Personalized gift cards—post-transaction communication

• US 10,572,871 B1
• Filed: 12/04/2014
• Issued: 02/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Block, Inc. (f/k/a Square, Inc.)
• Inventors: LaBanca, Jr., John, Kursmark, Matthew T., Mocko, Christopher Lang
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Asfand M
• Application Number:
  US14/560,180
• Time in Patent Office: 1,909 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/18 involving self-service terminals [SST], vending machines, kiosks or multimedia terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/204 comprising interface for record bearing medium or carrier for electronic funds transfer or payment credit
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/342 Cards defining paid or billed services or quantities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/346 Cards serving only as information carrier of service
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3552 Downloading or loading of personalisation data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3558 Preliminary personalisation for transfer to user

Abstract

Techniques and arrangements for personalizing gift cards based, in part, on exchanging personalized messages between a customer that buys a gift card and a customer that receives and uses the gift card. A point-of-sale (POS) device of a merchant may receive a personalized message from the customer buying the gift card at the time of the purchase. The POS device may then present the personalized message to the customer receiving the gift card when the customer uses the gift card to satisfy a cost of a transaction between the merchant and the customer. During or after the transaction, the POS device may further receive feedback from the recipient customer of the gift card. The POS device may then send the feedback to the customer that originally bought the gift card.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a point-of-sale (POS) device of a merchant, payment information associated with a payment instrument of a buyer for associating a value with a physical gift card;

attempting to authorize the payment instrument for the value;

storing, in association with an identifier of the physical gift card, an indication of the value;

receiving, at the POS device, contact information of the buyer of the physical gift card;

storing the contact information of the buyer in association with the identifier of the physical gift card;

determining, after storing the contact information and based, at least in part, on receiving an indication from a payment instrument reader of the POS device, that the physical gift card is being used at the POS device to satisfy a cost of a transaction between the merchant and a recipient of the physical gift card;

receiving, at the POS device, contact information of the recipient of the physical gift card, the contact information of the recipient being received at a time of the recipient using the physical gift card to satisfy the cost of the transaction;

sending, by the POS device, and using the contact information of the recipient, a receipt for the transaction to a device of the recipient, the receipt for the transaction including at least a mechanism for sending at least a communication to the POS device;

receiving, at the POS device and directly from the device of the recipient, and at least partly in response to sending the receipt that includes the mechanism, the communication from the device of the recipient, the communication including feedback from the recipient;

determining that the buyer is conducting a second transaction at the POS device; and

presenting, at the POS device, the feedback based at least in part on determining that the buyer is conducting the second transaction at the POS device.

2. A method of claim 1, wherein the feedback comprises at least one of a personalized message to the buyer, a review of the merchant from the recipient, sales information representing an item purchased by the recipient using the physical gift card, or balance information representing a current balance of the physical gift card.

3. A method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a personalized message from the buyer for the recipient of the gift card;

storing, in association with the identifier of the gift card, the personalized message from the buyer; and

sending, using the contact information of the recipient, the personalized message to the device of the recipient.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the POS device, and using a camera, a message from the recipient at the time of the recipient using the physical gift card to satisfy the cost of the transaction; and

presenting, at the POS device, the message based at least in part on determining that the buyer is located at the physical establishment.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

storing, in association with the identifier, an identifier of an item purchased by the buyer; and

based at least in part on determining that the physical gift card is being used at the POS device to satisfy the cost of the transaction, presenting a notification associated with the item.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising causing a physical receipt for the transaction to the printed, the physical receipt including at least the mechanism for sending the communication to the POS device.

7. A point-of-sale (POS) device comprising:

a display;

a payment instrument reader;

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing instructions executable by the one or more processors, wherein the instructions program the one or more processors to;

receive contact information for a buyer of a gift card;

store, in the one or more computer-readable media, the contact information;

determine, based, at least in part, on receiving an indication from the payment instrument reader of the POS device, that the gift card is being used at the POS device to satisfy a cost of a transaction between a merchant of the POS device and a recipient of the gift card;

send, to a device of the recipient, a receipt for the transaction, the receipt including at least a mechanism for providing a communication to the POS device;

receive, directly from the device of the recipient and based at least in part on sending the receipt that includes the mechanism, the communication from the device of the recipient;

determine that the buyer is conducting a second transaction at the POS device; and

present, using the display, the communication based at least in part on determining that the buyer conducting a second transaction at the POS device.

8. A POS device of claim 7, wherein the communication comprises at least one of a personalized message to the buyer, a review of the merchant from the recipient, sales information representing an item purchased by the recipient using the gift card, or balance information representing a current balance of the gift card.

9. A POS device of claim 7, further comprising:

a camera,

and wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to;

capture, using the camera of the POS device, an additional communication from the recipient at a time of the recipient using the gift card to satisfy the cost of the transaction.

10. A POS device of claim 7, wherein the contact information is received at a time of the buyer purchasing the gift card, and wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

receive contact information of the recipient at a time of the recipient using the gift card to satisfy the cost of the transaction,

and wherein the contact information of the recipient is used to send the receipt for the transaction to the device of the recipient.

11. A POS device of claim 10, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

send, at least partly in response to receiving the contact information of the buyer, the contact information of the buyer to a payment service; and

send, at least partly in response to receiving the contact information of the recipient, the contact information of the recipient to the payment service,

and wherein the payment service stores, in association with an identifier of the gift card, the contact information of the buyer and the contact information of the recipient.

12. A POS device of claim 7, further comprising:

a camera,

and wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to;

capture, at a time of the buyer purchasing the gift card, a personalized message from the buyer for the recipient of the gift card using the camera of the POS device; and

present, at a time of the recipient using the gift card to satisfy the cost of the transaction, the personalized message to the recipient using the display of the POS device.

13. A POS device of claim 7, wherein the instructions further program the one or more processors to:

receive, at a time that the buyer is purchasing the gift card, a personalized message from the buyer for the recipient of the gift card, and wherein the receipt for the transaction further includes a link to the personalized message.

14. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the acts comprising;

receiving, from a point-of-sale (POS) device of a merchant, contact information of a buyer of a gift card;

storing, in association with an identifier of the gift card, the contact information of the buyer;

receiving, from the POS device or an additional POS device, transaction information indicating that the gift card is being used by a recipient to satisfy a cost of a transaction between the recipient and the merchant or an additional merchant, the transaction information being based, at least in part, on an indication from a payment instrument reader of the POS device;

sending, to a device of the recipient, a receipt for the transaction, the receipt including at least a mechanism for providing a communication;

receiving, at the POS device and based at least in part on sending the receipt that includes the mechanism, the communication from the device of the recipient;

determining that the buyer is conducting a second transaction at the POS device; and

sending, using the contact information of the buyer, the communication to a device of the buyer based at least in part on determining that the buyer is conducting a second transaction at the POS device.

15. A system as recited in claim 14, wherein the communication comprises a personalized message to the buyer.

16. A system as recited in claim 14, wherein the communication comprises a review of the merchant from the recipient.

17. A system as recited in claim 14, wherein the communication comprises sales information representing an item purchased by the recipient using the gift card.

18. A system as recited in claim 14, wherein the communication comprises balance information representing a current balance of the gift card.

19. A system as recited in claim 14, the acts further comprising:

receiving, from the POS device, contact information of the recipient of the gift card, the contact information of the recipient being received at a time of the recipient using the gift card to satisfy the cost of the transaction,

and wherein sending the receipt for the transaction is further based at least in part on receiving the contact information of the recipient.

20. A system as recited in claim 14, the acts further comprising:

receiving, from the POS device, a personalized message from the buyer for the recipient of the gift card;

storing, in association with the identifier of the gift card, the personalized message from the buyer;

receiving, from the POS device, contact information of the recipient of the gift card, the contact information of the recipient being received at a time of the recipient using the gift card to satisfy the cost of the transaction; and

sending, using the contact information of the recipient, the personalized message to the device of the recipient.