Gift cards

You can create gift card products in your store currency or in specific currencies that you sell to. The currency that you choose affects how gift cards are purchased, redeemed, and how their balances are managed.

Store currency gift cards

You create store currency gift cards with their values and balances set in the currency of your store. Your customers purchase them and redeem them in their local currency.

Gift card prices are converted by multiplying the gift card amount by the currency conversion rate. Because the fees have already been applied, no currency conversion fees are applied to purchases made with a gift card. Also, rounding rules aren't applied to gift cards.

Store currency gift cards can be redeemed in any currency through automatic currency conversion at checkout.

Local currency gift cards

You can create gift cards in a specific non-store currency. These gift cards hold their value in the currency that you choose. For example, if your store currency is USD, then you can create a EUR gift card product for your European customers.

Local currency gift cards are available to all stores. They aren't supported on global B2B markets. To create a local currency gift card for B2B customers, create the gift card against a specific B2B market that inherits from a parent region market.

By default, local currency gift cards can be redeemed only when the checkout currency matches the gift card currency. You can turn on cross-currency redemption to let customers use a local currency gift card in other currencies. Learn more about cross-currency redemption.

Market and catalog configuration for local currency gift cards

Gift card products have a base price that's set in your store currency. When you create a local currency gift card product, the base price is set to 0, and catalog price lists set the price for each gift card denomination in the gift card currency.

For example, if your store currency is USD and you create a EUR local currency gift card product, then the gift card's denominations are priced in EUR instead of USD. For example, denominations such as €25 EUR, €50 EUR, or €100 EUR get their prices from your catalogs that use EUR.

Local currency gift card products are available only to customers who are shopping in the same currency as the gift card. If a customer shops in a different currency, then the gift card price is displayed as 0. The customer is blocked from completing the purchase, and the gift card isn't available to them.

To help prevent local currency gift card products from being available to customers in the wrong currency, local currency gift card products aren't published to sales channels or catalogs by default. When you create a local currency gift card product, only currencies with valid market catalogs are available in the currency selection.

Valid market catalogs for local currency gift cards

You can create a local currency gift card product in a currency only when at least 1 active market catalog uses that currency. Draft markets and draft catalogs are also checked for eligibility. If a draft market or draft catalog isn't fully set up or doesn't meet the requirements below, then you can't create a local currency gift card product in that currency until the configuration is fixed. Other catalog types, such as company location catalogs or app catalogs, don't make currencies available for local currency gift cards.

A currency is available for a local currency gift card product only when your market and catalog configuration meets the following requirements:

All markets without a parent market must have a catalog assigned before you can create local currency gift card products in any currency. Catalogs control which products are available in each market. Without an assigned catalog, a local currency gift card product could become available to customers in a market where you don't intend to sell it.
At least 1 market catalog must use the currency that you want to create the gift card product in.
A market must have catalogs in only 1 currency. If a market has catalogs in multiple currencies, then those currencies aren't available for local currency gift card products.
Each catalog's currency and pricing setup must match the currency of every market that the catalog is published to.

For example, your store currency is USD, and you want to create a EUR gift card product for your France market. If the France market has a draft catalog that doesn't meet the requirements, then EUR might not be available. A company location catalog that uses EUR doesn't make EUR available, because company location catalogs aren't used for local currency gift card eligibility.

You can review and update market catalogs in Markets > Catalogs in your Shopify admin.

If local currency gift card currencies are unavailable

If creating a gift card product is unavailable, or if a currency is unavailable when you create a local currency gift card product, then one or more active or draft markets or catalogs might not meet the catalog requirements for local currency gift cards.

Review the following requirements before creating a local currency gift card product:

Every market without a parent market must have a catalog assigned.
Each catalog must use only one currency.
At least one catalog must use the currency that you want to create the gift card product in.
Each catalog's currency must match the currency of every market that the catalog is published to.

Review Markets > Catalogs in your Shopify admin, including draft markets and draft catalogs, and assign a valid catalog to each market.

Cross-currency redemption

Cross-currency redemption lets customers use a local currency gift card at checkout in a currency other than the one that the gift card was issued in. By default, local currency gift cards can only be redeemed when the checkout currency matches the gift card currency.

You set cross-currency redemption when you create a gift card or gift card product. You can't change this setting after the gift card is created.

If you turn on cross-currency redemption, then the gift card can be applied at checkout in other currencies using the exchange rate at the time of redemption. Exchange rate changes between when the gift card is sold and when it's redeemed might affect the value that you receive. Learn more about exchange rate risk for cross-currency redemption.

You can set cross-currency redemption in the following ways:

When creating a gift card product, select your preference in the Cross-currency redemption field.
When creating a gift card from your Shopify admin, select your preference in the Cross-currency redemption section.

Redeeming gift cards

How your customers can redeem gift cards depends on the following gift card types:

Store currency gift cards: If your customer's local currency is different from your store's currency, then a currency conversion takes place when the gift card is redeemed at checkout. This conversion uses the exchange rate at the time that the gift card is redeemed, and not the exchange rate that was in place when the gift card was purchased.
Local currency gift cards: By default, these can be redeemed only when the checkout currency matches the gift card currency. If you turn on cross-currency redemption for the gift card, then the gift card can be applied at checkout in other currencies using the current exchange rate at the time of redemption.

Gift card balances

How gift card balances are held depends on the following gift card types:

Store currency gift cards: Balances are held in the currency of your store. When customers check their gift card balance, it's reported in the store currency.
Local currency gift cards: Balances are held in the currency that the gift card was issued in. When customers check their gift card balance, it's reported in that currency.

Changing your store or market currency

A gift card's currency is set when the card is issued and is locked after the card is first sold or used. If you change your store's default currency or a market's currency after a gift card is created, then it's affected in the following ways:

Existing cards keep their original currency and balance.
A card whose currency no longer matches any currency that you offer at checkout might not be redeemable at checkout, even though it still shows as Active in your Shopify admin. Shopify doesn't automatically convert these cards to the new currency, and doesn't automatically deactivate them.
Reverting the store or market back to the original currency restores redeemability for those cards.

If you've permanently moved to a new currency, then deactivate affected gift cards and issue new gift cards in the new currency.

For example, your store currency is Canadian dollars (CAD), and you issue a $50 CAD gift card. You later change your store currency to US dollars (USD). The gift card still shows as active in your Shopify admin with a $50 CAD balance, but the customer can't redeem it at checkout unless CAD is available again.

Fixed pricing

If you're setting specific product prices for different markets, then use the following approaches depending on the gift card type:

Store currency gift cards: You shouldn't set specific prices for store currency gift cards. Gift card balances are held in your store currency, and setting a specific gift card price might result in you losing money due to currency conversion differences.
Local currency gift cards: Fixed prices are automatically set across all catalogs with a matching currency when you create the gift card product. Local currency gift cards aren't published to any catalogs by default. You must publish the gift card to the appropriate catalog for it to be available to customers.

If a store currency gift card converts at face value, for example a $100 AUD gift card is displayed as $100 NZD instead of converting from AUD to NZD, then a fixed price might be set for the gift card product in that market's catalog. Store currency gift cards shouldn't have fixed prices. Remove the fixed price so the balance converts at the checkout exchange rate.

Examples

The following examples show how each gift card type behaves when a customer purchases and redeems a gift card across currencies.

Currency conversion rate example

A store currency gift card that's purchased in a foreign currency has the currency conversion fee applied at purchase. At redemption, the gift card balance is converted using the exchange rate at the time of redemption, without a second currency conversion fee. This means that the rate used when the gift card is purchased can differ from the rate used when the gift card is redeemed.

For example, your store currency is US dollars (USD), and a customer purchases a $100 USD gift card in euros (EUR). The customer pays the EUR price based on the exchange rate at the time of purchase, including any applicable currency conversion fee. When the customer later redeems the gift card, the remaining USD balance is converted to EUR using the exchange rate at the time of redemption. No second currency conversion fee is applied.

Fixed exchange rate example

If you set a manual exchange rate or a fixed gift card price in a market's catalog, then gift card redemption uses that configured rate or price instead of the current market rate. Gift cards also don't use rounding rules, so converted balances might be displayed with exact amounts instead of rounded prices.

For example, your store currency is Australian dollars (AUD), and you set a manual exchange rate for a New Zealand market. When a customer redeems an AUD gift card in New Zealand dollars (NZD), the gift card balance is converted using your manual rate, not a live currency converter rate.

Store currency gift card example

Your store currency is US dollars (USD) and you sell $100 USD gift cards. A customer in Europe, whose local currency is euros, buys a gift card and pays for it in euros. The same customer later creates an order and pays for it using the gift card. At checkout, the balance on the gift card is converted to euros and this amount is used to pay for the order. Any money that remains on the gift card after paying for the order is converted back to US dollars.

If the exchange rate fluctuates between purchase and redemption, then the customer might notice a change in the value of their gift card.

Local currency gift card example

Your store currency is US dollars (USD) and you create a €50 EUR gift card product for your European market. A European customer buys the gift card and pays €50 EUR. The gift card balance is held as €50 EUR. When the customer uses the gift card at checkout, they must check out in EUR. The gift card balance is applied directly without any currency conversion.