Gift Cards/Mag Cards and Loyalty/Rewards Cards
Gift Cards/Mag Cards and Loyalty/Rewards Cards
Mag Cards, or Magnetic Stripe Cards, are used for Gift Cards, Loyalty/Rewards Cards, and Super Savers in RTS.
They can be manually loaded with passes and free items with or without an expiration date as well as have points or money amounts added to them.
As always, if you have any questions related to these subjects please give us a call at 865-212-9703.
Going forward, these will be generally referred to as Mag Cards for simplicity going forward in this article.
General Card Usage and Information
Requirements for the usage of mag cards:
Numbers must be generated by RTS and provided to the company you are using to print the physical cards or imported from another POS System via a provided spreadsheet.
Without these actions, the card numbers will not be in your RTS Database so the card number will not be found.
You can discuss this further with the support team if you have questions.
Mag Card Servers
Sometimes a location will be part of a larger chain so the mag cards must be shared between multiple locations.
Typically, that means that one location will have all of the card numbers in its database and all of the other locations will communicate with it to confirm the existence of the card numbers.
We refer to this central location as a "Mag Card Server".
When referring to the cards themselves, they are usually referred to as "Local Cards" and "Remote Cards".
Remote cards are labeled as such because RTS will remotely confirm the card number with another location.
Local Cards - Only used by one location.
Remote Cards - Used by multiple locations.
Ordering Physical Mag Cards
RTS suggests ordering cards from Plastic Printers.
When cards are ordered, Plastic Printers will request card numbers from RTS so we can generate the card numbers directly within your database.
This way you will not have to manually enter the card numbers into the system.
Contact information is provided below:
Jessica Schuster
Jessica.Schuster@PlasticPrinters.com
651.319.4742 Direct
741 Spiral Blvd. • Hastings, MN 55033
http://www.plasticprinters.com/
What RTS Generates In A Mag Card File
Encoding should be ABA track 1 only, nothing on track 2 or 3.
Lo-Co or Hi-Co.
It is strongly recommended that card numbers be printed on the cards due to magnetic swipe failure.
If printing a bar code on cards, we suggest using a QR code if the location has QR code-compatible readers. Encode the swipe data in the QR code.
There are 2 card number files in this archive.
DO NOT USE BOTH FILES
The TXT file is CSV.
Track 1, human-readable CR-LF
The XML file is self-explanatory.
Using A Different Card Printing Company
- Email support@rts-solutions.com including the locations' information and the number of card numbers needing to be generated.
- Provide the following formatting information to your card manufacturer:
- a. Track 1, human-readable CR-LF
- b. Cards need to be encoded on ABA Track 1 only, nothing on Track 2 or 3. Cards can be lo-co or hi-co (lo-co is preferred and usually more cost-effective).
- a. Track 1, human-readable CR-LF
Note: It is strongly recommended that the card number be printed on the cards due to normal wear of the magnetic strip.
Send us an email including the theatre information as well as how many card numbers they are requesting.
Reports Associated With Mag Cards
You can find an article detailing the different Reports within RTS related to mag cards here: Mag Card Reports Article
Entering New Cards into the RTS Database (Special Cases)
*IMPORTANT NOTE*: This process only needs to be done if it is not an RTS generated Gift Card number as discussed above or was not imported from a previous POS System.
This will add whatever number you input into the field into your RTS database for your location so it can be used as a gift card.
You can also use this function if, for example, you would like to use someone's phone number as their rewards card number.
1.) In RTS, go to Setup -> Mag Cards -> Enter New Cards
2.) Select "Enter Cards".
3.) Swipe the first mag card/enter the card number you wish to add.
This screen will close and then re-open once it accepts the card swiped/number entered.
There will be no confirmation notification.
It is good practice to keep the cards you have swiped/entered here in a separate pile from the non-swiped/entered cards.
4.) Repeat step 3 with the next card(s) until you have entered as many cards as needed.
5.) To stop this process select "Cancel" on the Entry Window.
6.) Select "Close" on the Enter New Mag Card window.
Now that the card numbers are in the system you can add money/items/passes to the cards.
Entering Mag Cards Into The Selling Screen
The customer will need to present their card or card number at the time of the sale.
- Select "Enter Card" or "Menu -> Enter Card" on the selling screen.
- Swipe the customer's mag card/enter the customer's card number.
At the top of the tender window, a summary of the card will appear, e.g.
C#5555 1.00
Example Member
1 Free Ticket No Exp. Any Title
1 Example Item No Exp.
This means the following:
- C#5555 = Last 4 digits of the card number
- 1.00 = Money on the card. If items are rung up, the money remaining on the card will be removed from the subtotal, leaving the remaining balance.
- Example Member = The First and Last name of the customer if the card is a registered Loyalty/Rewards/Membership card.
- 1 Example Item No Exp. = There is 1 free concession item (Example Item) on the card, with no expiration date. If this item is rung up, RTS will prompt you to redeem the free one. You have the option of using it or not.
- 1 Free Ticket No Exp. Any Title = There is 1 free ticket available. It will prompt you to redeem if a ticket is rung up. You have the option of using it or not.
Several other functions can be done with mag cards:
1. Transferring the contents of one card to a new one, in the event a customer loses his/her card. This is done using the Lookup Register Card window using the Transfer button.
2. Clearing cards to remove all rewards/money from the card. This can be done using the Lookup Register Card window using the Clear Card button.
2. Registering cards. This allows a mag card to be assigned to a name/address/phone, etc and be used for the Loyalty/Rewards/Memberships programs. The is done using the Register Card button in the selling screen Menu.
3. Bonus Points. This is a loyalty/rewards/memberships program feature. It allows the theatre to assign point values to ticket sales, and to enable point amounts per $1 spent on concessions. These points can then be redeemed for rewards that have been configured.
Adding Money To Mag Cards Via A Transaction (Reloading A Gift Card)
1). At the selling screen, select "Menu".
2.) Select "Add Money".
3.) Swipe the card/enter the number you wish to add money to.
4.) Enter the amount of money you wish to add, and then select "OK".
5.) A prompt will appear: "Add $xx.xx to the card <Card#>".
If the amount and card number is correct, select "Yes". If not, select "No" to cancel.
6.) Once you select "Yes", the transaction amount will be moved to the tender window and you can complete the transaction as needed, either with cash, credit, etc.
Voiding/Removing Money From A Mag Card
1.) In the selling screen, select "Menu".
2.) Select "Add Money".
3.) Swipe the card/enter the number you wish to remove money from.
4.) Enter the amount you wish to remove and select "Credit Off".
When you select Credit Off, the button will turn Red and state "CREDIT ON".
This indicates that Voiding the amount is turned on.
5.) Select "OK".
6.) A prompt will appear: "Warning you are removing money from this card. Are you sure?".
Select "Yes" to complete or "No" to cancel.
7.) A prompt will appear: "You must verify the amount you wish to remove from this card in the next window".
Select "OK".
8.) Just like before, enter the amount you wish to remove, select "Credit Off" to change it to "Credit On", and then select "OK"
9.) A prompt will appear: "Remove $x.xx from card <Card#>".
If the amount and card number is correct, select "Yes" or "No" to cancel.
10.) Once you select "Yes", the transaction amount will be moved to the tender window and you can complete the transaction as needed, either with cash, credit, etc.
The Lookup Registered Card Window
The Lookup Registered Card window is a very useful tool that can be used to make many changes to cards in RTS, and for confirming/looking up card information for customers.
We will be using this window going forward to show how you can manually add Item Credits and Ticket Credits to cards.
Manually Adding Item Credits To A Mag Card
1.) In the selling screen, select "Menu".
2.) Select "Lookup Card".
3.) Select "Lookup By Number".
4.) Swipe the card/enter the card number to pull up the card in the Lookup Registered Card window.
5.) Select the card in the list and then select "Add".
6.) A list of selections to add will appear. In this situation, select "Items".
7.) Enter a password that has permission to add items to a card.
8.) Select the desired item in the "Item To Add" dropdown list.
9.) Enter the amount of the items that you wish to add in the "Amount To Add" field.
10.) If needed, add a reason for manually adding an item to the card.
11.) If needed, set an expiration date, or set the expiration to "None".
12.) Select "Add Item Credits". This will prompt a window saying "Item Added To Card".
13.) If you are finished, you can select "Close" on the Lookup Registered Card Window. Otherwise, repeat the process for each card you wish to add Item Credits to.
Manually Adding Passes To A Mag Card
1.) At the selling screen, select "Menu".
2.) Select "Lookup Card".
3.) Select "Lookup By Number".
4.) Swipe the card/enter the card number to pull up the card in the Lookup Registered Card window.
5.) Select the card in the list and then select "Add".
6.) A list of selections to add will appear. Select "Passes".
7.) This will bring up the Print Pass window.
8.) Type in a Reason if needed.
9.) Set an expiration for the pass, if needed. Check "Now" if you want it valid immediately, or select a date. Check "None" if you want no expiration, or select a date.
10.) Add the "Number Of Passes" you need to be added to the card. The + and - buttons can be used to adjust the amount.
11.) Select a Movie Restriction if this is for a specific film, or select "<NONE>" to have no restrictions on the film it can be used for.
12.) Select Add Passes To Card. This will prompt a window stating "Pass Added". Select "OK" to proceed.
13.) Select "Close" once you are finished with the Passes window.
14.) Select "Close" in the Lookup Registered Card window, or repeat these steps per card you wish to add passes to.
Related Articles
Pay At Counter
Pay At Counter A new feature for RTS and the RTS App called "Pay At Counter" allows a customer to give a manual payment code or scannable QR code to your cashier so they can make purchases without physically presenting their credit card or gift card. ...Example Loyalty Programs
Example Loyalty Programs RTS has a highly configurable loyalty program. We are often asked for guidance on how to set this up, and while we can offer you details on how our system works, it's really up to the location to settle on a plan that fits ...RTS Servers and Cloud Services
While we always recommend that your primary RTS server and its replication partner remain on-site in your theater, there may be instances where you would have an RTS server running on a cloud platform. Use cases for this would be: Mag Card Server ...Gmail Setup For Ticketing And Gift Card Emails
Setup Gmail App Password You can use a Gmail account to send internet ticketing confirmation emails and online gift card purchase confirmation emails. There is some configuration that must be done for the account and inside of RTS. This article will ...New Customer Setup Checklist
New Customer Setup Checklist This document is designed to assist you with your RTS setup. The steps highlighted in red are critical for the RTS setup, while those highlighted in green represent additional features available with your licensing ...