Data Retention

By the end of this guide, you'll have BatchCard automatically removing recipient personal data from delivered gift cards after a window you choose.

What data retention does

Privacy regulations like GDPR expect you to keep personal data only as long as you need it. Data retention handles that for gift card recipients:

• After your chosen window, BatchCard replaces each recipient's email and name with masked values (like b*****@d.com and initials) and deletes the personal message.
• The gift card code, value, balance, and redemption status are never touched. The card keeps working at checkout.
• Each purge run is logged, so you can point to a date and card count in a privacy review.

Data retention is off by default on every plan. Nothing changes until you turn it on.

Choose a retention window

1. Open BatchCard and go to Settings.
2. Find the Data retention section.
3. Choose a window: 1 day, 7 days, or 30 days.
4. Click Save.

The window counts from the day each card is delivered. Cards that were never delivered count from creation, and cancelled deliveries count from cancellation. Cards scheduled for a future delivery are never anonymized before they send.

Review the preview and confirm

When you turn retention on, or shorten the window, BatchCard shows a confirmation dialog first.

5. Review the count of existing cards that match the window. These will be anonymized right away.
6. Click Turn on retention (or Update retention) to confirm.

If some of your reminder windows are longer than the retention window, the dialog warns you: reminders due after a card is anonymized will not send, because the recipient email they need is already gone.

What happens each day

After you confirm, the daily sweep takes over. There is nothing to run manually.

• Each day, BatchCard anonymizes cards whose window has passed and stamps each one with its anonymization date.
• Anonymized cards show masked values and an Anonymized badge on the batch detail page. Hover over the badge to see the date.
• CSV exports include an Anonymized At column, and masked values appear in the recipient columns.
• Resends, retries, and reminders automatically skip anonymized cards. Skipped cards are never counted as failures.
• The Data retention section in Settings shows your last purge run with its date and card count.

Turn retention off

Choose Off in the Data retention section and click Save. Future sweeps stop. Cards that were already anonymized stay anonymized, because the removal is permanent.

Questions

Does this affect my Shopify customer records? No. Data retention masks the recipient data BatchCard stores on gift cards. Your Shopify customer records are managed in Shopify.

Does this replace GDPR deletion requests? No, it complements them. BatchCard already honors Shopify's GDPR webhooks when a customer or store requests deletion. Data retention proactively limits how long recipient data exists in the first place.

Can different batches have different windows? Not yet. The retention window applies to your whole store. A per-batch override is on the roadmap.

Ready to try this? Install BatchCard free.