Enabling gift cards in Retail POS offers you an additional source of cash flow and allows your customers the option to purchase gift cards that can be redeemed at your store.

Enabling gift cards

Before you can start selling your gift cards, you'll need to enable the gift card feature in Retail POS. All users can sell or redeem gift cards, but only Admin users can enable Retail POS gift cards.

To activate gift cards:

1. Navigate to Catalog > Gift cards.
2. Click the Get started button.

   

3. You will be brought to the Gift cards page where you can continue setting up your gift card options.

Once enabled, a tax-exclusive product called Gift Card will be added to your store. A gift card payment option is also added to the Sell screen, which can be used when a customer redeems their gift card.

Retail POS gift cards do not work with Shopify, WooCommerce, or third-party apps except for Wrapped. BigCommerce gift certificates can be redeemed in-store.

If you integrate with Xero, you must map the correct account code to your gift card payment type. If a gift card fails to post to Xero, you will be notified and an error message will appear on the gift card report page, where you can re-post the failed transaction to Xero.

For QuickBooks Online, you must map your liabilities account in the Retail POS <> QuickBooks Online mappings page.

Selecting gift card sales channels

Omnichannel merchants (Retail POS and eCom (E-Series)) can choose to sell gift cards In-store and online, In-store only, or Online only:

• In-store and online: Gift cards can be sold in-store or online.
• In-store only: Gift cards can only be sold in-store on physical gift cards.
• Online only: Gift cards can only be sold online.

Customers will always have the option to redeem gift cards in-store or online.

To select gift card sales channels:

1. Navigate to Catalog > Gift cards.
2. Under Sales channels, select if you want to sell your gift cards In-store and online, In-store only, or Online only.

   

   Merchants who do not have eCom (E-Series) will not see the Sales channels section in the new gift card experience. If you activate eCom in the future, the Sales channels will appear on the Gift cards page.

3. Click Save changes at the top of the page.

Getting physical gift cards

If you sell gift cards for in-store use, you’ll need to purchase or create physical gift cards. You can purchase from a gift card supplier or print out your own with unique codes.

It's recommended to use gift cards with code 128 barcodes and unique 8+ character alphanumeric, non-sequential codes. Non-sequential codes reduce risks associated with fake gift cards and help prevent bad actors from guessing the next gift card sequence.

As of August 12, 2025, no new gift cards can be created with codes under 8 characters. Previously issued gift cards with codes under 8 characters will be redeemable, but cannot be reloaded after this date.

Until August 12, 2025, you can manually add extra characters to the beginning of affected codes for your existing inventory of physical cards, for example 123456 becomes 11123456 or GC123456.

To update the code when selling gift cards at the register:

1. On the Sell screen, search for "gift card" and click the Gift Card product.
2. Enter the gift card number.
3. Add the additional characters as needed. The code must be at least 8 characters long, for example 11123456.
4. Select or enter an amount to add to the gift card and click Add to sale.
5. Complete the sale to activate the gift card.

Cards with fewer than 8 characters that have already been sold to customers will still be redeemable but can't be reloaded.

Setting gift card limits

You can set limits on amounts that can be added to a gift card during a sale.

To set minimum and maximum gift card limits:

1. Navigate to Catalog > Gift cards.
2. Under Limits, enter a minimum amount (optional).

   

3. Enter a maximum amount (required).

   Amounts must be positive whole numbers without decimals or special characters. The Maximum amount must be greater than 0 and greater than the Minimum amount.

4. Click Save changes at the top of the page.

Setting predefined gift card amounts

After setting up your predefined amounts on the Gift cards page, the Sell screen will feature quick-select options so you can quickly add a set amount when selling or topping up a gift card. If no predefined amounts are set, you’ll have to enter a custom amount to add funds to the gift card.

To set up predefined gift card amounts:

1. Navigate to Catalog > Gift cards.
2. Under Predefined amounts, add a fixed gift card amount in the Amount 1 field.

   

3. Click +Add another predefined amount to add another fixed gift card amount.

   You can have up to 4 predefined amounts. They must be within your minimum to maximum Limits and must be positive whole numbers without decimals or special characters.

4. To delete an amount, click the trash icon next to the amount.
5. Click Save changes at the top of the page.

Enabling gift card expiry

You must review and follow local laws and regulations before applying gift card expiry.

You can optionally choose to allow your gift cards to expire after a set period of time.

1. Navigate to Catalog > Gift cards.
2. In the Expiry section, check the Activate gift card expiration box to allow your gift cards to expire after a set period of time.
3. Under Validity period, enter a whole number in the first field and choose a time period (Years, Months, Days) from the dropdown.

   

4. Click Save changes at the top of the page.

Once you have enabled gift card expiry, all newly issued gift cards will have the chosen expiry date applied. Gift cards that have already been issued will not have an expiry date. Gift cards will be redeemable up to and including the date of expiry. Learn more in the Managing gift card expiry guide.

Mapping gift card expiry to Xero and Quickbooks

If you have a Xero or Quickbooks account connected to Retail POS, you will need to set up your store so that gift card expiry revenue posts to Xero or Quickbooks when gift cards expire. If you do not map the correct account for gift cards expiry revenue, these and all other transactions will not sync to Xero or QuickBooks.

• Mapping gift card expiry to Xero

  To map your gift card expiry revenue to Xero:

  1. In Retail POS, navigate to Setup > Apps.
  2. Click the pencil icon next to Xero.

     

  3. Navigate to the Accounts for liability and expiry section.
  4. Using the Gift card expiry revenue dropdown, choose your desired revenue account.

     

  5. Click Save.

  The remaining value of all expired gift cards will now be posted as revenue to Xero. When a gift card expires it will be posted to Xero as a journal entry.

• Mapping gift card expiry to Quickbooks

  To map your gift card expiry revenue to QuickBooks:

  1. In Retail POS, navigate to Setup > Apps.
  2. Click the pencil icon next to QuickBooks.

     

  3. Navigate to the Liabilities section.
  4. Using the Gift card revenue dropdown, choose your desired revenue account.

     

  5. Click Save.

  The remaining value of all expired gift cards will now be posted as revenue to QuickBooks.

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