Set Up Shopify Gift Cards and Store Credit

Shopify gives you two ways to hold value for a customer: gift cards, which anyone with the code can spend, and store credit, which sits on one customer’s account. Both are built in. Most of the setup is a few clicks, but each has limits worth knowing before you promise anything to a customer.

We build and run Shopify stores through our Shopify development service, so weigh that. Every fact below was checked against the Shopify Help Center and US federal rules in October 2026.

Short answer: to sell gift cards, go to Products > Gift cards, click Add a gift card product, set your denominations and save. To give one away, click Create gift card on the same page instead. Store credit is separate: open the customer’s profile, click Edit in the Store credit section and add a credit, or choose store credit as the refund method when you refund an order. Gift cards work on every Shopify plan, and by default they never expire.

Gift Cards vs Store Credit

As of October 2026, from the Shopify Help Center:

Amounts are in USD or the equivalent in your currency. Sources: Gift cards, Issuing gift cards, Store credit.

How to Set Up a Gift Card Product

This is the gift card customers buy on your storefront. Shopify’s steps (source):

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Gift cards.
2. Click Add a gift card product.
3. Add a title, a description and an image.
4. Choose the currency, and whether the card can be redeemed in other currencies. You can’t change cross-currency redemption later.
5. Edit the denominations. Shopify creates some defaults; click Add denomination to add more, or the trash icon to remove one. You need at least one.
6. Click Save gift card product.

Each denomination is saved as a variant of the product. The most a single denomination can be worth is $10,000, and Shopify says that limit can’t be raised. Gift card products are fulfilled automatically when the order is paid, by default, and the buyer or recipient gets an email with a unique code. You can switch to manual fulfillment in Settings > Payments (source).

Shopify also sells customized physical gift cards through its Hardware Store, if you sell in person (source).

Let Buyers Send a Gift Card to Someone Else

By default the code goes to the buyer. To let them send it straight to the person they’re gifting, turn on recipient fields (source):

1. Go to Online Store > Themes and click Edit theme.
2. From the page menu at the top, choose Products > Default product.
3. In the preview, click Change and pick your gift card product.
4. Click the Buy buttons block and check Show recipient information form for gift card products.
5. Click Save.

Buyers can then add the recipient’s email, a name, a message and a send date. Scheduled cards go out roughly between 4:00 and 10:00 am in the buyer’s time zone. This works in Online Store 2.0 themes from version 9.0.0, including Dawn and the Horizon family. Vintage themes don’t support it without developer work.

How to Issue a Gift Card Manually

To give a customer a gift card at no cost, as a goodwill gesture, a prize or a replacement, create one in the admin (source):

1. Go to Products > Gift cards and click Create gift card.
2. Choose the currency and the cross-currency setting.
3. Enter the initial value, up to $2,000.
4. Add the customer’s name, email or phone number. You can also add this later.
5. Optionally set an expiry date and an internal note. The note is visible in your admin, not to the customer.
6. Click Save, then Send gift card.

Shopify sends the code by email, or by SMS if you only added a phone number. If you added both, email wins.

Selling a Custom Gift Card Amount

Shopify doesn’t let shoppers type their own amount on the storefront. Its workaround: create a draft order for the custom amount, and once the customer pays the invoice, create a gift card for that amount (source). For a self-serve custom amount on the storefront, you’d need an app or custom development.

How to Customize the Gift Card Email and Page

The emails live in Settings > Notifications > Customer notifications, in the Gift cards section (source):

• New gift card: sent when the order is fulfilled or the gift card is sent.
• Gift card receipt: sent to the buyer when they added a recipient.

Click a notification, then Edit code. The templates are HTML, CSS and Liquid. To swap the card image, upload yours to Content > Files (Shopify suggests 950 × 550 px) and replace gift-card/card.jpg in the template with your file name. Careful with heavy edits: Shopify notes that a customized template might lose the Add to Apple Wallet code (source).

The page the customer lands on from the email, showing the code and balance, is part of your theme. You can restyle it in the theme, but not change the value or code it shows.

Gift Card Expiry Dates

By default, Shopify gift cards don’t expire. Shopify’s reason is that expiring gift cards are illegal in some countries. To change it, go to Settings > Payments, find the default expiration section and choose Gift cards expire. If you do, the default term is five years, and you can change it (source). You can also change the expiry on a single card from its details page with Edit expiry date (source).

In the US, federal rules from the CARD Act generally prohibit selling or issuing a gift card that expires less than five years after it was issued or last loaded (source). State laws can go further. Shopify’s own advice is to check with a local tax or legal expert before setting any expiry.

How Customers Redeem and Check a Gift Card

Customers enter the code at checkout. It works on any sales channel that uses Shopify Checkout: the online store, Buy Button, Facebook Shop, Messenger, Shopify POS and the Shop app (source). Whatever they don’t spend stays on the card for next time.

To check the balance, the customer opens the link in their gift card email, which goes to the gift card page on your store (source). If they’ve lost the email, you can look up the card in Products > Gift cards and click Resend gift card. You can’t edit a balance directly, and Deactivate is permanent (source).

How to Issue Store Credit on Shopify

Store credit needs customer accounts (the newer version, not legacy accounts), activated in your Customer accounts settings. Staff need the Store credit and Edit store credit permissions. Then (source):

1. Go to Customers and open the customer’s profile.
2. In the Store credit section, click Edit.
3. Choose Credit, then enter the amount and currency.
4. Choose No expiry date or set one.
5. Optionally check Notify customer to send them an email.
6. Review and confirm.

The customer applies it at checkout while signed in. A few limits to plan around: store credit only works on the online store, POS and Shop. It isn’t available on draft orders or edited orders. Customers can only apply their full balance, not part of it. And one account can hold less than $15,000 in credit.

How to Refund an Order to Store Credit

When you refund an order, the Summary section has a refund method menu: the original payment method, store credit, or both, split however you choose (source). It works for full and partial refunds, returned items and canceled orders. You need the Refund to store credit permission, and you can set an expiry on the credit.

One trap: if you refund to store credit and later also refund the same items to the original payment method, Shopify doesn’t reverse the store credit, so you can over-refund. For in-store returns, turn on Allow orders to be refunded to store credit in the Point of Sale channel settings first (source).

Say in your returns policy whether refunds go back to the card or to store credit. Our return and refund policy guide covers the wording.

Do Gift Cards Cost Anything?

Digital gift cards cost nothing to create. One fee note from Shopify: for stores created on or after May 12, 2025, orders paid with a gift card are charged third-party transaction fees on the amount paid by gift card (source). Check your plan’s fee rates in your billing settings.

Related Posts

• Shopify return and refund policy best practices: where store credit fits in your returns
• Shopify customer accounts setup: the accounts store credit depends on
• Shopify loyalty program options: rewards and referrals beyond gift cards
• Shopify Payments setup guide: getting paid and the settings around it

FAQ

How do I set up gift cards on Shopify?

Go to Products > Gift cards, click Add a gift card product, add a title, image and denominations, and click Save gift card product. Gift cards are available on every Shopify plan.

Can customers choose a custom gift card amount on Shopify?

Not on the storefront by default. Shopify’s workaround is to create a draft order for the custom amount and, once it’s paid, create a gift card for that amount in the admin. Self-serve custom amounts need an app or custom code.

How do I give a customer store credit on Shopify?

Open the customer’s profile, click Edit in the Store credit section, choose Credit, enter the amount and confirm. You need customer accounts turned on. You can also refund an order to store credit from the refund screen.

What’s the difference between a Shopify gift card and store credit?

A gift card has a code anyone can use, works across most Shopify sales channels, and can be spent in parts. Store credit is tied to one customer’s account, works only on the online store, POS and Shop, and is applied in full.

Do Shopify gift cards expire?

Not by default. You can set a store-wide expiry in Settings > Payments, with a five-year default term, or change the date on a single card. In the US, federal rules generally bar gift cards that expire within five years, and state laws can be stricter.

How can a customer check their Shopify gift card balance?

By opening the link in their gift card email, which shows the balance on your store’s gift card page. If they’ve lost it, you can resend the gift card from Products > Gift cards in your admin.