Agency checklist: launching gift cards for a client

Use this list when you add Artbees Gift Cards to a client's WooCommerce store. Gift cards hold customer money, so most of the list is about payment, email, backups and handover.

1. Before you quote

Currency. One store, one currency. Currency switchers and multi-currency checkouts aren't supported. The store currency can't change while cards hold value.
Remainder payment. If a gift card might not cover a whole order, the client needs the official WooCommerce Stripe Gateway or WooPayments, or must be willing to confirm bank transfers by hand. No other gateway can pay a remainder. See Redeeming gift cards at checkout.
Existing gift cards. Version 1 has no importer from other gift card plugins. Plan how old cards will be honored, for example by running both until they're used up.
Out of scope. No point-of-sale use, physical cards, reloads, promotional credit or subscriptions in version 1.
Free or Pro. Free includes saved cards and optional expiry with reminders. Pro adds designs, photos, scheduling, PDFs, purchaser corrections, bulk issuance and period reports. See Free vs Pro.
License tier. Every Pro tier has the same features. Choose by number of client sites: 1, 5 or 25 yearly, or lifetime up to unlimited. Decide whether the license is in your MyArtbees account or the client's, and who renews it.
Legal. The client decides refund policy, expiry rules and how gift cards are taxed. Local laws may limit expiry. The plugin doesn't decide these for them.

2. Hosting

WordPress 6.9 or later, current WooCommerce.
64-bit PHP 7.4 or later with Sodium and mbstring. Pro photos need GD.
MySQL or MariaDB with InnoDB.
A server cron that runs wp-cron.php every minute. Don't rely on visitor-triggered WP-Cron for gift emails.
An SMTP or transactional email service with SPF, DKIM and DMARC set up for the client's domain.
Multisite: activate per site, not network-wide.

3. Install and secure

Install WooCommerce, then Artbees Gift Cards for WooCommerce, then Gift Cards Pro if used.
Decide where the encryption key lives. By default it's in the database. To keep it separate, add ARTBEES_GIFT_CARDS_MASTER_KEY to wp-config.php before activation. See Getting started.
Back up the database and the key together. Never replace the key once cards exist. Codes can't be recovered without it.
Review roles. Administrators and Shop managers get all gift card permissions. Remove adjust, refund, export or reveal rights from roles that shouldn't have them.
Pro: connect the license under Artbees → Gift Cards → License. Confirm with Artbees how staging and development copies should be licensed. A copied site doesn't inherit the live site's activation.

4. Configure

Style: logo, accent and text colors, corner radius. Pro: default design, PDFs, customer photos.
General: store name on cards, required recipient name, message limit, balance-check page, saved cards (on by default), and validity and reminder days. Leave validity at 0 unless the client has a clear expiry policy. Pro: purchaser self-service.
Emails: subject, heading and footer, then a test email to a real inbox.
Delivery (Pro): scheduled delivery and default timezone.
Products: gift card product type with preset amounts and/or a custom range. Set tax status on purpose.
Bank-transfer remainder: off unless the client will confirm transfers promptly. Gift funds are held for 48 hours.

5. Test on the client's theme

Test the client's own theme, page builder and checkout before launch. For the combinations Artbees has tested, see the compatibility notes on the plugin page.

Gift product page on desktop and mobile: amount, recipient fields, preview, validation messages.
Have a gift card? on cart and checkout, whichever checkout the store uses.
Balance-check page.
Recipient's private card page and the gift email in the main email clients.
My Account → Gift cards.
Right-to-left languages and translations, if used. Check Pro PDFs with the client's languages.
Caching and security plugins: exclude cart, checkout, My Account and the private gift pages from page caching.

6. Go-live test with real payments

Use a small real amount, or the gateway's test mode on staging, and refund afterwards.

Buy a gift card online. One card per unit appears in WooCommerce → Gift Cards after payment.
The email arrives and the code works.
Pay an order fully with a gift card.
Pay an order partly with a gift card and partly by Stripe or WooPayments. Check both orders and the amount captured.
Refund part of that order. Value goes back to the card first.
Offline order: Processing alone issues nothing. Payment verified — issue gift cards issues once.
A saved card appears in My Account and can be picked at checkout.
If validity is set: the expiry date shows on the gift, and the reminder email sends.
Pro: a scheduled gift sends at its time. A PDF downloads and prints.
wp gift-cards reconcile reports no differences.

7. Hand over to the client

Show where things are: settings in Artbees → Gift Cards, daily work in WooCommerce → Gift Cards.
Walk through resending an email, correcting a recipient, confirming an offline payment and handling Refunds needing review.
Explain that Submitted to mail system doesn't mean the email was read.
Explain that balances can't be edited, only adjusted with a reason, and history can't be deleted.
Add the plugin's suggested text to the client's privacy policy, under Settings → Privacy → Policy Guide.
Hand over the reports and year-end guide.
Note who owns the Pro license, when it renews, and what switches off if it lapses. See Activating and renewing your Pro license.
Explain that deactivating or deleting the plugin keeps all card data. Removing gift card data needs a deliberate, separate decision.

8. Keep it running

Check Overview → Delivery & background health weekly at first.
Install Pro updates by uploading the replacement ZIP from MyArtbees. Automatic updates aren't available for Pro yet.
Reconcile monthly or at least yearly.