How to Check Shopify Gift Card Balance (Sellers & Buyers Guide 2025)
Many store owners and shoppers search for Shopify gift card check balance because they need a quick way to confirm how much is left on a card. For merchants, it means fewer support requests and smoother sales. For customers, it means knowing exactly what they can spend before heading to checkout.
In this guide, you’ll discover:
- What a Shopify gift card balance is and why it matters
- How sellers can check and manage balances in Shopify Admin or POS
- How buyers can check their balance online, through email, or in-store
- The top Shopify apps for gift card management
- Best practices to make balance checking effortless and transparent
Let’s dive in.
Understanding Shopify Gift Card Balances
Gift cards can be a simple way to boost sales and keep customers coming back, but only if people clearly understand how their balance works. As a merchant, you need to know what the “balance” means, why it matters, and how Shopify gift cards function behind the scenes.
What is a Shopify gift card balance?
The gift card balance is the amount of money left on a customer’s card after they use it. For example, if someone receives a $50 Shopify gift card from your store and spends $20, the balance drops to $30. They can keep using it on future orders until it’s empty.
Why does it matter for your store?
A smooth balance experience builds trust. If customers can easily see what’s left on their card, they’re more likely to return and spend the rest. On the other hand, if they can’t find their balance, you’ll often get questions like “Can you tell me how much is left on my card?”, which means extra support work for you.
For example, a fashion boutique using Shopify enabled a “Check Balance” page on their site. Customers could enter their code anytime and see the remaining funds. This reduced balance-related support emails by 40%.
How do Shopify gift cards work?
Shopify gift cards are store-specific. This means a card purchased from your store can only be used with you, not across all Shopify-powered shops. Customers receive a unique code (and sometimes a QR code for in-store use).
When they enter that code at checkout:
- If the balance covers the full order, the purchase goes through.
- If it doesn’t, they can pay the difference with another method (credit card, PayPal, or even another gift card).
Let’s say a customer has $15 left on their gift card but wants to buy a $25 product. At checkout, Shopify applies the $15 balance, and the customer pays the remaining $10 with their card.
How to Check Shopify Gift Card Balance for Sellers
As a merchant, you’ll often need to confirm a customer’s gift card balance or review card details yourself. Shopify makes this easy from within the Admin dashboard and through the POS app. Here’s how:
Step 1. Access gift cards in Shopify admin
Log in to your Shopify Admin. From the left sidebar, go to Products (1) > Gift Cards (2). This is the central page where all issued gift cards are listed.
Step 2. Find and manage gift cards
Use the search bar or filters to locate the specific card. You can search by the customer’s name, email, or the last four characters of the gift card code.
Step 3. View card details
Click on the gift card entry. Here you’ll see the initial balance, current balance, expiration date (if set), and transaction history. Example: a $100 gift card that has been partially used will show “Balance: $45 remaining.”
Step 4. Manage gift cards (refund, resend, or deactivate)
From this detail page, you can:
- Refund purchases back to the gift card.
- Resend the card to the customer if they lose the email.
- Deactivate the card if needed.
💡 Tip: Checking balances with Shopify POS
If you also use Shopify POS, you can scan the gift card QR code with your device’s camera or barcode scanner.
The balance and transaction history appear instantly on-screen which is useful for in-store customers who want to confirm their remaining funds.
How Buyers Can Check Their Gift Card Balance
Customers want an easy way to see how much money they have left on their gift cards.
Depending on how your store is set up, they can check their balance in several ways:
1. Through the gift card email
Every Shopify gift card is delivered with an email that includes a unique code or QR code. Customers can click the link in that email to view their balance.
2. On the Store’s balance page
If you enable a gift card balance page on your store, customers can enter their code online and instantly see how much is left. This is the most convenient option because it puts the control in the customer’s hands.
3. In-store with Shopify POS
For physical locations, customers can ask your staff to scan their gift card QR code in Shopify POS. The current balance will appear on-screen, along with recent activity.
4. Apple wallet (optional)
If enabled, customers can add their gift card to Apple Wallet. This lets them quickly check their remaining balance right from their iPhone.
Need a smoother gift card setup?
At LitOS, we help Shopify merchants customize and optimize gift card features – from creating branded balance checker pages to automating expiry reminders. If you want to make gift cards a stronger driver of sales and loyalty, get in touch with our Shopify development team.
5 Best Apps and Tools for Shopify Gift Card Check Balance
The Shopify App Store has dozens of gift card apps, but not all of them are created equal. To make your choice easier, we’ve selected five apps that are Built for Shopify (Shopify’s quality badge) and all offer a free plan or free trial. That means you can test them out risk-free, explore balance-check features, and see which one fits your store before committing.
1. Vify: Professional Gift Cards
Pricing: Free plan available; paid plans start at ~$9.99/month.
Who it’s for: Merchants who want to design branded gift cards with more flexibility than Shopify’s default system.
Why we recommend it:
In our review, the balance checking option was one of the strongest. Customers get a dedicated page to see their remaining funds, which reduces support questions. Merchants can also adjust balances quickly, whether that means adding credit, issuing a refund, or correcting an amount.
Other features that stood out include:
- Customers can choose a custom value for their gift card at checkout.
- Expiry reminders help encourage redemption before the card runs out.
- Automatic multi-language support ensures the gift card email matches the customer’s preferred language.
Vify is reliable, easy to set up, and flexible enough for both small stores and larger campaigns.
2. Givy – Gift Cards & Gifts
Pricing: Free to install; premium features start around $14/month.
Who it’s for: Stores that want to make gift cards feel more personal and interactive for customers.
Why we recommend it:
Givy makes gifting flexible. You can enable gifting on products, subscriptions, or memberships, and customers can add personal touches like messages, GIFs, gift wrapping, and scheduled delivery. This makes it especially useful for lifestyle brands and stores where gifting is part of the buying journey.
In our review, these features stood out most:
- Customers can set their own amounts when buying a gift card.
- Bulk gift cards can be created for loyalty campaigns, corporate gifting, or influencer seeding.
- The app supports true multi-currency and multi-language use so that customers can gift in their own language and local currency.
- Works smoothly with subscription and membership apps for recurring gifting.
Givy is best if you want a complete gifting solution that covers digital gift cards, physical gift cards, and even product-based gifts in one place.
3. BOGOS: Free Gift Bundle Upsell
Pricing: Free plan; advanced features from $29.99/month.
Who it’s for: Merchants who use promotions and bundles to drive sales and encourage customers to redeem gift cards.
Why we recommend it:
BOGOS is not a traditional gift card app, but it works perfectly alongside gift cards to encourage customers to redeem their balances. You can set up Buy One Get One (BOGO), Buy X Get Y, or free gifts with purchase. It also supports bundles, mix-and-match discounts, and checkout upsells.
From our review, these features are most useful:
- Auto add to cart and gift sliders that make rewards feel seamless.
- A customizable interface so promotions match your store design.
- Advanced targeting options by URL, location, order history, or customer tag.
- Real-time analytics to track performance and optimize offers.
- Smooth integration with Shopify POS and even Hydrogen storefronts.
We recommend BOGOS if you want to tie gift card usage to promotions and boost conversions. It turns balance redemption into a way to upsell and grow revenue.
4. GV: Gift Cards & Store Credit
Pricing: Free plan.
Who it’s for: Merchants looking for more flexibility in offering both gift cards and store credit as part of loyalty or retention strategies.
Why we recommend it:
GV combines gift cards with store credit, making it one of the most flexible options in this list. You can create branded digital gift cards using custom visuals or ready-made templates, and even let customers schedule delivery for birthdays, holidays, or special occasions.
In our review, these features stood out:
- Store credit that can be issued as refunds, exchanges, or loyalty rewards without transaction fees.
- Expiration and balance reminder emails to drive repeat purchases.
- Fully customizable gift card and email designs to match your branding.
- The option for customers to add video messages for a personal touch.
GV is best for merchants who want to use gift cards not only for gifting, but also as a powerful tool for loyalty and retention.
5. Gift Card Factory
Pricing: Paid plans start from ~$19.99/month.
Who it’s for: Larger stores, campaigns, or B2B sellers that need to issue many gift cards at once.
Why we recommend it: Gift Card Factory focuses on efficiency and scale. It allows you to autogenerate thousands of gift cards in just a few clicks, update balances or expiry dates, and even import gift cards from other systems so customers can keep using them on your Shopify store.
In our review, these features were most valuable:
- Bulk creation and delivery of gift cards to save time during campaigns or sales events.
- Gift Card Postman extension, which lets customers schedule gift card delivery directly from the product page.
- The ability to import existing gift cards from other platforms for a smoother migration.
- Easy refunds issued directly to gift cards.
- Options to reward customers with free gift cards for orders above a certain value.
We recommend Gift Card Factory if you run large-scale promotions, manage B2B or corporate gifting, or need a reliable way to migrate gift cards from another system into Shopify.
Each of these apps integrates seamlessly with Shopify, but the right choice depends on your priorities.
- If you want beautiful, branded gift cards, go with Vify or Givy.
- If your focus is loyalty and store credit, GV is a strong option.
- For bulk promotions or corporate gifting, Gift Card Factory is your best bet.
- And if you want to encourage customers to spend balances faster through promotions, BOGOS pairs perfectly with gift cards.
No matter which you choose, starting with a free plan or trial lets you test balance-check features without risk.
Best Practices for Managing Gift Card Balances
At LitOS, we’ve helped Shopify merchants build and optimize gift card systems that reduce support questions and drive repeat sales. For example, in our Edition Colibri project, we developed a seamless gifting and balance system that improved both the customer experience and back-end management for the merchant.
Here are the practices we apply hands-on when building gift card systems:
1. Make balance checking effortless
We often see customers drop off when they can’t find their remaining balance. Setting up a dedicated “Check Balance” page or adding a balance checker app keeps customers in control and lowers your support workload.
2. Set the right expectations early
Many customers assume Shopify gift cards work across all stores. We help merchants add clear store-only messaging in product pages and email templates so buyers understand exactly where their card can be redeemed.
3. Combine gift cards with promotions
Some of the most successful campaigns we’ve built combine gift card redemption with upsell offers. For example, letting customers apply a gift card alongside bundle discounts or BOGO promotions makes them more likely to spend the full balance and add extra items.
4. Audit and re-engage
Unused balances are lost revenue. Merchants we work with often gain quick wins by auditing their gift card list, identifying cards close to expiry, and sending automated reminders. Pairing those reminders with a small incentive (like free shipping) can recover dormant balances.
Shopify Gift Card Check Balance FAQs
How can I check a Shopify gift card balance?
Merchants can view balances in Shopify Admin > Products > Gift Cards by opening the specific card. Customers can check by clicking the link in their original gift card email, using a store’s balance page if available, or asking staff to scan the QR code in Shopify POS.
How do I check my balance on Shopify?
As a customer, the simplest way is to use the gift card email link. If the store has enabled an online balance page, you can also enter your code there. In physical stores, staff can scan your card through Shopify POS to instantly show the remaining amount.
How do I check my any card gift card balance?
Shopify gift cards are store-specific. That means you can only check the balance with the store that issued it, not through a central Shopify system. For non-Shopify gift cards (like Amazon or Visa), you’ll need to visit the brand’s own balance checker.
How does a Shopify gift card work?
A Shopify gift card comes with a unique code or QR code. At checkout, the card’s value is applied to the order total. If the balance covers the full amount, the order is completed. If the balance is less, the customer pays the difference with another method. The balance automatically updates until it reaches zero.
Final Words
Shopify gift cards are a simple yet powerful way to increase sales, build loyalty, and bring customers back. The key is making it easy for both merchants and buyers to check balances, manage cards, and redeem them without friction.
By following best practices, like enabling balance checkers, setting clear rules, and automating reminders, you can turn gift cards into a reliable growth channel instead of a support headache.
And now, let’s unlock the power of gift cards in your store!
At LitOS, we build custom Shopify solutions that make gift cards simple and effective. From balance checker pages to automated reminders, we help you boost loyalty and repeat sales.
TALK TO EXPERTS