The balance-check shortcode

Customers can check how much is left on a gift card from a page on your site. The form comes from one shortcode:

[artbees_gift_card_balance]

The shortcode has no options. In version 1 there's no dedicated Gutenberg block or Elementor widget.

Create the page automatically

Go to Artbees → Gift Cards → General.
Under Balance check & checkout, click Create balance-check page.

The plugin publishes a page called Gift card balance containing the shortcode and selects it as your Balance-check page. If a page is already selected, the button tells you so instead. Creating the page needs permission to publish pages.

Use an existing page

Edit the page and add the shortcode. In the block editor, use a Shortcode block.
Publish the page.
Go to Artbees → Gift Cards → General, choose it under Balance-check page, and click Save changes.

If you use a page builder, place the shortcode with its own shortcode element, then open the published page to check that the form appears.

What customers see

The form is headed Check your gift card, with a Gift card code field and a Check balance button. A valid code shows:

… available: the amount that can be spent now.
Unspent value: the card's remaining balance. This can be higher than the available amount, for example while part of the card is held for an unfinished order.
Availability: the card's state, such as Active, Exhausted (fully spent), Expired or Frozen.

The result never shows who bought the card or who it was sent to.

If the code is wrong, or the check can't be completed, the customer sees: "The card could not be verified or checked right now. Check your code, or try again in a few minutes." The message is the same whether the code doesn't exist or something else went wrong, so the form can't be used to find out which codes are real.

Rate limiting

To slow down code guessing, each visitor's address can make a limited number of checks in a short period (30 every five minutes in version 1). After that they see "Too many attempts. Please wait a few minutes and try again."

Other places customers see their balance

The Use your gift card link in the gift email opens a private card page with the amount available and recent activity.
At checkout, Have a gift card? shows the amount available as soon as a card is applied.
Signed-in customers who saved a card see it in My Account → Gift cards. See Saved cards and expiry.