Store gift cards and store credit

Gift cards are in Store › Discounts › Gift cards. A gift card is a code with a balance at your Store. Buyers enter the code in their cart, and the balance pays for their order. Store credit is the same thing, issued by you.

Sell gift cards

Add a product and choose A gift card people send by email. On its page, set Amounts (up to 20, separated by commas, such as 25, 50, 100) and, if you want, a Custom amount range such as 10 to 500. Add an image and publish it like any product.

A buyer chooses an amount and sends the card to someone else by email, with an optional name, message and date, or to themselves. Each card gets its own code of 16 letters and numbers, emailed on the date chosen, or as soon as the order is paid. Gift cards are not shipped, so an order of only gift cards needs no shipment.

A gift card cannot be bought with another gift card, and discounts never apply to gift cards.

Issue a gift card or store credit by hand

Select Issue gift card, choose a kind and enter the amount:

• Store credit is money you owe the customer, such as a goodwill credit.
• Given away is a free card, such as a prize. Only this kind can have an expiry date, which you set on its page.

With an email address, the card is emailed. The card's page shows the code once when it opens; copy it then. Magpie keeps only the last 4 characters of a code, so it cannot show the code again. Send again with a new code in the card's More menu emails it with a new code, and the old code stops working.

Refund to the gift card or as store credit

When you refund an order, Refund to has two choices:

• How the customer paid returns the part paid with a gift card to that card first, and the rest to their card payment in Stripe.
• Store credit puts the whole refund on a new gift card, emailed to the customer. Nothing is refunded through Stripe.

Refunding an order that bought gift cards does not change those cards. To take back a card's balance, open it from the order and adjust its balance or set its status to Disabled.

A card's page

The balance is the sum of the card's transactions, listed on its page: issued, used on an order, given back when a checkout ended unpaid, refunded, adjusted, expired and cashed out. Adjust balance adds an amount or takes one off, with a reason. Status turns a card off and on. Record a cash-out records that you paid the holder the balance yourself; the card closes.

The list shows what the Store owes on its cards, and Export CSV lists every card with its balance. A customer's page in Store › Customers lists the cards they bought, were sent, got as store credit or used, with their balances; see Store customers, segments and data requests.

Gift cards in the Magpie app

In the Magpie app, open Store and choose Gift cards. The list shows each card's balance and what the Store owes on all of them; search by the last four characters of a code, a name or an email address, or choose Show to narrow the list.

Issue issues store credit or a gift card you are giving away. Enter the amount and, if you want, the recipient's email, name and a message; with an email, the code will be emailed to them. The code is shown once after the card is issued: copy or share it then.

On a card, the menu has Adjust balance, Disable (or Turn on) and Cash out. Team admins and members with the Manage discounts permission can use gift cards in the app.

How buyers pay with a gift card

In the cart, the buyer enters the code under Gift card. The card pays after discounts, for the items and shipping. When it does not cover everything, the rest is paid by card on Stripe's payment page, and Stripe's receipt shows the gift card amount as a discount. When it covers everything, there is no payment page: the buyer enters the shipping address at checkout and places the order.

A checkout holds the amount on the card. If the checkout ends without payment, the amount goes back on the card. One gift card can be used per order. Buyers can check a balance at your Store's gift card page, /shop/your-store/gift-card.

A Store that calculates tax with Stripe Tax does not take gift cards at checkout. A gift card is a payment, and Stripe Checkout can lower an order only with a discount, which would lower the tax. You can still sell and issue gift cards; buyers can use them once Stripe Tax is off.

Expiry, fees and the law

A bought gift card and store credit never expire and never have a fee. Only a card you give away can have an expiry date, shown with its balance. Laws on gift cards differ by country, state and province: some forbid any expiry or require cash back for a small balance on request. Checking which apply to your business is yours to do. Accounting records cards sold and store credit under Customer credits until they are spent.

If a buyer says their gift card was not received, open the card from the order, check the recipient email and send it again. If it still does not arrive, Contact support.