Skip to main content
A gift card holds a set amount of money that anyone with the code can spend in your shop. Each gift card carries a code, an amount in one currency, and a running balance. The customer types the code at checkout and the card pays the maximum amount it can for the order. If the gift card does not cover the full order total, the customer pays the remainder with another payment method. Any money left on the gift card after the order stays on the card, and the customer can spend it on a later order. A card’s remaining balance falls every time the card is used, so the Gift Cards list always shows what your store still owes on each card. Customers often buy gift cards as presents. Stores also hand gift cards out as prizes, as goodwill after an order went wrong, or as a thank-you to a regular customer. A gift card you sell is paid for before any stock leaves your warehouse. The person who redeems a gift card is often not the person who bought it, so a gift card can bring new customers into your shop. Store credit is the closest alternative to a gift card. Store credit sits on one named customer’s account rather than on a code, and only that customer can spend it. See Store Credits. To manage gift cards, navigate to Loyalty → Gift Cards in the admin dashboard.

​
Reviewing Gift Cards

The list shows one row for every gift card you have issued, newest first. The Gift Cards list with one active card Type a code into the search box to find one specific gift card. The Status filter narrows the list to cards of one status, so it finds the cards that still have money on them and equally the ones that have been fully spent. Add filter narrows the list by currency, batch, customer, who issued the card, expiry date, or when the card was created or last changed. A gift card moves through these statuses as it is spent:

​
How to Issue a Gift Card

Click New gift card in the top-right corner. A panel opens over the list with these fields:
  • Quantity - How many gift cards to issue. Leave Quantity at 1 to issue a single card.
  • Code - The code the customer types at checkout. Leave Code blank and a 16-character code is generated automatically. Enter your own code when you want something memorable for a campaign.
  • Amount - What the gift card is worth. Amount must be above zero, and the panel stays open with a message under the field until it is.
  • Currency - The currency the gift card’s balance is held in. The currency cannot be changed after the card is created.
  • Expires - The last date the gift card can be used. Leave Expires on No expiry if your gift card terms do not limit how long a card is valid.
  • Customer (optional) - The customer the gift card belongs to. Start typing their email address and select them from the list.
The New gift card panel filled in for one $50.00 card attached to a customer Click Create gift card. The new card appears at the top of the list as Active, with its full amount under Remaining. Creating a gift card does not send the code to anyone. Pass the code to the customer yourself, by email, on a printed card, or at the till. The code is all the customer needs in order to spend the balance.

​
How to Create a Batch of Cards

Enter a number above 1 in Quantity and the panel changes to suit a batch of cards. Code becomes Prefix, which is the text every code in the batch starts with. The Customer (optional) field is removed, because a batch cannot be attached to one customer. The button names the number of cards it will create, for example Create 3 gift cards. Use a batch for a campaign, for a set of cards sold over the counter, or for any cards that are not going to one named person.

​
How to Check a Card’s Balance

Click a gift card’s code in the list, or open the row menu and choose Edit. A panel opens with the card’s code as its title. The Usage section of that panel shows what the card was worth, how much has been spent, how much remains, and which staff member issued it. A gift card's panel showing its usage Once a gift card is fully spent, every field in the panel is read-only.

​
How Customers Redeem a Card at Checkout

The customer types the code into the Gift card or discount code box in the checkout order summary and clicks Apply. The order summary then shows a gift card line taking the card’s balance off the order, with the amount still to pay underneath. If the gift card covers the full order total, the payment section reads No payment required and the customer clicks Place Order. If the gift card covers only part of the order total, the customer selects a payment method for the remainder and places the order. The order then lists two payments, one for the gift card’s share and one for the remainder. The checkout summary with a gift card paying part of the order and the rest due A gift card that is not attached to a customer can be spent by anyone who has the code, including a shopper checking out as a guest. If a gift card has money left after an order, the customer can use the same code again on a later order until the balance reaches zero. On the order page in the admin dashboard, the Discounts & Credit card names which gift card paid for the order and how much of the total it covered.

​
How to Apply a Gift Card to a Draft Order

When your team builds an order on a customer’s behalf, a gift card can pay for part or all of that order.
  1. Open the draft order. In the Discounts & Credit card, click Apply next to Gift card.
  2. Enter the gift card’s code and click Add.
  3. The card’s code and the amount it covers appear in the Gift card row, and the order’s Outstanding balance drops by that amount.
If the gift card does not cover the full order total, add a payment for the remainder from the Payments card before you complete the order. If you add more items to the draft order after applying the gift card, the amount the card covers does not change, and the cost of the new items is added to the outstanding balance. To take a gift card off a draft order, click Remove in the Gift card row and confirm with Remove. The order’s outstanding balance goes back up by that amount, and the amount returns to the gift card’s remaining balance.

​
How to Delete a Gift Card

Open the row menu on the gift card and choose Delete, then confirm with Delete. The gift card is removed from the list.
Deleting a gift card erases it from your store’s records rather than keeping it as a canceled card. If the card still has a balance, that balance is erased with it, so check Remaining and settle up with the customer before you delete.

​
Further Reading

  • Store Credits - Balances your store owes individual customers
  • Draft Orders - Building an order for a customer, with a gift card as payment
  • Orders - Where a redeemed gift card shows on an order
  • Payments - The payment methods customers use for anything a gift card does not cover