How to handle insufficient funds

To ensure your integration runs smoothly and keeps orders flowing, consider the financial requirements for your model.

Your Giftbit account will fulfill orders as long as the total cost of each order is covered by your available balance. If you send in multiple currencies, and have a default currency set in the account overview, Giftbit will automatically convert the necessary amount of your available balance in the default currency to the currency required for a given order.

If orders attempt to draw down on an insufficient balance, Giftbit will queue the unfunded orders in pending status. Once the available balance is topped up, pending orders are funded and released automatically in the order of oldest funded order first.

For example, if users accumulate points and redeem them for gift card rewards, how large an available balance should you carry in Giftbit at any given time? How will your integration handle sudden spikes in redemptions? What is the potential impact on user experience if fulfillment of orders is delayed due to an insufficient available balance?

Monitoring your balance

You can use GET requests to /funds to keep tabs on your available balance in Giftbit. You can request balance information according to your need: once per order, daily, weekly, etc.

curl --include \
     --header "Content-Type: application/json" \
     --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
     --header "Accept-Encoding: identity" \
  'https://api-testbed.giftbit.com/papi/v1/funds'

The response will return balance details, separated by currency:

{
  "info": {
    "code": "INFO_FUNDS",
    "name": "Fund information retrieved",
    "message": "Your current fund information was retrieved."
  },
  "fundsbycurrency": {
    "USD": {
      "available_in_cents": 1000000,
      "pending_in_cents": 0,
      "reserved_in_cents": 350000
    },
    "CAD": {
      "available_in_cents": 1000000,
      "pending_in_cents": 0,
      "reserved_in_cents": 0
    },
    "AUD": {
      "available_in_cents": 0,
      "pending_in_cents": 0,
      "reserved_in_cents": 0
    }
  }
}

Low balance notifications

In addition to programmatic access to your available balance, you can set a low balance email notification rule in the Account Overview.

Across the many programs and use cases powered by Giftbit, "normal" redemption activity looks different from one customer to the next. Some programs intentionally send multiple micro-incentives to the same contact; others restrict participants to a single reward. Because you have the most context about your own recipients, you're best positioned to decide which behaviors your program should allow, limit, or block. Building those safeguards into your integration protects your budget and your program's integrity.

Use these questions to guide the limits and controls you design:

• Identity: Do you verify participant identities? Could a participant create alias or duplicate profiles?
• Location signals: Do you monitor participant IP address and geolocation?
• Value limits: How much total value can a participant claim in a given timeframe?
• Frequency limits: Can a participant claim more than one reward in a given timeframe?
• Points systems: If your model uses points, have you tested it for vulnerabilities or ways it could be gamed?
• Monitoring: Do you have internal monitoring for redemptions and other key participant actions? Does it cover activity outside business hours?
• Emergency controls: In an emergency, can your system halt API orders quickly?

Designing the right safeguards is easier with a second perspective. If you have questions or concerns about limits, controls, or fraud prevention for your program, reach out to our team. We're here to help you think it through.