What a gift card is in a Telegram storefront
A gift card in a BotLaunch shop is a code with a balance attached. It belongs to one shop. The buyer types the code into the cart and the balance is taken off what they owe.
One thing to know before you plan anything around it: customers cannot buy a gift card inside the storefront. You issue the card. Someone messages you, you agree the amount and take payment the way you normally do, and you send them a code.
That makes it a tool for a seller who is already talking to customers in Telegram. It is not a self-service product on the shelf.
What the seller does
Gift cards have their own page in the shop section of the dashboard. To issue one you fill in a short form:
- The balance. This is the only required field, and it must be more than zero.
- The currency. Leave it empty and the card uses your shop's currency.
- A custom code, if you want one. Otherwise a code is generated for you.
- A note for yourself, such as who the card is for.
Then you copy the code and send it to the customer. A private Telegram message is the obvious place.
The page lists every card you have issued, with its status and how much of the starting balance is left. A card is active, used up, or disabled. You can disable a card and enable it again.
Two things you cannot do, both on purpose. You cannot edit a balance by hand: it only changes when the card is used on an order. And you cannot delete a card, because it is money a customer is holding. If a code leaks, disable it and issue a new one.
What the buyer does
The buyer shops as usual. They add items, open the cart, and find a field for a coupon or gift card code. They type the code and see the reduction before they place the order.
A few rules apply at that point:
- One code per order. It is either a coupon or a gift card, not both.
- The card counts against the whole amount due, which includes delivery and tax where your shop charges them.
- If the card is worth more than the order, the order total drops to zero and the rest stays on the card.
- If the card is worth less, the buyer owes the difference.
- A card issued in one currency will not work in a shop that sells in another.
The buyer never leaves Telegram for any of this. The storefront is a Mini App that opens inside the chat.
How the balance is counted
The balance lives on the server, not on the buyer's phone, and every use is recorded. When the balance reaches zero the card is marked as used up.
When the amount leaves the card depends on how your shop takes orders.
In a seller-fulfilled shop, which is the default, placing the order puts a hold on the amount. The balance goes down when you accept the order or move it on to processing, shipped or delivered. If you cancel the order, the hold is released.
In a shop that takes card payments inside Telegram, the amount is held when the order is created and deducted when the payment succeeds. If the buyer never pays, the hold is released and the card keeps its balance.
The practical lesson is the same in both cases: do not leave orders sitting. Accept them or cancel them, so the card balance your customer sees matches what really happened.
Adding the gift card block to the shop
Issuing cards is half the job. Customers also need to know they can use one. That is what the "Gift cards and coupons" content block is for.
By default the block explains that a code can be entered at checkout, and gives the buyer a button that takes them to the cart. You can also switch on a list of suggested amounts, up to eight of them, such as 25, 50 and 100 in your shop's currency.
Those amounts are a price list, not buttons. Next to them the block tells the buyer to message the shop to buy a card, and that the seller will issue a code. So before you switch the amounts on, be ready to answer those messages quickly.
Put the block near the bottom of the home page, or on the page people reach just before the cart. It does not need to compete with your products.
What it does not do, and how to work around it
It helps to be plain about the limits.
- No in-app purchase of a gift card. You sell it by hand and issue the code.
- No expiry date setting. A card works until the balance is spent or you disable it. If you promise an expiry date to a customer, you have to enforce it yourself by disabling the card.
- No stacking with a coupon on the same order.
- No delivery of the card to the recipient. You send the code, or the person who bought it forwards it.
A simple routine covers most of this. Keep a line in the card's note with the buyer's name and the date. Send the code together with one sentence on how to use it: add items, open the cart, enter the code. And check the gift card page once a week for cards that have been sitting untouched, because a quiet reminder to the holder often brings them back to the shop.
Card payments inside Telegram are a separate matter. They need a paid Mini App plan, from $19 a month, and a shop on your own bot, with the money going to your own Stripe account. You do not need them to use gift cards in a seller-fulfilled shop.