How to Sell Gift Cards Online and by Text.

Gift cards top the wish lists in the National Retail Federation's annual holiday survey. In the October 2026 edition, run with Prosper Insights & Analytics, 47 percent of the 8,094 adults surveyed said they would like to receive one, ahead of clothing at 44 percent. A separate NRF and Prosper survey in November 2025 projected $29.1 billion in holiday gift card spending for that season, with restaurant cards the most popular type.

For a salon, a spa, a restaurant, a repair shop or a small store, that demand arrives in a narrow window and through a few places: the counter, the website, an email, a text. A card sold only at the counter misses the other three.

The four formats

A physical card sells at the counter, to people who already come in. Shopify sells branded physical cards that work with its point of sale app through the Shopify Hardware Store in supported countries, and Square lets sellers order physical cards from the Gift cards section of the Square Dashboard. A physical card makes a good stocking stuffer and a poor last minute gift for anyone who lives out of town.

A digital card sent by email arrives in minutes, so it is the format that still works on Christmas Eve. Shopify, for example, sends the card as an email with a unique code when the order is fulfilled. If the theme supports recipient fields, the buyer can send it straight to the recipient. Shopify's help center says the buyer's receipt confirms who the card went to, or when it is scheduled to send.

A digital card sent by text suits buyers who think in phone numbers rather than email addresses. Support varies by platform. Square's United States help center says its point of sale app cannot yet text an eGift card automatically, and tells sellers to share their online gift card order page with the buyer instead.

A paper certificate, filled in by hand, is the oldest format. Federal rules treat it differently from a card or a code.

One more choice cuts across all four: a card for an amount or a card for a service. "A $75 gift card" and "one 60 minute massage" sell the same idea, but the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's official commentary on the federal rule treats them differently.

Where to sell gift cards, online and at the counter

The website. A gift card needs its own page, reachable from the main menu, that works on a phone. Adobe reported that on Christmas Day 2025, 66.5 percent of online sales came through mobile devices, the highest share of any day that season.

On Shopify, gift cards are a product type with preset amounts, up to $10,000 each. Shopify says customers cannot type a custom amount on the storefront, so set preset amounts that cover the range customers give. Square offers a free online order page for eGift cards, and a Square website can add it to its navigation.

The Google Business Profile. Square's help center suggests linking the gift card order page from the business's Google Business Profile, the free listing that shows the business in Google Search and Maps.

Gift card directories. Square says a business that sets up eGift cards for the first time is automatically opted in to partner directories, including TruCentive, Giftogram and Square's own Give and Get Local Directory. The business can opt out in its settings.

The counter. Check whether cards sold in person and online share one balance. Shopify says a card bought through its point of sale app can be redeemed on the online store, and the reverse. Staff should know that before a customer asks.

When to promote them

The holiday email and text plan sets the calendar for the season's messages, and gift cards take a different place in it as the weeks pass.

From Black Friday into early December, gift cards compete with everything else on sale. This is the period for a bonus offer, such as a smaller card added to a larger purchase. The federal rule described below leaves out a loyalty, award or promotional gift card, so a free bonus card is treated differently from one a customer pays for. The rule still requires such a card to say on its front that it is promotional and to show when its money expires. Shopify and Square both let a business discount the card itself instead. Shopify's example is a $100 card sold for $80. Square lets a seller set a percentage or dollar discount, with an optional minimum card amount for the dollar version.

After the shipping deadlines, the gift card becomes the product. A store that can no longer get a package to the recipient in time can still sell a card by email.

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the buyer is in a hurry. A single text with a direct link to the gift card page, sent to customers who agreed to receive marketing texts, fits that moment better than a long email. What counts as that agreement is the subject of growing a text list with proven consent, and these holiday texts short enough to bill as one message show how little room the link leaves.

In January and after, the cards come back. The recipient is often someone who has never visited. Invite them to join the email list on the redemption page or the receipt, and do not add them automatically.

The federal rules, as the FTC and CFPB describe them

The federal limits come from the Credit CARD Act of 2009 and are written into Regulation E, which the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes at 12 CFR 1005.20. The Federal Trade Commission summarized them for holiday shoppers in November 2010, three months after they took effect. What follows describes those sources. It is not legal advice, and how they apply to a particular card is a question for a lawyer.

The rules apply to store gift cards and gift certificates sold to consumers. As the FTC summarized them:

• Money on a gift card cannot expire for at least five years from the date the card was bought or last loaded. If the card itself shows an earlier date, the money can be moved to a replacement card at no cost.
• Inactivity fees can start only after a year with no use, and then no more than once a month.
• The card must disclose its expiration date, and the card or its packaging must disclose any fees.

The regulation is stricter than that summary in one place that matters to a small business. Any inactivity fee (the regulation also calls it a dormancy fee) or service fee, how often it applies and the fact that it is charged for inactivity must appear on the card itself; packaging or a sticker does not count. The CFPB's commentary adds that a card with no fees and no expiration needs no toll free number or website for fee information. Shopify's default matches that simple case: its help center says cards do not expire unless the store sets an expiration, and if it does, the default is five years.

The CFPB's commentary also speaks to the formats above:

• Codes count. The rule covers a code as well as a plastic card. The commentary's example is a code a merchant issues that can be given as a gift and redeemed online.
• Paper only is excluded. A certificate issued only on paper is outside the rule. A code sent by email that the buyer prints at home is not "paper only," because it was issued electronically.
• Service cards depend on the amount. A card for "a spa treatment," with no dollar amount, is generally outside the rule. A card for "a spa treatment up to $50," or one that states "a $50 value," is inside it.

State law can go further

The federal law says a state law that gives consumers more protection is not inconsistent with it, so states can add their own rules. California is one example. Its Civil Code section 1749.5 makes it unlawful to sell a gift certificate with an expiration date or a service fee, with narrow exceptions. It also makes a certificate worth less than $15 redeemable in cash. The current version of the section, with that $15 figure, became operative on April 1, 2026, under a bill enacted in 2025 (SB 22).

Other states set different terms. New York's Department of State says gift cards bought there on or after December 10, 2022, stay valid for at least nine years from the date of purchase, and that the law prohibits fees on them, inactivity fees included.

Unspent balances raise a separate question of unclaimed property law. In California, Code of Civil Procedure section 1520 sends property a business holds for someone else to the state once it has gone unclaimed for more than three years. Section 1520.5 says that rule does not apply to gift certificates covered by the gift certificate law, but does apply to one that has an expiration date and was sold for money or anything else of value. Other states treat unspent balances differently, which is one more question for the business's lawyer.

Shopify's own help center tells merchants to ask a local tax or legal expert which rules apply to them. Decide the format and the terms first. Have them checked for each state where the business sells. Then print the cards and build the page.

What to count in January

Three numbers measure the season's cards. The first is how many cards sold and for how much. The second is how many were redeemed by the end of February. The third is how many redemptions came from people who had never bought before. If the point of sale or store reports cannot show first time buyers among redemptions, set up that report before the first card is sold.