The following will outline in detail some of the things you should know before ordering your gift/loyalty cards:
- Clutch will provide the art template for your use in designing your cards. (see attached and link below). If you are designing for a card type other than the standard credit card sized/thickness, additional templates are available upon request.
- Please feel free to provide any questions you may have during the process by emailing your Project Manager or submitting a request.
- Once completed, please provide your art file to Clutch along with desired quantity for your initial order. You can communicate directly to art@clutch.com to have your art reviewed by the Clutch production team or send to your Project Manger to be forwarded.
- Upon art review, the Clutch production team will provide a quote for the card order.
- Upon quote approval and payment, Clutch will provide a PDF proof to be approved
- Clutch will submit order to vendor and provide the vendor with the data file for cards to be produced
- A tentative delivery date will be provided. Depending on art complexity, order size and time of year, delivery time will vary between 3-6 weeks.
Some considerations for you during this process:
How will gift card numbers be entered into your terminal or Point of Sale?
Barcode, MagStripe reader, Key-entered? Clutch recommends at minimum adding a barcode to the card and adding both barcode and magnetic stripe if needed (the standard barcode type is 39). However, if your mag reader is encrypted for credit card processing, it may be preferable to use Barcode only on the back of the card. The printed card number will also be exposed for key entry if needed. Your Project Manager or the Clutch production team can help define what will work best for your existing hardware.
Clutch strongly recommends that PIN numbers are protected by a scratch-off over the Pin number for security reasons. This can be added with very minimal cost and adds a layer of security and fraud protection to your cards. Please ask your production contact or Project Manger if you have any questions regarding this recommendation.
Cards can be printed with either a Matte finish front or a Gloss Finish front. The card back will be printed in a Gloss finish regardless of the Front finish. If using a barcode, card back will need to be white or have a white box (knock-out) around the barcode to facilitate consistent scanning quality. Please specify your finish preference when submitting your art. If this does not meet your needs, please discuss with your Project Manger or the Clutch production team for special finish options.
There will be a total of 3 numbers on the back of the card. Card number and Pin are printed near the barcode or magnetic stripe and a sequence number will be printed at the bottom of the card in small print. This sequence number is required by the vendor for quality control and indicates where in the order of the data file that card belongs.
Card number data generation (BIN range). Clutch will provide data generation for your gift cards if they are being processed via the Clutch Platform. Standard generation is a 16 digit card number and a 4 digit PIN. Card numbers will begin with a fixed prefix of 4-6 digits followed by randomly generated digits for the balance of the card number. PINS are randomly generated as well. Example format: 12345XXXXXXXXXXX PIN: XXXX
Card Template for industry standard CR80 card. Please click here to access the standard template for download or select the “Card-Standard” article attachment below to download.
Card presenters (holder). It is up to you if you would like Clutch to print/produce card holders for your cards. If you prefer to source these through your normal printing channels, that is fine as well. To download presenter template files download the “Presenter Template Files” in the article attachments below. Please note that there is no color printing available for the presenter inside surface. Grayscale can be printed on the inside if a pattern or text is required. The presenter production process is very similar to the process outlined above for card production.
