Patent ID: 8370205

Claim:
A method of validating activation of a plurality of gift cards using an activation computer that is programmed to: receive from a POS device a first indicator indicative of a first card in a plurality of cards; receive from the point of sale device a second indicator indicative of a total number of cards in said plurality of cards; determine whether said plurality of cards can be activated based on the first indicator and the second indicator; and communicate a validation signal so as to indicate at said POS device whether said plurality of cards can be activated; wherein validating that the plurality of cards can be activated comprises: determining for the first card a card type and an activation amount; determining for each remaining card in the plurality of cards whether each remaining card is of the same card type and the same activation amount, and wherein the communicating a signal so as to indicate at the POS device whether the plurality of cards can be activated comprises: communicating a signal indicating that the plurality of cards cannot be activated if all of the plurality of cards do not match the activation amount and the card type.