How to Sell Shopify Gift Cards: The Complete Setup Guide

Key Insights
• Shopify gift cards are a native feature on every plan, free to enable, with standard processing fees on purchase but none on redemption.
• Fewer than 30 percent of Shopify stores actively promote gift cards, which makes this one of the lowest-competition revenue levers on the platform.
• Digital gift cards are the default format and account for the majority of Shopify gift card sales in 2026.
• US federal regulation requires a minimum five-year expiry once a gift card is activated; build that into your terms before launch.

A Shopify gift card is a prepaid, store-specific balance a customer buys once and redeems across one or more future purchases, delivered as a digital code by email by default, or as a physical card through a third-party app. It’s a native Shopify feature, free on every plan, not something you need to install before you can sell it. What most stores get wrong isn’t the setup, which takes minutes; it’s stopping there. A gift card buried three clicks deep in the footer behaves nothing like one featured above the fold during a gift-buying season.

Gift cards also aren’t the only flexible payment feature worth building into your store. If you’re weighing deposits or scheduled payments alongside gift card sales, our own PayDrop app handles flexible deposit and payment scheduling as a complementary piece of the same puzzle.

Turning On Shopify Gift Cards

Gift cards are included for every store at no extra cost, but the purchase toggle still needs to be active:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings, then Checkout.
2. Under Payments, find the Gift cards option and confirm it’s activated.
3. Standard payment processing fees apply when a customer buys a gift card with a credit card, the same as any other product. There’s no separate gift card fee, and redeeming a balance at checkout costs nothing since it’s treated as an internal balance debit, not a transaction.

Creating and Selling Your First Gift Card

4. Go to Products, then Gift cards, in your Shopify admin. Click Create gift card to set up a purchasable listing.
5. Choose fixed or customer-selected amounts. A fixed set of denominations ($25, $50, $100) is simpler to merchandise; letting the customer choose their own amount removes friction for an unusual gift value.
6. Set an expiration policy. US federal rules require a minimum five-year expiry once a card is activated. Many merchants set cards to never expire to avoid the compliance overhead entirely and to reduce customer complaints.
7. Add recipient delivery. Shopify now supports adding a recipient’s email address directly at purchase, so a customer can send a gift card straight to the giftee instead of forwarding a code themselves.
8. Design the card and confirmation email. The native template covers the basics; a branded design that matches your store, rather than the generic default, measurably improves how the gift feels on arrival.

How Much Revenue Can Gift Cards Add?

One in five US consumers bought a gift card in the past 12 months. The global gift card market is projected to reach $2.22 trillion by 2034. On Shopify specifically, fewer than 30 percent of stores actively promote the gift cards they already have enabled. This means most of the category’s growth is available to any store willing to treat gift cards as a real product line instead of a footer link.

Stores that launch a gift card push ahead of peak gifting periods see revenue spikes in the 20 to 30 percent range during that window. That’s a launch-timing effect as much as a product effect: a card promoted in October ahead of the holidays captures demand a card quietly sitting in the catalog year-round never sees.

Where to Promote Gift Cards for Maximum Impact

• Feature it above the fold, not the footer. A homepage placement or welcome popup during your four highest-gift windows, November-December, February, May, and August-September, catches shoppers who arrived for something else entirely.
• Build seasonal SKUs instead of one evergreen card. A “Holiday Gift Card” with festive imagery converts noticeably better than a generic year-round design shown at the same time of year.
• Offer gift cards as a return option. Issuing store credit instead of a refund keeps the revenue in your business rather than reversing it, and most customers accept the trade without friction.
• Use Shopify POS for cross-channel redemption. A card bought online and redeemed in-store, or the reverse, removes the channel restriction that makes a gift card feel less flexible than cash.

Gift Card Fees, Codes, and Compliance

Every gift card gets a unique alphanumeric code generated automatically at purchase. You can also generate manual codes from the Gift Cards page for promotions, customer service credits, or influencer seeding. Redemption doesn’t carry a processing fee because Shopify treats it as an internal balance adjustment rather than a new transaction. However, the original purchase does carry standard card-processing fees, just like any product sale.

On the compliance side, US federal law sets a minimum five-year expiry once a card is activated, and several states go further and prohibit expiration entirely. Most merchants sidestep the complexity by setting cards to never expire; the cost of an unredeemed balance

When You Need a Gift Card App Instead of Native

The native feature covers the core loop well: sell a card, deliver a code, and redeem a balance. It falls short on personalization and scheduling. Customers can’t schedule delivery, add rich custom messages, or choose from many design templates. Third-party apps fill that gap. Givy offers scheduled delivery and personalization, while Vify focuses on delivery and presentation. GV offers a free, more limited option.

If your gift card program needs deposits, scheduled payments, or a custom checkout flow, consider Shopify app development.
Talk to a ShopNinjas developer about building a custom payment flow instead of using a generic app.

Pro tip 💡

Track your outstanding gift card liability as a line item, not an afterthought. Every unredeemed balance sitting on customer accounts is technically a liability on your books, not revenue, until it’s spent. Pull an outstanding-balance report from your Gift cards page periodically, especially heading into year-end, so your bookkeeping reflects what you genuinely owe rather than treating gift card sales as fully recognized revenue the moment they’re purchased.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a fee to sell Shopify gift cards?

No setup or platform fee applies; gift cards are a free native feature on every Shopify plan. Standard card-processing fees apply to the original purchase, the same as any product sale, but redeeming a balance at checkout doesn’t carry a separate fee.

How do I create a Shopify gift card code?

Codes generate automatically when a customer purchases a gift card, or you can create one manually from the Gift cards page under Products for promotions or service credits. For a full walkthrough of code generation and delivery formats, see our dedicated guide on Shopify gift card codes.

Do Shopify gift cards expire?

Only if you set an expiration date, and US federal law requires a minimum five-year expiry once a card is activated if you do. Most merchants set cards to never expire to avoid the compliance overhead and reduce customer service friction.

Can customers check their Shopify gift card balance?

Yes, either at checkout by entering the code, or on a dedicated balance-check page you can add to your store. Our guide on checking a Shopify gift card balance covers both the customer-facing and merchant-facing lookup methods.

Can I send a Shopify gift card directly to someone else?

Yes. Shopify now supports adding a recipient’s email address at the point of purchase, so the card is delivered straight to the giftee instead of the buyer having to forward the code themselves.

Do I need an app to sell gift cards on Shopify?

No, the native feature handles selling, delivering, and redeeming gift cards without any app. An app becomes worth adding once you need scheduled delivery on a specific date, richer personalization, or a wider design template library than the native option offers.