Merchant Training Hub
NetGCS How-To Guide
Need a quick refresher on the tools you use every day? These short guides walk you through the two core areas of NetGCS: processing transactions and getting insight from reports. For deeper, one-on-one training, just reach out to our support team.
1 Using the Transaction Terminal
The Transaction Terminal is where you create card accounts, add or redeem value, and look up cardholder history.
- Log in to your merchant account and navigate to Transaction Terminal.
- Click Create Card Account to create a new cardholder account for your customer.
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Choose the type of card account:
- Standard Card — for punch cards, rewards programs, or general stored value.
- Gift Card — used only for its cash value. When the balance reaches $0, the card can no longer be used.
- Use the Global Search box to find cardholders by name, phone, or email. Partial matches are supported (for example, typing "Joh" will match "John").
- Use the action buttons such as Add Credit, Redeem Credit, and Edit Account to adjust balances and update account details.
- Click View History to review recent transactions for a cardholder.
When searching, start with just a few characters of the customer’s name or phone number. This helps you find matches even if the spelling isn’t perfect.
2 Let customers check their balances online
With online Cardholder Access your customers can create their own NetGCS login, link their card, and check balances anytime — without calling the store.
If you don’t see the Send Card# button in your Transaction Terminal, email support@netgcs.com and include:
- Your business name
- Your contact name, email, and phone number
- A short note requesting the “Send Card Number” (SNDCN) feature
This feature is available as an add-on ($5.00 per month, billed annually) and will be included in your subscription billing.
Helping a customer set up online access
- While the customer is with you in person, open their cardholder account in NetGCS.
- Confirm that their First Name, Last Name, and Phone Number are saved correctly. You can click the Edit Account button and confirm their personal information in the dialog. If their phone number or email is missing in the Edit dialog you will need to add it and Save. These details will be used to authenticate them when they create their online login.
- Ask the customer to go to netgcs.com and click Cardholder → Start here.
- The customer follows the prompts to create their personal NetGCS cardholder account (username, password, and contact details).
- Once logged into their cardholder dashboard, they click the Connect to Merchant button.
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To connect, they will need their 16-digit card number:
- If they have a plastic card in hand, they can enter the 16-digit number directly.
- If they don’t know their card number or don’t have a plastic card, you can use the Send Card# button in the Transaction Terminal.
- Before you verify that you are working with the correct cardholder by choosing clicking on the Edit Account button, if text message or email.
- In the Send Card# dialog, verify that you are working with the correct cardholder, then choose whether to send their 16-digit card number by text message or email.
- The system sends the card number to the customer. Once they receive it, they enter the number on the cardholder site to complete registration and connect to your NetGCS merchant account.
- After the connection is complete, the customer can log in anytime to check balances and recent activity for their cards.
For privacy, avoid reading their stored information out loud. Instead, ask the customer to state their name and phone number and compare what they say to what you see on your NetGCS screen.
3 Using Reports
Reports help you understand gift card usage, outstanding balances, and overall program performance.
- Log in to your merchant account and navigate to Reports.
- Select a From and To date for the report range.
- If you have multiple locations, choose the store you’d like to report on.
- Select the report you’d like to run from the available list (for example: activity summary, breakage, or outstanding balances).
- A data table will appear with user-friendly navigation and filtering options so you can quickly find the information you need.
Try running the same report for this month and the previous month. It’s a fast way to spot trends in gift card sales and redemptions.