VISA GIFT CARD

Looking for a great gift idea? Introducing the SECU Visa Gift Card - the perfect gift for anyone on your list no matter what the occasion - birthday, wedding, anniversary, holiday or graduation! The versatility of the SECU Visa Gift Card allows your loved ones to make purchases nearly anywhere Visa cards are accepted. So why waste time trying to figure out their favorite restaurant or store? With an SECU Visa Gift Card, the possibilities are endless! 

The Gift Cards are available in all SECU branches. Gift Cards can be purchased in amounts ranging from $20 to $500 at a cost of just $1 per card! You can also order your Gift Cards online through Member Access. Simply sign in, select the Services tab, click on the Gift Cards link and follow the easy instructions. The fee for issuance and handling of each card purchase online is $2.50. 

So how do these cards work? Although an SECU Visa Gift Card is not a credit card, you use it similar to one. A Personal Identification Number (PIN) is not tied to the card, so choose "credit" when making purchases and the amount will be deducted from the card. It's pretty simple! Cardholders can even check their gift card balance and transaction history by calling the number on the back of the card. 

Visit My Account today to register your Gift Card! Registering your Gift Card allows you to view transaction information and balance. It is important to register your Gift Card in case it is lost, stolen or if you have an unauthorized transaction. Please refer to the Visa Gift Card Terms and Conditions for more information. 

How to Manage Tickets, Gift Cards, and More with Passbook

Passbook is a brand new app in iOS 6 that makes managing your event tickets, gift cards, coupons, loyalty cards, and more super easy. Here's how it works in iOS 6.

How to Add, View, and Use Passes

When you update to iOS 6, you'll see a new icon on your home screen for Passbook. Tap on that to open your list of passes. When you first start, you won't have any, but you'll be able to head to the App Store and buy some if you so desire. If you come upon anything that's compatible with Passbook—say, in mobile Safari—you'll be prompted to add it to Passbook right then and there.

Each card in Passbook is designed to show you all the information you could need at any point in time. Airline tickets have your flight number, your gate, the departure time, and more. Gift cards show your current balance, coupons show the expiration date, and nearly all passes have a scannable bar code so you don't need to worry about bringing along your paper tickets. To delete a card, just press the info button in the lower right-hand corner, and tap the trash can icon.

Get Notifications for Passes As You Need Them

When you bring up a pass, you can tap the info button in the lower right-hand corner to edit its preferences. Each card has two settings: First is Automatic Updates, which allows Passbook to update your gift card balance, airline gate changes, and other information. The second preference is Show On Lock Screen, which will give you notifications when it's time to use that card. If it's an airline or event ticket, for example, it'll send you a notification based on the time, and if it's a gift card or coupon, it'll send you a notification based on your location (i.e., if you walk into a Starbucks, it'll notify you that you have a Starbucks gift card). You can edit Passbook's notification settings under Settings > Notifications, as you can with any other app. Some passes may even integrate with the Reminders and Calendar apps as well.

What Services Support Passbook?

As of this morning, Passbook currently supports Fandango, Live Nation, Lufthansa, MLB.com At Bat, Sephora to Go, Ticketmaster, and Walgreens. We've have seen a number of other companies in demonstrations of Passbook, leading us to believe they'll soon be partners as well—particularly Delta, Starwood Hotels, Starbucks, Apple Stores, and more. To see more, just open up Passbook and hit the "App Store" button to see what's available!

How Do Gift Certificates Work?

Buying Gift Certificates

• How does the recipient receive a gift certificate I purchase for them?
  When buying a gift certificate, you will be given the option to print the gift certificate and deliver it to the recipient yourself, or to have the gift certificate automatically emailed to the recipient. (If you choose to have us email the gift certificate, you can indicate whether it should be emailed immediately upon purchase, or you can enter a future date if you want it sent later (e.g., if you want it sent on someone's birthday, etc.)
• What is on the gift certificate?
  Whether you print or email the gift certificate, it will include a detailed description of the activity, which you can customize to include your name, the recipient's name, and/or a personal message from you to them. (You also have the option to leave off any of these three pieces of information.)
• Will the recipient see how much I spent on their gift certificate?
  No. The gift certificate will only display the number of tickets you purchased; it will NOT display the dollar amount you paid. The recipient will be able to redeem the gift certificate for the activity and tickets you selected, even if the ticket price increases in the future.

Using Gift Certificates

• What do I need to do to redeem my gift certificate?
  To use a gift certificate, you simply need to redeem it for a specific date and time, so that you have guaranteed tickets to attend that date and time.
• Can I redeem my gift certificate online? Over the phone?
  Yes, whichever is easier for you – gift certificates can be redeemed online or over the phone. To reedeem online, simply go to the activity's page on Zerve's website, select the desired date and time, and click the ‘Redeem’ link.
• What will I receive when I redeem my gift certificate?
  Once the gift certificate is redeemed, you will receive an e-ticket for the date and time selected, which is required to be able to attend the activity, and which will include the exact meeting location.
• Can value be put back on my gift certificate if I redeem it and then don't show up?
  No. After a gift certificate is redeemed for tickets, its value is permanently reduced, and it cannot be used again if you do not show up for the time selected.
• What if I want more or fewer tickets than my gift certificate contains?
  If you redeem a gift certificate partially, so that only some of the tickets are redeemed, your gift certificate will have a remainder value which you can use at a later time. If you choose to buy more tickets than are available on your gift certificate, you will need to pay for the balance using a credit card.

How do Gift Cards technically work?

This is with respect to the magnetic strip on the back, the security code, and the transaction of funds happening in the background.

Technically work or work technically?

Depends on the software system driving the platform.  There are many variants to the answer but I can give you a rough idea of how it works.  

The mag stripe contains magnetically recorded account data.  Just like credit and debit cards.  There are different tracks of data, generally track1, 2, 3.  Each has a standard message format layout and is sometimes dependent on the industry or geographical deployment.  A lot of the gift cards are similar because their card programs are being driven by companies like Black Hawk and such.

A lot of closed loop gift card programs (non-bugged with Visa/MC/Amex logos) don't implement the security code.  If it is a bugged card (visa, mc, amex, etc..) then the 3 digit code is just the standard CSC code.  That number is generated with an algorithm when they generate the batch of card numbers and mount them into their platform.

Transaction of funds can run the gamut.  I assume you already understand the transaction processing flows.  I have seen systems where the balance of funds sit with the business/merchant and other systems where it sits with the processor.  Generally, if the card can only be used at one business/merchant then the funds should stay with them and it sits as a liability on their books dependent on their Nation/State laws relative to gift cards and other forms of stored value.  If it is a multi-merchant business (pooled or open loop) then usually the money sits with the card program or the processor and not the merchants.  I have seen rare cases in pooled and open loop systems where the merchants individually retain the loaded funds and the processor does net-settlement between all participants at EOD.  I find that last model a bit risky and it is like trying to create V/MC all over again.

As an experiment go buy a cheap USB mag stripe reader and swipe your credit, debit and gift cards directly into a text editor like notepad.  The encoded data will be dumped in plain text for you to view.    

If you want to have even more fun you can get your hands on a card encoder and you can write the mag stripe data from any of your cards onto blank white card stock.  In fact, you can do this with many credit cards.  I have done it dozens of times.  It can be a particularly amusing and interesting social experiment to go shopping with a blank white credit card or a gift card.  Sales clerks tend to get a bit flustered but when the authorization prints out there isn't much they can do.  Occasionally I have been refused service and have to pull out the original card.

If you have any more questions, msg me.  I wrote our gift card issuing/acquiring platform.  Drives the standard issue plastic mag strip gift card applications and other derivatives.

Gift Certificates

Gift card is substitute for currency, which cannot be used as a legal tender and are often a form of prepayment at a particular business or a store. Gift Cards are essentially the same as Gift Certificates except that the cards automate the checkout and accounting processes. Cards usually have a barcode or magnetic strip, which can be processed through a standard electronic POS terminal or credit card machine. Cards do not have any value until they are sold, at which time the cashier enters the amount that the customer wishes to put on the card. This amount is not stored on the card, but is instead noted in the stores orcredit/gift card processor's database and cross-linked to the card ID.

*Example of transactions. Gift Card purchase 1. A customer comes up to a cashier and asks to buy a Gift Card. 2. The cashier enters the amount of the Gift Card into a POS terminal or credit card terminal, swipes the gift card for activation and selects an appropriate function key. 3. The POS terminal or credit card terminal sends the command to the store's database over the internet to the credit/gift card processor's server to activate the card for the purchased value amount. The purchased value of the card is stored on a database at the store or a database that is located on the processor's site. 4. If no problems are detected the processor sends a command back to the POS terminal or the credit card terminal that the transaction is approved and it is ready for payment. 5. The customer pays cash or with a credit card for the purchase of the Gift Card. Gift Card redemption 1. A customer buys merchandise and presents a Gift Card as a payment. 2. The cashier selects an appropriate function key at the credit card terminal or POS terminal and swipes the gift card. 3. The credit card terminal or POS terminal sends the command to the store's database or over the internet to the credit/gift card processor's database to redeem the gift card. 4. If no problems are detected the processor sends command back to the POS terminal or credit card terminal that the transaction is approved as payment. The value of the card is reduced at the database. 5. If the value on the Gift Card is more then the amount of purchase then the POS terminal or credit card terminal will print the remaining balance on a receipt and completes the transaction. 6. If the value on the Gift Card is less than the amount of purchase then the POS terminal or credit card terminal will prompt the balance due. The customer may pay the balance due with cash or a credit card.

Freelancing Mistakes

Freelancing Mistakes You Don’t Need To Make

WE RARELY LIKE TO ADMIT OUR MISTAKES, BUT IF WE FAIL TO ADMIT THEM AND LEARN FROM THEM THEN THEY’RE LIKELY TO BE REPEATED. IN THIS ARTICLE I WANT TO ADMIT SOME OF MY MISTAKES TO YOU, AND SHARE MY EXPERIENCE SO THAT YOU CAN AVOID MAKING THEM.

My journey has taken me from the highs of doing what I love every day to the lows of chasing monthly payments and then back again. To say that my journey has followed the typical freelance roller coaster would be an understatement.

Making mistakes along the way is a big part of freelancing, though, and I’m sure many of you can relate when I say that these failures and mistakes help to make your business successful and teach you a lot along the way. if you like to learn more CLICK HERE.

Today I want to share four that I’ve personally had to learn to avoid, and it is my hope that in sharing these you can avoid them yourself without having to go through them first.

MBA Without Bachelor

Twitter's Buzzing With Complaints Over Botched 1-800-Flowers Mother's Day Deliveries

Looks like 1-800-Flowers* didn't learn much from the beating it took on Twitter and Facebook for botching countless Valentines' Day deliveries earlier this year.

We spotted dozens of furious tweets and Facebook postings from frustrated Mother's Days customers over the last 24 hours, from complaints about erroneous cards to moms still waiting for bouquets to arrive.
The company is pretty transparent when it comes to complaints (plenty of others block consumer postings altogether), enlisting a trio of social media responders to intromit messages with promises to follow up. But this time around they called on a new tactic for crowd control: Cash.

Customers were offered $25 1-800-Flowers gift cards as compensation for failed deliveries, along with promises they'd be delivered by Tuesday, the 15th. If you like to learn more CLICK HERE. 

But the offer didn't appease people who spent many times that on arrangements – and expected them to arrive Sunday.

*UPDATE: Per spokesperson Yanique Woodall, the company will redeliver or refund purchases as well.
"This year’s Mother’s Day, as with all peak holiday seasons, we are able to help the vast majority of our customers deliver a smile for the holiday period," Woodall said. "In addition, we believe in the use of social media; therefore, our customers will use Facebook and Twitter to contact us. As always, our goal is to help our customers express themselves perfectly to the important people in their lives.”
Check out more complaints below:

There were at least a few happy customers: 

Mama and Grandma got my roses I sent from 1800flowers and loved em. That made my weekend a lot better