System and methods for generating, recording, managing and redeeming gift certificates that securely retain their unused balance over multiple partial uses

A system for generating, recording, managing and redeeming gift certificates that securely retain their unused balance that facilitates multiple partial uses of the same gift certificate while thwarting theft of the unused balance, comprising:

• a data store including a plurality of records each corresponding to a different one of a plurality gift certificates;
• a merchant gift certificate processing device;
• a computer processor coupled to the data store and in communication with the merchant gift certificate processing device through a network, the computer processor being programmed to:
• i) associate a static unique identifier with a first gift certificate among the plurality of gift certificates, the static unique identifier being unique with respect to other ones of the plurality of gift certificates, the static unique identifier remaining constant for the recorded life of the first gift certificate;
• ii) associate a first balance and a first random authentication code with the first gift certificate, the random authentication code being usable to authenticate the first gift certificate;
• iii) upon receiving an indication from the merchant gift certificate processing device that the first gift certificate is to be used in an amount less than the first balance, associating a second balance and a second random authentication code with the first gift certificate's static unique identifier, the second random authentication code being different from any authentication code previously assigned to the first gift certificate's static unique identifier;
• wherein the computer processor protects unused balances of partially redeemed gift certificates from unauthorized/fraudulent use by persons other than authorized gift recipients and prevents accidental duplicate partial redemptions of gift certificates that would otherwise result from accidental subsequent attempts to redeem the gift certificate after an intended partial redemption is processed.