Create and issue a gift card in Shopify
You can create a gift card directly from your Shopify admin for any eligible value without receiving any payment and at no cost to the gift card recipient. That is the difference between issuing a gift card and selling one: a sold gift card is a product a customer buys, while an issued gift card is store credit you hand out, for a reward, a promotion, or a goodwill gesture.
Written · Shopify admin, desktop steps · 5 minutes read
The worked example
| Gift card | $50.00, issued to Maya Chen |
| Maximum from the admin | $2,000 USD or equivalent |
| Maximum as a sold product | $10,000 USD or equivalent |
| Payment taken | $0.00 |
| Where it is used | Only at the store that issued it |
Download the record: gift-card-issue-log.csv (88 bytes).
An issue log for the gift cards in this tutorial, with the recipient, the value, and the status of each. The value column sums to $125.00.
1Open Gift cards
From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Gift cards. This is where every gift card you issue is listed, and where you create new ones.
2Click Create gift card
Click Create gift card. Creating gift cards directly can let you reward customers, run promotions, and provide flexible refund options.
3Enter the value
Enter the value for the gift card. In this tutorial the value is $50.00 for Maya Chen. You can create a gift card with a set amount greater than 0 and up to a maximum of $2,000 USD, or the equivalent in your local currency. If you need to create gift cards from your Shopify admin for more than $2,000 USD, for example for wholesale or B2B incentives, then contact Shopify Support.
4Add the customer
In the Customer field, enter the customer's name, phone number, or email address to create or search for a customer. You can add a customer to the gift card when you create it, or create a gift card first, and then add a customer at a later time.
5Set the expiry if your region allows it
Gift cards can create a liability to provide future sales. Depending on your region's laws surrounding gift cards, you might not be allowed to add an expiry date or to limit the way in which the gift card is used, so check your local rules before you set one. In this tutorial no expiry is set.
6Save and send
Click Save, then click Send gift card, and click Send email if an email address is provided for the customer, or Send SMS if only a phone number is provided. After you create a gift card, you can view, organize, or edit it from the Gift cards page in your Shopify admin. The card is now active and the customer can spend it at checkout.
The arithmetic
Both cards in this tutorial are inside the admin maximum, and their values add up to the log total:
| Gift card | Value | Under $2,000 max? | Payment taken |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maya Chen | $50.00 | Yes | $0.00 |
| Jonas Weber | $75.00 | Yes | $0.00 |
| Two cards together | $125.00 | Yes | $0.00 |
$50.00 plus $75.00 is $125.00, which is well under the $2,000 USD maximum for gift cards created from the admin. Gift cards sold as a product have a different maximum: $10,000 USD or the equivalent in the gift card's currency.
Held at the counter
An issued gift card is not a sale. Gift cards that you create from your Shopify admin do not require any payment by the customer or recipient. Do not record the $50.00 as revenue when you issue the card: the revenue comes when the customer spends it.
A gift card works only at the store that issued it. A gift card can be redeemed only at the store that issued it. Gift cards cannot be redeemed across different Shopify stores, and there is no native way to move or transfer gift cards between stores.
No gift card appears if the product is not a gift card product. A gift card is created automatically only when the order contains a gift card product. If the order contains a regular product that is named like a gift card but is not set up as a gift card product, then fulfilling the order does not create a gift card. Fix it by creating a gift card directly from your admin for the order amount.
Sources
- Creating gift cards — Shopify's help pages: the creation steps, the $2,000 USD admin maximum, the customer field, and the cross-currency redemption note.
- Gift cards considerations and overview — Shopify's help pages: the ways to create gift cards, the $10,000 sold-product maximum, and the single-store redemption rule.