Activate a gift card

Activate a gift card at the point of sale, so it can be used by a shopper.

When issuing a new gift card to a shopper, you will need to make an activation request before the card can be used for transactions. While activating the gift card, you can also load an initial balance.

Gift card activation is also a fraud protection tool. If the card is not active, it cannot be redeemed.

When the activation request is processed, you receive a result indicating whether the activation was successful.

Before you begin

Before you make any gift card transactions, make sure that you have:

Read and understood our Terminal API fundamentals.
Built an integration that can make a payment.
Completed the onboarding process with your gift card provider.
Added the payment method to your Adyen account.

Step 1: Make activation request

To activate a gift card:

Make a POST request to a Terminal API endpoint, specifying:

MessageHeader: This follows the standard MessageHeader structure, explained in Terminal API fundamentals, which includes:
- ProtocolVersion: 3.0
- MessageCategory: StoredValue
- MessageType: Request
- SaleID: Your unique ID for the cash register.
- ServiceID: Your unique ID for this transaction attempt. This needs to be unique within the last 48 hours.
- POIID: Unique ID of the terminal. This indicates which terminal the transaction will be routed to.
StoredValueRequest: The request body for the activation request must include:
- SaleData.SaleTransactionID.TransactionID: Your unique reference for this request.
- SaleData.SaleTransactionID.TimeStamp: Date and time of the request, in UTC format.
- StoredValueData.StoredValueTransactionType: Activate
- StoredValueData.StoredValueAccountID: The gift card details:
  - StoredValueAccountType: GiftCard
  - StoredValueProvider: The gift card issuer: givex, svs, or valuelink
  - ExpiryDate: The expiry date of the gift card.
  - EntryMode: MagStripe or Scanned
  - IdentificationType: PAN or BarCode
  - StoredValueID: The gift card number.
- StoredValueData.ItemAmount: Initial balance being loaded to the gift card.
- StoredValueData.Currency: Currency of the initial balance.

The example below shows how you would activate a gift card with an initial balance of 10.00 GBP.

For more information on the Terminal API request structure, refer to the Terminal API fundamentals.

https://docs.adyen.com/point-of-sale/payment-methods/gift-cards-terminal-api/activate#activate_0

JSON
Java

{
    "SaleToPOIRequest":{
        "MessageHeader":{
            "MessageType":"Request",
            "MessageClass":"Service",
            "MessageCategory":"StoredValue",
            "SaleID":"POSSystemID12345",
            "POIID":"V400m-324688179",
            "ProtocolVersion":"3.0",
            "ServiceID":"9264"
        },
        "StoredValueRequest":{
            "SaleData":{
                "SaleTransactionID":{
                    "TransactionID":"44738",
                    "TimeStamp":"2019-09-29T14:44:32+00:00"
                }
            },
            "StoredValueData":[
                {
                    "StoredValueTransactionType":"Activate",
                    "StoredValueAccountID":{
                        "StoredValueAccountType":"GiftCard",
                        "StoredValueProvider":"svs",
                        "EntryMode":[
                            "Scanned"
                        ],
                        "IdentificationType":"PAN",
                        "StoredValueID":"6006491260550218066",
                        "ExpiryDate":"1122"
                    },
                    "ItemAmount":10.00,
                    "Currency":"GBP"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

String saleID = "YOUR_CASH_REGISTER_ID";
String POIID = "YOUR_TERMINAL_ID";
String serviceID = "YOUR_UNIQUE_ATTEMPT_ID";
String transactionID = "YOUR_UNIQUE_TRANSACTION_ID";

SaleToPOIRequest saleToPOIRequest = new SaleToPOIRequest();
MessageHeader messageHeader = new MessageHeader();
messageHeader.setMessageType( MessageType.REQUEST );
messageHeader.setMessageClass( MessageClassType.SERVICE );
messageHeader.setMessageCategory( MessageCategoryType.STORED_VALUE );
messageHeader.setSaleID(saleID);
messageHeader.setPOIID(POIID);
messageHeader.setProtocolVersion("3.0");
messageHeader.setServiceID(serviceID);
saleToPOIRequest.setMessageHeader(messageHeader);

StoredValueRequest storedValueRequest = new StoredValueRequest();
SaleData saleData = new SaleData();
TransactionIdentification saleTransactionID = new TransactionIdentification();
saleTransactionID.setTransactionID(transactionID);
saleTransactionID.setTimeStamp(DatatypeFactory.newInstance().newXMLGregorianCalendar(new GregorianCalendar()));
saleData.setSaleTransactionID(saleTransactionID);
storedValueRequest.setSaleData(saleData);

StoredValueData storedValueData = new StoredValueData();
storedValueData.setStoredValueTransactionType( StoredValueTransactionType.ACTIVATE );
StoredValueAccountID storedValueAccountID = new StoredValueAccountID();
storedValueAccountID.setStoredValueAccountType( StoredValueAccountType.GIFT_CARD );
storedValueAccountID.setStoredValueProvider("svs");
storedValueAccountID.setExpiryDate("1122");
storedValueAccountID.getEntryMode().add( EntryModeType.SCANNED );
storedValueAccountID.setIdentificationType( IdentificationType.PAN );
storedValueAccountID.setStoredValueID("6006491260550218066");
storedValueData.setStoredValueAccountID(storedValueAccountID);
storedValueData.setItemAmount( BigDecimal.valueOf(10.00) );
storedValueData.setCurrency("GBP");
storedValueRequest.setStoredValueData(storedValueData);
saleToPOIRequest.setStoredValueRequest(storedValueRequest);
terminalAPIRequest.setSaleToPOIRequest(saleToPOIRequest);

The activation request is sent to the Adyen payments platform for processing.

Step 2: Receive activation result

Once processed, your integration receives an activation result indicating whether the gift card was successfully activated. This is provided in a synchronous API response, unless your integration uses asynchronous cloud communications.

If your integration uses asynchronous cloud communications, you receive the result in a TENDER_FINAL display notification

If the activation is successful:

You receive a response that contains a StoredValueResponse object. This includes:

POIData.POITransactionID.TransactionID: Transaction identifier for the gift card activation.
PaymentReceipt: Object containing data you can use to generate a receipt.
StoredValueResult.StoredValueTransactionType: Activate
StoredValueResult.StoredValueTransactionType
Response.Result: Success

The example below indicates that the gift card was successfully activated, and an initial balance of 10.00 GBP loaded to the card.

For more information on the Terminal API response structure, refer to the Terminal API fundamentals.

{
    "SaleToPOIResponse":{
        "StoredValueResponse":{
            "POIData":{
                "POITransactionID":{
                    "TimeStamp":"2019-03-26T09:31:29.000Z",
                    "TransactionID":"oLkO001522056689002.9815220566972551"
                }
            },
            "SaleData":{
                "SaleTransactionID":{
                    "TimeStamp":"2019-03-26T09:31:34.000Z",
                    "TransactionID":"44738"
                }
            },
            "PaymentReceipt":[...],
            "StoredValueResult":[
                {
                    "StoredValueTransactionType":"Activate",
                    "ItemAmount":10.00,
                    "Currency":"GBP"
                }
            ],
            "Response":{
                "Result":"Success"
            }
        },
        "MessageHeader":{
            "ProtocolVersion":"3.0",
            "SaleID":"POSSystemID12345",
            "MessageClass":"Service",
            "MessageCategory":"StoredValue",
            "ServiceID":"9264",
            "POIID":"V400m-324688179",
            "MessageType":"Response"
        }
    }
}