Help
Log in

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.

On this page

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.

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

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 must match the currency of every market that the catalog is published to.

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

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:

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.

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.

Examples

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

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.