A Shopify gift card is both a product and a future fulfillment liability represented by a sensitive payment credential. Correct setup covers sold gift-card products, admin-created gift cards, currencies, catalog publication, notifications, balances, refunds, deactivation, finance, and local rules. “No physical inventory” does not mean no operational risk.
Separate sold and directly created gift cards
When a gift-card product is sold, a customer pays and receives a unique code after fulfillment. An admin-created gift card can grant value without customer payment for a reward, remedy, or store credit. Their accounting reasons differ, so permissions and approval should differ as well.
Shopify currently documents gift cards as available on all subscription plans. Codes are treated as currency and the admin shows only the last four characters. A created gift card cannot be deleted, and deactivation is permanent. Expiration, tax, and consumer-protection requirements vary by region and need local financial or legal review.
Launch checklist
- Create the product with accurate denominations, description, media, and channels.
- Confirm Markets, catalog currency, and publication scope.
- Test purchase, fulfillment, recipient delivery, partial redemption, balance, refund, and deactivation.
- Limit who can create no-payment gift cards and record reason and approval.
- Reconcile finance reports, outstanding balances, refunds, and fraud monitoring.
Test buyer and recipient perspectives
The buyer needs price, denomination, recipient controls, and order status. The recipient needs secure delivery, balance access, and successful redemption. Separately test lost email, resend, partial use, insufficient balance, discount combination, cancellation, and refund. Never expose the full code in support screenshots or analytics logs.
Reconcile sold, directly created, redeemed, outstanding, deactivated, and refunded value every month. High-value issuance, repeated purchases from one account, or rapid redemption should enter human review rather than being assumed to represent growth.
| Risk | Control |
|---|---|
| exposed code | never copy a full code into a support ticket |
| unauthorized issuance | least privilege and approval log |
| currency mismatch | purchase and redeem by market |
| unlawful expiry | apply local rules |
| refund confusion | distinguish purchased and free-issued cards |
Page content and GEO
The gift-card page should state eligible markets and currencies, delivery method, redemption scope, balance behavior, expiry, refund, and lost-card handling. Do not advertise “global” or “never expires” unless configuration and law support it. Publish important terms as understandable HTML and link the complete policy.
FAQ
Are gift cards available on every Shopify plan?
Current official documentation says all subscription plans support them; confirm current fees and currency behavior for the store.
Can a merchant see a full gift-card code?
Gift cards are treated as currency. After creation, the admin generally exposes only the final four characters; the customer or recipient accesses the full code.
Can a gift card be deleted?
No. It can be permanently deactivated, while the record remains.
Can a gift card expire?
Some expiry behavior can be configured, but local law governs what is permitted and should override campaign preference.
How is a gift card different from a discount code?
A gift card represents stored payment value. A discount changes price with conditions. Accounting and permission controls differ.