Selling gift cards on Shopify POS

Gift cards are available to sell with all Shopify subscription plans. You can add gift card products in your Shopify admin, and then sell them in person using Shopify POS.

You can sell digital or physical gift cards using Shopify POS. To sell physical gift cards, you have the following options:

• You can order from a selection of premade designs or upload your own gift card design on the Shopify Hardware Store in supported countries. Gift cards purchased from the Shopify Hardware Store have a QR code on the back that can be scanned from the Shopify POS app or with a supported 2D barcode scanner.
• You can purchase physical gift cards from a third-party provider. Gift cards purchased from a third-party provider need to have a unique code printed on the card, and you can then enter this code in the Shopify POS app. The code needs to be from 8 digits to 20 digits long.

Choose a gift card format

With Shopify POS, you can sell gift cards in any of these formats:

• A digital gift card that you email to the customer.
• A paper copy of a digital gift card that you print from your receipt printer.
• A physical gift card with a pre-assigned code.

If you're selling physical gift cards with pre-existing codes on them, then you need to activate issuing physical gift cards.

Learn about the requirements for using gift cards in Shopify POS.

Sell a gift card with a pre-set or custom amount

1. In the Shopify POS app, tap More actions > Add gift card.
2. When applicable, choose Digital gift card or Physical gift card.
3. Do either of the following:
   • To select a pre-set value for a gift card, tap the gift card value that you want to use.
   • To select a custom gift card value, tap Custom gift card, enter the custom value, and then tap Next.
4. If you're selling a physical gift card, then your device's camera opens, and you can activate the gift card using one of the following options:
   • For gift cards purchased from the Shopify Hardware Store, you can scan the card's QR code with the front-facing camera of the device that you use the Shopify POS app on or use a supported 2D barcode scanner to scan the card's QR code. The 1D scanner won't work.
   • For gift cards purchased from a third-party provider, you can tap the Enter gift card code button and then enter the unique code that you had printed on the gift card at the time of purchase.
5. Tap Add.
6. Tap Checkout to continue to checkout.
7. Select the customer's payment method, and then complete the transaction.
8. Optional: On the post-checkout screen, provide the customer with a receipt.

Note

When you exit this screen, you won't be able to retrieve the validation code for gift cards. This is a security feature that prevents your gift cards from being exposed if your account is breached.

The printed or emailed receipt for the gift card displays the following information:

• The name of your store.
• The monetary value of the card.
• The validation code.
• A two-dimensional barcode.

Refund the purchase of a gift card on Shopify POS

You can refund the purchase of a gift card from Shopify POS, but you need to deactivate the card before you make the refund:

1. From your Shopify POS Orders screen, tap the order that has the gift card that you want to refund.
2. Tap the gift card number.
3. Tap Disable gift card, and then tap Confirm.
4. On the order details screen, tap Return.
5. Use the + and - buttons beside each product in the order to enter the quantity that you're refunding.
6. Tap Refund.
7. When the refund is successful, tap Done.

Related topics

• Activate payment by gift card on Shopify POS
• Adding or updating gift card products
• Managing created gift cards