The Office of Research and Innovation manages the research prepaid card program, which allows studies to pay participants quickly and easily using a reloadable debit card. Once a project is approved for the program and participants are registered, they are issued a card and receive payments shortly after each visit (as quickly as within 24 hours of submission). This program is providing a fast, streamlined way to pay research participants.
The following requirements must be met to use this program:
- Project has a banner index and is ready to enroll
- Multiple participants will be paid by the project multiple times
- The project timeline is longer than six months
- Principal investigator must approve enrollment of the project
Learn more about how to use the Office of Research and Innovation prepaid card program on their website.
Rybbon is a contracted university vendor providing e-gift cards for approved university business purposes including research participant payments, awards, prizes, and recognition. Rybbon is a Virginia-based digital rewards management platform that allows users to send, track, and manage e-gift card incentives and rewards. Rybbon offers over 65 different U.S-based e-gift card options, including Amazon, Apple, Best Buy, Kroger, Starbucks, Target, and Uber, as well as Visa and Mastercard pre-paid cards.
| Capabilities: |
|---|
| - Great Digital Rewards |
| - Hassle-free Workflows |
| - Robust Reporting Tools |
| - Superior Recipient Experience |
Fees:
VCU maintains an enterprise subscription model with Rybbon. Each order will be billed a 10% transaction fee at the time of purchase. Departments will create separate itemized line items in their RealSource purchase orders. For example: If a department was purchasing 50 x $50 gift cards. Creating the purchase order (PO) would align with the example below:
| Line Item # | Description | Unit Price | Quantity | Ext. Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rybbon Gift Card Funding | $50 | 50 | $2500 |
| 2 | 10% Fee | $250 | 1 | $250 |
Instructions:
To get started, create a free account. Setup instructions, step-by-step guides, additional information, and how to purchase gift cards can be found in Rybbon’s Customer Help Center. To receive gift cards, you must first fund your account with Rybbon. Departments must use Purchase Orders to do so and may not use P-Cards.
After creating a PO in RealSource, departments should receive an invoice from Rybbon. Fiscal staff will need to submit the invoice to deptinvoices@vcu.edu and complete receiving in RealSource. Once an invoice has been submitted to Procurement and once receiving is complete, VCU Accounts Payable will process payment on the invoice and fund your Rybbon account.
Please note that, once a valid invoice is received, VCU’s standard payment terms are Net 30 days. If users need to quickly fund their account in order to complete payment within the standard 30 day window, they may request expedited invoice processing by emailing a valid Rybbon invoice directly to Tanya Smith at tsmith65@vcu.edu. Users must also include the associated Purchase Order number in their message.
Questions:
If you need direct assistance from Rybbon, please contact alex.vaughan@rybbon.net for more information. If you have general questions, please contact purchasing@vcu.edu.
Gift cards, both from Barnes and Noble itself as well as from many other vendors and businesses, may be purchased from the VCU Barnes and Noble Book Store either:
By placing a Purchase Order in RealSource - Visit the VCU Bookstore at 1111 West Broad Street and select the cards you wish to purchase. Alternatively, gift card purchases can be coordinated through email by contacting Kate Escobar at kescobar@bncollege.com. Once selected, gift cards are available for pick up immediately. The VCU Bookstore will collect the name and email address of a VCU staff member responsible for payment, and will submit an invoice to that person via email. Department staff should complete a Purchase Order in RealSource to Barnes and Noble (V00808229) for the invoice amount, complete receiving in RealSource, and submit the invoice to Accounts Payable at deptinvoices@vcu.edu within 30 days.
By using a department's index code - Visit the VCU Bookstore at 1111 West Broad Street and select the cards you wish to purchase. Alternatively, gift card purchases can be coordinated through email by contacting Kate Escobar at kescobar@bncollege.com. Once selected, gift cards are available for pick up immediately. The VCU Bookstore will collect the index of the department making the purchase, and will charge that index for the cost of the cards.
If the vendor accepts them, department users may purchase gift cards directly from specific vendors via RealSource Purchase Orders.
General purchasing information, including instructions on ensuring your vendor is established in RealSource, are available under the "Make a Purchase" section of this site.
Gift cards may be purchased via P-Card only when they are used to compensate research or survey participants AND when no other form of payment is reasonably feasible. Using a P-Card to purchase gift cards requires prior approval.
Email corpcard@vcu.edu to request approval prior to purchasing gift cards via P-Card.