Updated: Mon - Nov 9, 2026 - 10:29am
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General Support
How do I import gift cards from my previous system?
You can bring fully paid gift card sales from your previous system into ThunderTix, including cards that have already been partly spent. Patrons can even keep using the gift card codes they already have. Here’s how to prepare your file.
Before you start
Your venue needs an active gift card design before importing. The import uses your most recent design for every card it creates, so set that up first under Revenue Builders > Gift Certificates.
Step 1: Build your spreadsheet from the template
Start with the gift card import template and keep the column headings exactly as they appear, in the same order. Headings use Title Case with spaces (for example, Recipient Email).
Don’t rename, reorder, or add columns. A file with headings that are missing, misspelled, reordered, or not part of the template is rejected before anything is imported.
Keep every column, even ones you don’t need. Leave them empty as placeholders.
In the guide below, required columns are marked with *. Don’t add the asterisk to your spreadsheet headings.
Step 2: Fill in your gift cards
Each row is one gift card, and each file can hold up to 10,000 rows.
Order ID:* The order number from your previous system. If one purchase included several gift cards, use the same Order ID on each of those rows.
Price:* The amount the card was originally sold for. This becomes its starting balance and must be greater than $0.99. Currency symbols and commas are fine (for example, $1,250.00).
Balance: The amount still available on a card that was already partly spent. Leave it blank if the full Price is still available. It can’t be negative or more than the Price.
Original Code: The card’s existing code from your previous system, so patrons can redeem the card they already hold. Leave it blank to issue a new ThunderTix code.
Recipient Email:* The email of the person who received the card. This is required on every row.
Recipient First Name and Recipient Last Name:** Required, unless the recipient’s email already belongs to a patron in ThunderTix with a name on file.
Recipient Phone: Optional. Used if a new patron record is created for the recipient.
Buyer Email, Buyer First Name, Buyer Last Name, and Buyer Phone: Optional. Identifies who bought the card. If one purchase has several rows, repeat the buyer details on each row.
Payment Amount: The total paid for the whole order. It must equal the combined Price of all cards that share its Order ID. Repeat it on each row of the order. Leave it blank or 0 if there was no payment to record.
Sales Channel: Enter box office for sales taken by your staff, or online. Leave it blank for online sales. Use lowercase, exactly as shown.
Purchased At: The original purchase date, in your venue’s local time zone. Use date only (07/15/2026) or date and time (07/15/2026 2:14 PM). Leave it blank to use the import date and time. It can’t be in the future.
How patrons are matched
Recipients are matched to an existing patron by Recipient Email. If there’s no match, a new patron is created using the recipient’s name and phone from the row.
Buyers are matched by Buyer Email, or by first and last name when the row has no email, just like a box office walk-up sale. If there’s no match, a new patron is created.
A few things to know
Orders must be complete and fully paid. If an order’s Payment Amount doesn’t match the total Price of its cards, the file is rejected and the error tells you which order to fix. This prevents half an order from being imported if a row is missing.
Partly used cards carry over their remaining balance only. Earlier redemptions stay in your previous system.
Codes must be unique. An Original Code that’s already in use in ThunderTix, or that appears twice in your file, is rejected.
Imported orders are recorded as paid by voucher, since the money was already collected in your previous system.
Gift card sales reports use the Purchased At date, which is why it can’t be set in the future.
Step 3: Save and submit your file
Save your spreadsheet as a CSV (comma separated values) file, then submit your gift card list as a CSV file in a support request.
What happens next
We check the entire file before a single card is created. If anything needs fixing, you’ll get a list of every problem along with the line it’s on. Fix them all and upload the file again; nothing is imported until the whole file is clean.
Recipients are not emailed during the import. Once it’s complete, you can send each card to its recipient individually from the gift card record.
