Gift card formatting can vary within RICS. This document outlines the guidelines and restrictions for gift card formatting.  

Gift Card Number Format

Gift card numbers can be a string up to 32 characters; which does not have to be numeric. If the user is creating a range of Stored Value card numbers, they must be both numeric and also less than 19 characters. Single Stored Value Card numbers do not have to be numeric and can be up to 32 characters long.

Barcode Symbologies

RICS does not parse gift card barcodes, but instead relies on the scanner connect to the computer to decode the barcodes and sends the resulting text to the system. When clients inquire which barcode symbologies RICS supports, the answer lies in whichever ones your scanner(s) can read.

However, RICS recommends using code 39 barcodes which support alpha numeric characters.

Since our clients use a variety of different scanners, which can read a variety of different types of barcodes; we do not have a set list of supported barcode types. Check with your barcode scanner vendor to learn which barcodes are supported.

Magnetic Stripes

Gift card numbers can also be encoded in a magnetic stripe similar to those used on credit cards. A standard magstripe reader can read in the track data, and the RICS POS can extract the card number for use in the system. This works for standard one and two-track magnetic stripe data.

Note: The POS must have a separate magstripe reader to decode gift card track data. A PIN Pad with a built-in magstripe reader will only work for credit and debit cards, NOT gift cards.

For a gift card with a mag stripe, the gift card number should be specified on Track 2.  The data should be prefixed with either a semicolon (:) or percent sign (%) and postfix with a question mark (?).

Examples

;01234567890123456?

Or

%01234567890123456?