Specifying expiry (or valid-from) dates on gift cards

By allowing your gift cards to expire you will encourage your customers to use the gift cards in a timely fashion. You can also set a valid-from date to state when gift cards can be used from.

You can choose a valid-from policy between:

Valid immediately (the default)
Valid a set number of days after purchase
Valid from a specific date (only applicable on an item)

You can choose an expiry policy between:

Never expiring (the default)
Expiring within a set number of months after purchase
Expiring on a specific date (only applicable on an item)Rules around expiry dates and usage

In certain territories, there are rules governing expiry settings. It is worth understanding the rules before choosing a policy that fits your business and is in adherence with your local rules.

US merchants: Credit CARD Act Requirements for Gift Certificates and Store Gift Cards
Canadian merchants: Prepaid purchase card legislation
European Union merchants: Consumer Protection (Gift Vouchers) Act 2019
UK merchants: What are my rights with gift vouchers and cards?
Australian merchants: Treasury Laws Amendment (Gift Cards) Act 2018

Changing the account default gift card validity

You can change the default on the gift card settings page:

Setting both a valid-from, and an expires-on policy

When applying a valid-from policy and an expiry policy, we'll make sure that the expiry date is calculated based on when the gift card becomes valid.

For example, if you set a valid-from policy of 30 days post-purchase, and a 12-month expiry policy, we'll set a valid-from date 30 days after the gift card is sent to the recipient (usually immediately, but can be in the future), then set an expiry date of 12-months on top of the valid-from date.

Overriding the default for a particular item

By default, all gift cards sold will use the account default validity settings above. If you have a particular item you sell (like a one-off special) and you want to impose a different validity setting for that item only, you can do so by editing the item, expanding the item's advanced settings, and overriding your account default validity settings:

Editing valid-from & expiry dates on issued gift cards

You are also able to edit individual gift cards that have been sold to modify their specific validity dates, for example, to extend an expiration date:

Redeeming expired/not yet valid gift cards

In-store

When redeeming in-store and there is an expiry date on a gift card, by default, it is a softly enforced expiry date. This means you and your staff can still redeem an expired gift card, but they do see a warning message:

If you need to enforce compliance in-store, you can disable the ability to redeem expired/invalid gift cards per-user by editing their profiles in the dashboard:

Online

If you use an integration, like Shopify or WooCommerce (amongst others...) the validity dates are enforced and are non-optional. You can change a gift card's validity date range in the dashboard (see above) and it will be reflected in your integration shortly afterwards.

API

If you use our API, you decide whether to enforce the validity date(s). When you get a gift card via the API, we return the expiry date and the valid-from date, and it is your platform's decision whether to allow the gift card to be redeemed.