How do Shopify gift cards work? A holiday setup guide

How do Shopify gift cards work? A shopper buys a gift card product from your store, Shopify creates a gift card with a unique code when that order is fulfilled, and the recipient enters the code at checkout to pay for part or all of a later order. You can also create gift cards yourself in the admin, for refunds, rewards or custom amounts, without the recipient paying anything.

Gift cards are available on every Shopify plan, and they matter most in the weeks when shipping cutoffs pass and shoppers still need a present. Below you'll set up a gift card product, check the settings that matter before the holidays, and avoid the discount rules that catch merchants out.

How Shopify gift cards work, step by step

There are two ways a gift card comes into existence, according to Shopify's gift card overview:

• Sold as a product. You add a gift card product with set values, called denominations. When you fulfill an order containing it, Shopify creates a gift card with that value and emails the customer, or the recipient, a digital gift card with a unique code.
• Created in the admin. You create a gift card for any eligible value without receiving a payment, for example as a reward, a refund or a custom amount a customer has already paid for through a draft order invoice.

Shoppers redeem the code at checkout. The balance applies to the whole order total, including taxes and shipping, and whatever is left stays on the card for a later order. If the balance doesn't cover the order, checkout asks for another payment method, which can be another gift card. A gift card can only be redeemed at the store that issued it, and it works on the sales channels that use Shopify checkout, such as the online store, Shopify POS, the Shop app and the Buy Button.

Gift cards can be used together with discount codes, and several gift cards can be used on one order.

Set up a gift card product in your Shopify admin

The steps below follow Shopify's guide to adding or updating gift card products.

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Products > Gift cards and click Add a gift card product.
2. Enter a title and description.
3. Add media, such as an image.
4. Choose the currency. The default is your store currency.
5. Set the denominations. Each denomination is a variant, so each can have its own image.
6. Check Sales channels and apps so the product is published to your online store, then click Save gift card product.

Two limits to know before you plan your values. A gift card product denomination can be any amount greater than zero, up to $10,000 USD or the equivalent, and shoppers can't type in a custom amount on your storefront. If a customer asks for a value you don't sell, Shopify suggests a draft order for that amount, then creating a gift card for it once the invoice is paid. Gift cards created in the admin have a $2,000 USD maximum, which Shopify Support can raise or lower after review.

You can add a gift card product to collections like any other product, so give it a place shoppers will find in December, such as your gift guide collection.

Check these gift card settings before the holidays

Expiry and Apple Wallet passes are under Settings > Payments, in the Payment configuration section; fulfillment and notifications have their own pages. Shopify's gift card settings guide covers each one.

Expiry

By default, Shopify gift cards don't expire, because expiring gift cards are illegal in some countries. If you choose an expiry, the default is five years and you can change the length. Check the rules where you sell before changing it.

Automatic fulfillment

By default, gift cards are fulfilled automatically when an order is paid, so the customer gets the email straight away. If you set your store to Don't fulfill any of the order's line items automatically under Settings > General, gift cards wait for manual fulfillment too. Orders that Shopify marks as medium or high risk aren't fulfilled automatically either, so check those orders daily in December.

Apple Wallet passes

You can activate Apple Wallet passes for gift cards. Emailed gift cards then include an Add to Apple Wallet button, and the pass shows the active balance and a QR code your staff can scan in store with Shopify POS. The button depends on your theme and notification code, so confirm it with a test order.

Recipient fields and the gift card email

Buyers can add a recipient on the online store only if your theme supports gift card recipient fields. Place a test order to confirm the fields show and the emails arrive. You can edit the New gift card and Gift card receipt notifications under Settings > Notifications, including replacing the default gift card image.

A worked example: the week after the shipping cutoff

Say you sell scented candles (a hypothetical example), and your last day for guaranteed holiday delivery is 18 December. After that, gift cards still arrive by email when the order is fulfilled.

Before: you sell a regular product called "Candle gift card" at one price. Fulfilling the order doesn't create a gift card, because Shopify only creates one for a product set up as a gift card product.

After: you add a real gift card product with three example denominations of $25, $50 and $100, each with its own image. Automatic fulfillment stays on, so codes go out as soon as orders are paid. You add the gift card to your gift guide collection and your menu, and from 18 December you point your homepage banner at it with a line such as "Missed the shipping cutoff? Send a gift card by email today."

To plan every December deadline, our post on holiday shipping cutoff messages walks through a calendar.

Gift card offers for Black Friday Cyber Monday

Gift cards follow some discount rules that are easy to miss when you build a sale.

• Collection discounts skip gift cards. Discounts that apply to specific collections don't apply to gift card products within the collection, even if you've added the gift card to that collection.
• You can discount a gift card on purpose. Create a discount code or automatic discount that applies to a specific gift card product or variant. Shopify's own example is "Get a $100 gift card for $80": the customer pays $80 and can redeem $100. Don't use the Compare-at price field to discount gift cards.
• Gift cards can be the reward. A buy X get Y discount can include a free gift card product. To issue gift cards automatically when an order over a threshold is paid, Shopify's guide to creating gift cards recommends Shopify Flow, Shopify's free automation app.
• A gift card can't buy another gift card. Shoppers can't use a gift card balance to purchase a new one.

Gift cards can create a liability to provide future sales, so instead of promotional gift cards, Shopify notes you can create a fixed-amount discount code, where you control the amount, use restrictions and expiry. For the wider sale plan, see our Black Friday Cyber Monday page.

Point shoppers to your gift card on-site

A gift card only sells if shoppers find it at the moment they need it. If you use Atomato, you can add a NotiFeed announcement, such as "Gift cards arrive by email", with a button that links to your gift card product. NotiFeed is on every plan: on the free Starter plan, one NotiFeed campaign with one message can be active at a time. On Scale and Enterprise+, you can schedule the campaign to start on your shipping cutoff date and end on its own. Atomato works alongside your existing popup, email and SMS tools. The steps are in Add an announcement to the NotiFeed.

Click behaviorChoose what happens when someone clicks this card.

Open link Expand details

Shows the full card content right away. Clicking the card takes shoppers to your selected page.

Call to actionSend customers to a specific page when they click the button.Turn on

Button text Shop now8/30Button link /collections/sale

Custom JavaScript (optional)window.ReferralApp.open();Runs custom JavaScript when the button is clicked. Overrides the link. Button behaviorOpen in new tab

Common mistakes, and what gift cards won't fix

• Selling a gift card as a regular product. No gift card is created when you fulfill the order. Set it up from Products > Gift cards instead.
• Assuming your sitewide collection discount covers it. It doesn't. Create a separate discount if you want gift cards included.
• Promising what your theme can't do. Recipient fields depend on your theme, and shoppers can't enter a custom amount, so test before you advertise either.
• Ignoring fees on newer stores. Shopify says that for stores created on or after May 12, 2025, orders that include gift cards as a payment method are charged third-party transaction fees on the amount paid using a gift card. Check how this applies to your store and payment setup.
• Expecting gift cards to fix a weak catalog. Gift cards bring the recipient to your store, but your product pages, navigation and stock decide whether they buy.

Refunds work differently for gift cards too. Our Shopify return policy guide covers store credit and holiday return windows.

Shopify gift card checklist

• Gift card product created from Products > Gift cards, not as a regular product
• Denominations, title, description and images set, and published to the online store
• Gift card added to your gift collection and menu
• Expiry setting checked against the rules where you sell
• Automatic fulfillment on, and medium or high risk orders checked daily
• Recipient fields and gift card emails tested with a test order
• Any gift card discount created for the gift card product itself, not through a collection
• Homepage and on-site messages pointing to gift cards after your shipping cutoff

Common questions

Can a Shopify gift card be used on any Shopify store?

No. A gift card can be redeemed only at the store that issued it, and there's no native way to move gift cards between stores.

Do Shopify gift cards expire?

Not by default. You can set an expiry under Settings > Payments, but gift card laws vary by region, so check the rules where you sell first.

How does a customer check their gift card balance?

They open the link in their gift card email, which shows the balance on your store's gift card page. Shopify's guide to redeeming gift cards has the details.

Can gift cards be used for subscriptions?

Only for the first payment. A gift card can be applied to the first payment on an order with a subscription product, but not to recurring payments, so the customer must add another payment method for future charges.

Next step

Open Products > Gift cards in your Shopify admin today, create or review your gift card product, and place a test order to see exactly what a buyer and recipient receive. Then plan where shoppers will see it once your shipping cutoff passes.

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