount)
- Issued To - Customer Name (if known)
- Issued To - Customer ID (if linked to your Customer List)
- Last Used Date (optional but useful for dormancy reporting)
- Expiration Date (if your state laws / store policy enforces one)
- Notes
Reconciliation Rules
- The SUM of all Current Balance values across the entire gift card export is your store's outstanding gift card liability at cutover. Make sure this matches what your accountant has on your books.
- Gift Card Number must be unique. If your legacy system has duplicates (e.g., reissued cards), the most recent active one wins - flag duplicates to your consultant.
- Cards with Current Balance = $0.00 don't need to migrate. Filter them out of the export, or Orchid will filter them on import.
Before You Start
- Check your state's gift card laws - some states require unredeemed balances to be reported as unclaimed property after a dormancy period. Make sure the cards you migrate are still 'live' under your state's rules.
- If you use a third-party gift card processor (Givex, Valutec, FreedomPay, etc.) rather than your POS's native gift card module, the export may need to come from the processor's portal, not your POS.
- Decide whether to migrate dormant cards (no activity in 12+ months). Some stores write these off; others migrate them. Discuss with your accountant.
How to Export from Your Current System
QuickBooks POS
Reports menu > Customers > Gift Card Balances Report (or similar). Click the Excel button to export. If gift cards live in a third-party module integrated with QBPOS, export from that module instead.
Connected Data Systems (CDS)
Reports > Gift Cards. Export to Excel. Confirm with CDS support at 1-800-944-2998 if the report is not visible.
Celerant
Reports > Gift Card / Stored Value > Outstanding Gift Cards. Export dropdown > Excel.
Coreware / coreSTORE
Navigate to the Gift Cards view (under Customers or Sales). Click '...' > Excel Export. coreSTORE also supports digital gift cards via coreFORCE - if you use those, the eCommerce side may have additional records.
Trident 1 POS
Reports area > Gift Cards. Export to Excel. Confirm with Trident 1 support.
Bravo
Reports > Gift Card Liability. Export as Excel.
Cervelle / Merchant Magic
Reports menu > Gift Cards. Export as CSV. Confirm with Cervelle support.
Watch Out For
- Gift Card Numbers are usually printed on the physical card. If your legacy system stored the number with formatting (dashes, spaces), Orchid will normalize it on import. Don't reformat the column in Excel.
- DO NOT open the CSV in Excel and save it - gift card numbers can be 16+ digits and Excel will convert them to scientific notation (1.23E+15). Use the Data > From Text/CSV import path with the gift card column set to Text.
- If you've ever 'merged' two gift cards (combined balances), make sure only the surviving card appears in the export, with the combined balance.
- Promotional / sample gift cards issued to employees or as marketing should generally NOT be migrated. Filter them out by issue source or notes.
This file may contain sensitive information (customer addresses, pricing, costs). Send it to Orchid using the secure upload link your consultant provided. Do not email exports as unencrypted attachments.
Questions about this export? Reach out to your Orchid implementation consultant, or email implementations@joinorchid.com with the subject line "[Migration] [Your Store Name] - [Legacy System] [File Type] export."