Shopify Gift Card Promotions: Setup and 8 Ideas

To promote gift cards on Shopify, activate gift cards, add a gift card product with the denominations you want (Products > Gift cards > Add a gift card product), and run offers with discount codes or automatic discounts, not with the compare-at price. A sold gift card brings in cash now and leaves you owing goods later, so every promotion is a bet that the card brings the recipient back to your store. Depending on your region’s laws, you may not be allowed to set an expiry date or limit how a card is used.

Set up gift cards in Shopify

The steps follow Shopify’s Help Center pages on gift cards, gift card products and discounts on gift cards, read on October 23, 2026.

1. Activate gift cards on your store; Shopify’s gift card pages start here, and using them means agreeing to Shopify’s gift card terms of service.
2. Add the product. Go to Products > Gift cards and click Add a gift card product. Enter the title, description, media and currency, and optionally change the denominations. Each denomination is saved as a variant, can be up to $10,000 USD or the equivalent in your local currency, and customers cannot type a custom amount online. For a custom amount, create a draft order and issue a gift card for that amount after the customer pays.
3. Create single cards by hand. Cards you issue from the admin top out at $2,000 USD or the equivalent, for example for goodwill after a service problem.
4. Check settings. By default gift cards do not expire, because expiry is illegal in some countries; if you set one, the default is five years, changeable under Settings > Payments.
5. Customize pages and notifications. Shopify’s section on customizing gift card pages and notifications covers the page a recipient opens and the email that delivers the card. Write both for the person receiving a present.
6. Physical cards for POS. You can order them from the Shopify Hardware Store in supported countries. Since the Spring ’26 Edition, POS can also cash out low-balance gift cards, to meet local redemption laws.

Restrictions to know: a gift card can be redeemed only in the store that issued it. A local currency gift card is not published to any catalog by default, so publish it to the right catalog before customers can buy it.

Eight promotions

1. Bonus value. Sell a $100 card for $80. Shopify’s own example uses a discount that cuts the product price by $20 while the card still redeems for $100. Do the margin sum first.
2. Gift card with purchase. Reward orders above a value with a card. A Buy X get Y discount can make a gift card product the free item, or you can issue a card from the admin after the order. Place a test order that sits just above and just below the threshold before you announce it.
3. Seasonal denominations. Look at your average order value in Analytics, then edit the gift card product’s denominations so one sits just above it, for example $60 if most orders are around $50. Denominations are variants, so you change them on the product page.
4. A gift card page. Put the gift card product in its own collection, add that collection to the header menu under Content > Menus for December, and remove it in January.
5. Gifting copy. Write the gift card product’s description for the person buying a present: who it suits, how and when it is delivered by email, and what the recipient can buy with it. Last-minute buyers read this page, so say when the card email arrives.
6. Win-back offer. Email lapsed customers a discount on a gift card product, not on the whole catalog. Collection discounts do not apply to gift card products in the collection.
7. Corporate and group orders. Quote a multi-card order through a draft order, which also allows a custom amount.
8. Loyalty bridge. Use gift cards or store credit as a reward in a loyalty program; see loyalty program apps for options.

Do not use the compare-at price field to discount gift cards; Shopify says to use discount codes or automatic discounts. If the aim is promotional money off, a discount code for a currency amount lets you control the amount, restrictions and expiry date, which a promotional gift card may not allow in your region. For other ways to raise order value, see raising average order value. Discount types are covered in the pricing and sales hub.

Fees and bookkeeping

Shopify’s pricing overview says that for stores created on or after May 12, 2025, orders that include store credit or gift cards as a payment method are charged the third-party transaction fee on the amount paid that way; older stores are exempt. Its example: a customer pays with a credit card through Shopify Payments plus $10 CAD of store credit, and the fee is charged only on the $10. On a Basic plan in the US, where Shopify’s pricing page (read October 31, 2026) lists the third-party fee at 2%, a $50 gift card redemption costs $1. A sold gift card is money for goods you have not delivered yet, and Shopify’s gift card overview sends you to a local tax or legal expert for whether to charge tax and how long a card must stay valid. Tell your accountant how gift cards are sold and redeemed; bookkeeping apps are compared in Shopify bookkeeping apps. More guides on running the store are in the hub.

Frequently asked questions

Do Shopify gift cards expire? Shopify gift cards do not expire by default, because expiry is illegal in some countries. If you set an expiry date, Shopify’s default is five years, and you should check your local law first.

Can I discount gift cards? Discount codes and automatic discounts both work on gift card products. A customer can pay less than the face value while the card keeps its full redeemable value. Collection-level discounts do not apply to gift card products.

Are gift card sales revenue? Accounting rules usually treat an unredeemed gift card as an obligation rather than earned revenue, but Shopify’s pages leave this to your local tax or legal expert. How to record the sale and the redemption depends on your accounting rules, so ask your accountant.