Set a card to expire, with a grace period

Card expiry sets how long a customer has to fill a round before its unfinished stamps reset. It’s optional: new cards never expire. Only unfinished stamps expire. Rewards a customer has already earned are kept, and each reward has its own use-by setting. For when expiry helps and when it drives regulars away, read the guide to loyalty card expiry.

Choose how the card expires

In the card editor, under Limits & rules, Card expiry offers four choices:

• Never. Cards never expire. Customers can take their time collecting stamps.
• Fixed. The card expires a set time after its first stamp. Good for monthly challenges. The clock starts at the round’s first stamp, so a card that sits empty never loses time.
• Rolling. The card expires a set time after the customer’s last stamp. Every visit starts the clock again, which encourages regular visits.
• Calendar month. The card resets on the 1st of every month, or runs once between two dates.

For Fixed and Rolling, pick an Expiry duration: 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, or Days, with a number from 1 to 730.

Calendar month cards

A calendar month card resets at midnight on the 1st, in your business’s timezone. The editor shows which timezone that is.

Leave When it runs empty and it resets every month for as long as you keep it running. Tick Give late joiners a full first month so someone who joins in the last week of a month keeps their stamps through the whole of the next month, instead of being reset days after signing up.

Set a First day and Last day for a one-off, like a Christmas or Valentine’s card that starts and stops on its own. This month and Next month fill both days in one tap, and Clear dates removes them. Customers can join before the first day, but stamps only count between the two days. Before it starts, requests are refused with “This card starts on” and the date; after it ends, “This card ended on” and the date.

Grace period

Grace period gives extra time before a card resets: 24 hours, 48 hours (recommended) or 72 hours. Customers see their deadline, then a last-chance note during the grace. A card with dates has no grace period: it ends on its last day.

What customers see

Before joining, customers read the expiry in plain words beside your terms, for example “Fill your card within 3 months of its first stamp”, “Stamps reset 3 months after your last visit” or “Stamps reset on the 1st of every month”.

Once they have stamps, the deadline shows on their card, on the till and on their wallet pass:

• “Stamps last until 3 Dec”
• during the grace period, “Last chance: visit by 5 Dec to keep your stamps”

When a round resets, the card’s activity says how many stamps expired, and the card starts again from zero.

When a change applies

Expiry is part of your card’s terms, so a change only applies to rounds started after you publish it. Customers part-way through keep the deadline they joined with. Nobody loses stamps they already have because you changed the setting.

One exception: on a card with dates, the days always come from the live card. If you publish a later last day, rounds that are already open run on to the new date.

Reward expiry is separate

How long a customer has to use a reward is set with each reward: Never expires, or 1, 3 or 6 months, or 1 year after it’s earned. Customers see “Use by” with the date, and a pass in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet reminds them three days before a reward expires. See create and publish your first card.