Selling Gift Cards and Vouchers Online From Your Own Website

Short answer: Use the gift card feature of whatever system already takes your payments, if it has one: Shopify for an online shop, Square or your existing till system for a restaurant or salon. That way a voucher bought online can be spent in person without staff juggling two systems. Choose a dedicated voucher tool only if you need things those systems lack, such as experience vouchers ("dinner for two"). Whatever you pick, set it up well before the Christmas rush and give staff a written redemption routine.

The options compared

Option	Best for	Strengths	Watch out for
Shopify gift cards	Shops already selling on Shopify, with or without Shopify POS	Built in on all plans, digital codes emailed automatically, balance carries over between orders, Apple Wallet option	Fixed denominations on the storefront; redeemable only at the issuing store
Square eGift cards	Cafés, restaurants and salons using Square on the counter	Free online order page, sent by email, works at the till and online, group gifting	Text-message delivery comes from the order page, not the POS app; physical cards cost extra
Your booking or till system's vouchers	Salons, spas and restaurants on a booking platform	Redeem against an appointment or table directly	Feature depth varies widely; check what the online purchase page looks like on a phone
Dedicated voucher platform	Experience vouchers, multi-location groups	Fixed-experience vouchers, branded PDFs, reporting	Another system for staff; redemption must be checked against it separately
PDF voucher by email, done by hand	Very small volumes	No setup	Duplicate or forged codes, no balance tracking, slow at Christmas

The deciding question is simple: where will the voucher be spent? If the answer is "at our counter", the voucher has to live in the same system as the counter.

Setup steps

Shopify

According to Shopify's help pages, as of November 2026:

Add a gift card product with the denominations you want, such as €25, €50 and €100. Customers can't type a custom amount into a denomination, so cover the amounts people actually give.
Add recipient fields if your theme supports them, so a buyer can send the card straight to someone else. Shopify describes this as a theme customisation.
Turn on Apple Wallet passes in gift card settings if you want the card to show a balance and QR code on the recipient's phone. With Shopify POS, staff scan that code with a scanner or an iPad camera.
Check the fees note. Shopify says stores created on or after 12 May 2025 are charged third-party transaction fees on order amounts paid by gift card. Look at your plan's terms before launching.
Decide on discounted vouchers. Shopify advises using discount codes or automatic discounts, not the compare-at price field, to run a gift card offer.

Gift cards on Shopify are redeemable only at the store that issued them, and staff can see only the last four characters of a code, which is worth knowing before a customer rings asking you to "look it up".

Square

Square's Irish support centre describes the steps:

In Square Dashboard, go to Items & services (sometimes called Items & menus or Items & inventory) > Gift cards.
Choose eGift Cards > Configure and pick a design or upload your own.
Toggle on Sell eGift Cards in Store to sell them from the POS app as well.
Share your eGift card order page from your website, social profiles and booking confirmation emails. Buyers can send to one person, to several people, or to themselves, and can set up a group gift where others chip in before it's sent.

Square's help page notes that sending eGift cards by text isn't yet available from the POS app; to text one, the buyer uses the online order page. Physical cards are a separate order through the dashboard.

Putting it on your website

However the vouchers are issued, the website needs:

A "Gift vouchers" link in the main navigation from November, not buried in the footer.
A short page with the amounts, how the voucher arrives (email, printable, Wallet), what it can be used for, and how to check a balance.
A clear line on validity. Rules on how long vouchers must stay valid differ by country, so check the rules where you operate before you write your terms.
Delivery-date choice if your tool allows it, so vouchers bought on 20 December can arrive on Christmas morning.

Christmas timing

Set up in October, not December. Test a purchase end to end, including how the email looks on a phone and whether it lands in spam. Add the voucher link to your email footer, booking confirmations and Google Business Profile updates by mid-November. On the last posting days, push digital vouchers as the "still arrives in time" option.

Redemption workflow

This is where voucher schemes go wrong: a busy Saturday, a new staff member, a code that "doesn't work".

At the counter or table

Ask for the voucher at the start (before ordering or the treatment, if possible), not at the end of the bill.
Scan the QR code or type the code into the till. Never just "note it down".
Check the balance shown. If the bill is bigger, take the rest by card or cash; if smaller, tell the guest what's left.
For paper vouchers from an old scheme, check the code against your list and mark it used straight away.

Behind the scenes

Agree who can manually issue a voucher (for a complaint or a raffle) and keep a log of why.
Check outstanding balances monthly so you know what's still owed.
Keep one written page for staff: where to find the gift card option on the till, what to do if a code fails, and who to call.

When a code won't redeem

Check for a typo first: Shopify codes aren't case sensitive, but a 0 and an O look alike. Then check whether the card was issued in another currency or by another system (an old voucher scheme, a sister business). Take the customer's details and sort it out after service rather than holding up the queue.

FAQ

Can customers choose their own amount?

On Shopify's storefront, no: gift card products use set denominations, so offer a sensible range. Other systems and voucher tools differ, so check the amount options in your own dashboard before you design the page.

Can one voucher be used over several visits?

On both Shopify and Square, yes, as long as there's a balance left. Shopify states the balance can be spent across more than one order.

Can I sell vouchers for a specific experience, like afternoon tea for two?

Platform gift cards hold a money value, not an experience. Sell a card for the experience's price and describe it on the page, or use a voucher tool built for experiences.

Do online vouchers work in the shop?

Only if the online and in-store systems are the same or connected. Check that before launching, not on the first redemption.

If you'd like your voucher page, booking system and till joined up before Christmas, tell us what you use at the counter today.