Restaurant gift cards, with your state's expiry rules built in

A card sold in December is money in your account before a single plate is served. It is also a debt you owe the holder, and the rules about expiry, fees and what happens to an unused balance are tighter than most owners expect. A card with the wrong expiry date is a complaint waiting to happen.

Federal law says a gift card sold for money may not expire within five years, and several states go further. Mosey works out the expiry once, from the state of your business, for every way a card can be sold.

If you choose a shorter expiry than your state allows, Mosey refuses to save it and tells you the minimum. If an older setting is shorter, the card is raised to the minimum at the time of sale, never dropped. Where a state's rule cannot be worked out, Mosey sets no expiry.

• Five years is the federal floor, and the default for most states.
• California, Connecticut, Florida, Maine, Minnesota and Washington ban an expiry on a paid card, so none is set.
• New York needs nine years.
• A free card, such as a reward, has no expiry in the US.

Before a buyer pays, the purchase screen shows the terms. If your card does expire under your state's rule, it says when, in days from the purchase. If you wrote your own terms, those are shown instead of the standard line. The card and the email carry the same conditions and say how to check the balance.

The standard line reads "No fees are taken off the balance", and where there is no expiry, "No expiry on the amount paid".

One card takes no more than $2,000 in a day, face value plus any bonus. That is Mosey's own limit, set with the federal rules for closed-loop cards in mind, and your saved maximum can never go above it.

A bonus, such as "$50 card with $10 extra", is stored apart from the paid value so reports show what the buyer actually paid. You are the issuer of the card, and Mosey files nothing for you. A report of dormant balances, with the last activity on each, is there for your accountant to work from where your state has unclaimed property rules.

The holder spends it at your business, and a redemption takes off exactly what was spent. A card sent as a present is claimed by the person who receives it. A card is closed-loop, which means it works at your business only.

What Mosey is about

• Affordable tools for food businesses

  Tools priced for independents and small chains, not for the big groups.

• A full suite, in one login

  The tools a restaurant, café or bar needs sit together, so you are not paying for a stack of separate subscriptions.

• You keep more of your revenue

  Mosey is built so that more of every sale stays with the business that made it.

• Free to list and claim

  Your menu, your replies to guests and your photos cost nothing to put on Mosey.

• No hidden fees

  What Mosey charges is published, in full, so nothing arrives as a surprise on a statement.

• Made for local food businesses

  Mosey helps diners find independent food businesses by dish and mood, and lets people rate what they actually ate.

More for your business

• 

  Sales tax for restaurants

  Tax worked out line by line, with a city tax shown as its own line, state by state.

• 

  Tip pools and large-party gratuity

  Share tips by a method your team can read, and add a gratuity for big parties where the state allows it.