Gift Cards for WooCommerce
Sell digital gift cards with preset or custom amounts, personal messages and scheduled delivery; customers redeem them on the block or classic checkout.
- Block cart and checkout
- Classic cart and checkout
- High-performance order storage
- WooCommerce 9 – 11
- WordPress 6.6 – 7.1
- PHP 7.4+
What Gift Cards does
Turn any product into a gift card. Buyers choose an amount, say who it is for, add a message and pick a delivery date; the recipient gets a code by email and spends it at checkout, with any balance left for next time.
Gift Cards features
Selling
- Tick "This is a gift card" on a simple or variable product
- Preset amounts shown as buttons, an optional custom amount with limits, or simply the product price (each variation of a variable product is one amount)
- Recipient name and email, sender name, message and delivery date on the product page; buyers can also send the card to themselves
- One card per unit, issued when the order is paid (processing or completed), emailed at once or on the chosen date
- Cards of cancelled, failed or refunded orders are disabled while unused
- A WooCommerce email (Emails > Gift card) with the amount, code, message and a shop button, editable like any other
Redeeming
- "Have a gift card?" field in the cart and at checkout, block and classic
- Comes off the final total after tax and shipping, never as a discount, so tax is unchanged; several cards can be stacked
- Partial use keeps the remaining balance on the card
- Zero-total orders go straight through without a payment step
- Balances are taken when the order is placed and returned if it is cancelled, fails or is refunded
- Gift cards cannot buy gift cards unless you allow it
Managing
- WooCommerce > Gift cards: every card with balance, status, recipient, buyer and order; search by code, email, name or order number; filter by state
- Create cards by hand (store credit, compensation, promotions), adjust balances with a reason, disable or re-enable, resend the email, export CSV
- Full history per card: issued, spent, returned, adjusted
- Order screen shows which cards paid and which were issued; order totals show the card rows everywhere
- My Account > Gift cards lists the customer's cards with an "Apply to cart" button;
[gift_card_balance]adds a balance checker to any page - Optional expiry after a number of days
For developers
Filters gcrd_card_value, gcrd_payable_total, gcrd_issue_statuses, gcrd_generated_code, gcrd_settings_fields; actions gcrd_card_created, gcrd_cards_issued, gcrd_send_card, gcrd_card_applied, gcrd_balance_changed, gcrd_order_debited, gcrd_order_credited.
One gift card, from purchase to the last cent
A gift card is a product with "This is a gift card" ticked. The buyer picks an amount, says who it is for and when, and the rest is a code that moves money around. Here is one $50 card over its life.
| When | What happens | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| Buying | Picks $50 from the amount buttons, enters the recipient's name and email, a message, and 24 December as the delivery date | The buyer |
| The order is paid | The card is created with a unique code and sits as Scheduled | The plugin |
| 24 December | The Gift card email goes out with the amount, code, message and a shop button | The plugin |
| First order | Enters the code in the "Have a gift card?" field; $32.40 comes off the final total after tax and shipping | The recipient |
| Second order | The remaining $17.60 covers a small order entirely, so there is no payment step | The recipient |
| That order is refunded | $17.60 goes back on the card and the history shows it | The plugin, when you set the order to Refunded |
| A complaint | A $20 card is created by hand as store credit, with a reason | You, under WooCommerce > Gift cards |
Every card has a full history: issued, spent, returned, adjusted. Cards from orders that are cancelled, failed or refunded are disabled while unused. Customers see their cards under My Account > Gift cards with an "Apply to cart" button, and a balance checker goes on any page with a shortcode. Expiry is off unless you set a number of days.
What it does well, and what it leaves to other tools
The difference that matters is how the card is redeemed. Plugins that turn a gift card into a coupon reduce the taxable total, so the store under-reports tax on every redeemed order. Here the card comes off the final total after tax and shipping, like a payment, which keeps the tax figures right, lets several cards stack, and lets a card cover shipping. A zero-total order goes straight through. Balances are taken when the order is placed and returned when it is cancelled, fails or is refunded, and gift cards cannot buy gift cards unless you allow it. Variable products work too: each variation is one amount.
What it does not do: physical cards, a printable PDF design, or generating hundreds of promotional codes at once. Partial refunds are adjusted by hand on the card, since the plugin cannot know how much of a part-refund was paid by card. For loyalty credit that customers earn rather than buy, Points and Rewards is the plugin; for extras at the checkout such as wrapping and a message, Gift Wrap and Checkout Add-ons.
How to set up Gift Cards in WooCommerce
- 1
Upload the plugin to
/wp-content/plugins/or install it from the Plugins screen. - 2
Activate it.
- 3
Edit a product, open the Gift card tab and tick "This is a gift card".
- 4
Review WooCommerce > Settings > Gift cards and Emails > Gift card.
Questions about Gift Cards
Does it work with the block checkout?
Yes. The gift card field appears under the coupon field on the block cart and checkout, and above the payment methods on the classic checkout.
Is the gift card a coupon?
No. It is applied to the final total after tax and shipping, like a payment, so your tax figures stay correct. WooCommerce coupons still work alongside it.
What happens on a refund?
Changing the order status to Refunded, Cancelled or Failed returns the full gift card amount to the card. For partial refunds adjust the card balance by hand from WooCommerce > Gift cards.
Can a gift card be used to buy another gift card?
Not by default; turn it on under Settings > Gift cards if you want that.
Is the balance taxed or does it expire?
Cards are sold at face value with whatever tax status the product has (most stores set gift card products to no tax). Expiry is off by default; set a number of days if your local law allows it.
Gift Cards changelog
- 1.0.0
- Initial release.
Plugins that pair with Gift Cards
Gift Wrap & Checkout Add-Ons
Order-level extras at the cart and checkout: gift wrapping, gift messages, rush handling, insurance and more, each with its own fee.
View plugin
Points & Rewards
Loyalty points for purchases, sign-ups and reviews, spent as a discount on the block or classic checkout, with expiry and history.
View plugin
Payment Gateway Fees
Charge a fee or give a discount per payment method. Fixed or percentage, taxable or not, on both the classic and the block checkout.
View plugin