Gift cards

Recurly's gift card program lets your customers purchase virtual or physical gift cards for friends and family. Each purchase generates a unique redemption code that recipients can apply as credit toward any of your subscription products — across multiple billing cycles until the balance is used up.

Not included in Starter or Pro — contact Recurly Sales to upgrade

1Definition 2Key benefits 3Building your gift card product 4Locating a gift card 5Purchasing a gift card 6Redeeming a gift card 7Canceling a gift card 8Modifying a gift card product 9Refunding a gift card purchase 10Delivery issues 11Hosted pages 12Multicurrency support 13Third-party gift cards 14Additional details

Definition

Recurly's gift card program lets you offer virtual or physical gift cards to your customers. When a gifter purchases a card, Recurly generates a unique redemption code tied to their account. Once the recipient redeems the code, a credit for the full purchase amount is applied to their account and can be used across multiple subscriptions, invoices, and billing cycles until the balance is depleted.

Key benefits

Customer acquisition Gift cards act as a marketing tool, driving new customers to your business through recipients who may not have discovered you otherwise.

Increased revenue Recipients often spend beyond the card's face value, making gift cards a reliable driver of incremental revenue.

Brand exposure Every gift card puts your brand in front of a new potential customer — the recipient — who might not have found you on their own.

Customer retention Use gift cards as rewards or incentives to deepen loyalty with existing customers and keep them engaged with your products.

Building your gift card product

Before setting up your gift card program, consult with a legal and financial advisor. Gift card programs are subject to federal and state regulations — including rules around expiration dates, dormant account fees, cash payouts, and escheatment. Recurly can help you configure a gift card program, but it doesn't manage your compliance requirements.

You should also consider how you'll account for unused card balances in relation to revenue recognition. Keep in mind that gift card sales can heighten fraud risk, since cards are sometimes purchased with stolen credit card numbers and resold. Review your fraud management tools and processes before launching.

Fraud risk Gift cards are a common fraud vector — often bought with stolen credit card numbers and resold. Recurly recommends reviewing your fraud management tools, enabling the Kount integration, and requiring additional address verification for billing before launching a gift card program.

Steps to build your gift card product

Navigate to gift card settings

Go to Configuration → Gift Cards Settings and select Get Started.

Add gift card amounts

Enter the desired amount and click Add. Align amounts with your subscription plans and tiers — consider using higher amounts to cover potential taxes and encourage customers to purchase more. You can add multiple amounts; to remove one, hover over the row and click Remove. Merchants with multicurrency support can select the currency for each amount.

Set display name and product code

Enter a Display Name for the gift card — this appears on the purchase charge and redemption credit line items. Then enter a Product Code (the product SKU).

Add an accounting code

Enter an Accounting Code to serve as the general ledger for gift card purchase charges and redemption credit accounting.

Upload a design image

Click Choose File and select an image from your computer. This image appears in the Gift Card Delivery email template. Remove any private data from images before uploading — Recurly does not strip Exif data.

Save your gift card product

Click Create Gift Card or Save Changes. Once created, you can access the gift card product details at any time from the Gift Cards page.

Locating a gift card

There are three ways to locate a gift card:

Gift Cards Dashboard — Navigate to Customers → Gift Cards and search by redemption code, gifter name, or recipient name.
Invoices Dashboard — Search using the purchase invoice number.
Customer account — Navigate directly to the gifter's account.

Navigating free trials and gift card scenarios

Recurly requires billing information for free trial sign-ups, with one exception: when the subscription starts with a gift card. Since most free trial invoices are $0 before credits (unless a setup fee applies), the system distinguishes whether a subscription began with a gift to decide whether to bypass billing information collection.

If you do collect billing information during free trial sign-ups and the first invoice is paid with a gift card credit, Recurly logs this as a gift-initiated subscription — enabling accurate tracking going forward.

Purchasing a gift card

Once your gift card product is created, customers (gifters) can purchase cards for friends and family (recipients). Recurly generates a unique redemption code for each purchase, initially tied to the gifter's account and linked to the recipient's account upon redemption.

A gift card can be purchased by a new or existing customer. If the gifter is new, Recurly creates an account for them at the time of purchase containing the invoice, billing information, and transaction details.

Delivery methods

Email delivery — Recurly automatically sends the recipient a Gift Card Delivery email with the redemption code and gift card details. You can disable automatic sending and use your own email instead.

Post delivery — For businesses offering physical gift cards, Recurly generates the redemption code and collects shipping details. Your team is responsible for printing the code on a physical card and delivering it.

Purchase options

Future send date

Gifters can schedule a future delivery date for the Gift Card Delivery email. The date must be at least one hour in the future and no more than one year from the purchase date.

Personal message

Recurly provides two message fields: a personal message (up to 255 characters) from the gifter to the recipient, and an optional gifter name field to collect a signature name.

Taxes and discounts

Gift card purchases are not taxed — they're treated as payment for future purchases — but the purchase is still sent to your tax partner. To bypass your tax service provider entirely, set the tax_service_opt_out field via the API. Discounts on gift card purchases are not currently supported.

Fraud prevention

Recurly does not permit purchasing a gift card with gift card credit. Additional fraud prevention — such as the Kount integration and requiring billing address verification — is strongly recommended.

Purchase confirmation

After a successful purchase, the gifter receives a Gift Card Purchase Confirmation email with details including the amount, personal message, and purchase invoice.

Redeeming a gift card

A gift card can be redeemed during subscription sign-up or directly on an existing account. Once redeemed, the recipient's account is linked to the gift card in Recurly, and a credit for the full purchase amount is created. That credit is available across multiple subscriptions, invoices, and billing cycles until the balance is depleted.

Redemption details

Redemption code

Each gift card has a unique alphanumeric redemption code (not case-sensitive) generated at the time of purchase. If the recipient has difficulty redeeming, you can regenerate the code — see Regenerating a redemption code below.

Taxes

Gift card credits are applied after tax calculation. If you're collecting taxes and the redeemer doesn't have a payment method on file, make sure you've stored a taxable billing address on their account.

Discounts

Gift card credits can be used on invoices with coupon discounts. Discounts are applied first, then the gift card credit. If the invoice total reaches $0 after discounts, any remaining gift card credit stays on the account for future use.

Credit balance

Recurly tracks the credit balance once a gift card is redeemed. You can view it via the Recurly API, the Gift Cards export, or the customer's account page in the Admin Console.

Billing information

You can choose whether to require billing information from gift card redeemers at subscription sign-up. By default, Recurly requires it for all sign-ups — but you can change this on the Gift Cards page under Configuration.

Hosted pages and tax collection If you're using Recurly's Checkout or Hosted Pages and collecting taxes, billing information is required regardless of your gift card configuration. Billing addresses are needed to calculate tax rates accurately.

For free trial sign-ups, billing information is required unless the subscription started with a gift. When a gift card redeemer starts a free trial, the subscription converts to paid after the trial ends. You can track that transition and prompt customers to add billing information before renewal.

Canceling a gift card

Canceling a gift card inactivates its redemption code, preventing any future redemptions. This action cannot be reversed — a canceled card cannot be reactivated.

Cancel a gift card when you encounter a fraudulent purchase or need to process a refund. A gift card can only be canceled if it has not yet been redeemed. For refunds, Recurly will automatically cancel the card when you refund the invoice directly (feature under development). For chargebacks, cancel the card manually — and do not issue a refund through Recurly, since the funds will have already been returned outside Recurly's system.

Upon successful cancellation, Recurly logs an activity on the gifter's account and issues a canceled_gift_card_notification webhook.

How to cancel a gift card

Locate the gift card

Go to the gifter's account and find the Gift Card Purchases table. Click the link to the specific gift card.

Cancel the gift card

On the Gift Card Details page, click Cancel Gift Card (the red button in the top right corner), then confirm the action in the popup.

Modifying a gift card product

To modify your gift card product, navigate to Configuration → Gift Cards Settings and select Edit Gift Card. Changes take effect immediately. New purchases will use the updated version; existing purchases respect the original purchase amount.

Refunding a gift card purchase

Partial refunds not recommended Refunding partially — or after the card has been redeemed — disrupts the balance between gift card charges and credits, affecting accounting accuracy. The recommended process is to block the credit first, then issue a full refund.

The recommended approach is to prevent the associated credit from being used, then process a full refund to the gifter. Recurly does not automate this process.

When the gift card has not been redeemed

Cancel the gift card

Canceling the card prevents it from being redeemed. See Canceling a gift card above.

Refund the purchase invoice

Issue a full refund on the purchase invoice. You can locate this invoice on the Gift Card Details page.

When the gift card has been redeemed

Delete the remaining credit

Find any remaining gift card credit on the recipient's account and delete it.

Issue a refund on the purchase invoice

Refund the purchase invoice for the amount equal to the deleted credit — either the full amount or the remaining balance.

Manual tracking required Refunding after redemption does not decrease the gift card balance in Recurly. You'll need to manually track that the card has been refunded.

Refunds for subscription purchases paid with gift card credit

When a subscription purchase paid with gift card credit is refunded, the credit is returned to the customer's account as general credit — preserving the value for the customer even after the refund.

Delivery issues

Recurly provides Admin Console tools for managing delivery issues. Customer service reps can edit delivery information, regenerate the redemption code, and resend the Gift Card Delivery email — all available as long as the gift card hasn't been redeemed.

To locate a gift card, use the Gift Cards index page under Customers (search by redemption code, gifter, or recipient), or navigate to the gifter's account and find the Gift Card Purchases table.

Each gift card has its own Gift Card Details page that links to both the gifter and recipient accounts and shows the current redemption status.

Edit delivery information

If the gifter provided incorrect delivery information, you can edit it in the Admin Console before resending the gift card. Editable fields include:

First Name, Last Name, Email Address, Gifter Name, Personal Message
Send Date
Street Address, Address 2, City, State, Zip, Country, Phone Number

Email address changes — The new address will be used when resending the Gift Card Delivery email.

Physical address changes — Your team (or fulfillment partner) is responsible for physically sending a new card to the corrected address if the card hasn't been dispatched yet. Recurly issues an updated_gift_card_notification webhook when delivery information changes.

Send date changes — The future send date can only be edited if the send day hasn't passed. Select a new date up to one year from the purchase date, and choose an hour-window send time. Both date and time are in your user profile's timezone.

Regenerating a redemption code

If a redemption code was delivered to the wrong person, you can regenerate it. This invalidates the original code immediately and generates a new one — only the new code can be redeemed.

Navigate to the Gift Card Details page and click Regenerate Redemption Code. Recurly generates the new code automatically and issues an updated_gift_card_notification webhook. You can then provide the new code directly to the recipient or resend the Gift Card Delivery email.

Resend the Gift Card Delivery email

You can resend the Gift Card Delivery email to the recipient — useful after editing delivery information, regenerating the code, or if the original email wasn't received. The Resend Email button appears on the Gift Card Details page when the gift card hasn't been redeemed and the send date is not in the future. Recurly issues a resend_gift_card_email_notification webhook when this action is taken.

Hosted pages

Gift Card Hosted Payment Page configurations — Hosted page settings let you control your hosted gift card purchase page. Three payment form fields don't apply to gift card purchases: Editable Quantities, Coupon Codes, and Gift Card Code. Customers can only purchase one gift card at a time, and coupon or gift card redemption isn't permitted at purchase.

Gift Card Hosted Payment Page — Customers can buy a gift card through Recurly's Hosted Payment Pages using email as the delivery method. Coupon and gift card redemption is not permitted during purchase.

Gift card redemption on Plan Checkout and Hosted Payment Page — You can allow gift card redemption on both the Plan Checkout and Hosted Payment Pages. Even if you don't require billing information for redemption, billing information fields will still appear on the gift card purchase page.

Hosted Account Management — Customers can redeem a gift card through Hosted Account Management. Gift card purchase history appears in invoice history.

Multicurrency support

Recurly's gift cards support multiple currencies. If you're using the Multicurrency feature, define a list of preset gift card amounts for each currency on the gift card product settings page. Each currency can have a different number of amounts — you don't need to define amounts for every supported currency.

Currency matching required A gift card can only be redeemed on a subscription that uses the same currency as the purchase amount.

Third-party gift cards

It's possible to use a third-party system — such as InComm — to generate and sell gift cards, then redeem the corresponding credit in Recurly to apply it to a subscription purchase. This approach enables selling physical gift cards at retail locations like Walmart and Best Buy.

Purchasing with a third party

When using a third party like InComm, the purchase event occurs outside of Recurly. Recurly's custom adjustments can record the purchase, but won't create a gift card object in Recurly — you'll only see the invoice and adjustment.

Redeeming with a third party

Once a third-party gift card is validated and redeemed in the external system, create a corresponding credit in Recurly for the same amount, marked with an origin of external_gift_card. This allows you to bypass the billing information requirement for gift subscription sign-ups when nothing is due. This can currently only be done via the Adjustments API.

To apply the credit to a subscription sign-up, create the credit before creating the subscription. This requires separate API calls to create the account, the credit, and then the subscription.

If you don't want to require billing information from customers redeeming a third-party gift card when nothing is due at sign-up, update the Require Billing Information? setting on the Gift Card Settings page under Configuration.

Gift card balance

To display a customer's gift card balance, use the API to check their account for uninvoiced external_gift_card credits and sum the amounts. Use the List Account's Adjustments API call, filtering for external_gift_card origin and pending status, then sum unit_amount_in_cents.

Your finance team can track unused balances by identifying all adjustments with a status of pending and external_gift_card origin in the Invoices – Line Items export.

Using Recurly alongside a third-party vendor

If you want to use both Recurly for online purchases and a third-party vendor for physical cards, ensure your redemption code lengths are different to avoid duplicates. For example, if InComm codes are 16–19 characters and Recurly codes default to 16, you could adjust Recurly's code length to 15 or 20.

To change your Recurly gift card redemption code length, contact [email protected] with your desired length and the Recurly site subdomain.

Additional details

Tracking gift-initiated subscriptions

Recurly records when a subscription starts via a gift card, allowing you to track when billing information isn't needed and produce more accurate reporting. A subscription is identified as gift-initiated when the first invoice was paid using one or more gift card credits, or when a redemption code was applied during sign-up. This data will be available in the Subscriptions export.

Transitioning from gift to paid subscriptions

Recurly records the transition from a gift-initiated subscription to a regular, paying subscription when the first successful payment transaction occurs. For customers who don't supply billing information at sign-up, encourage them to add it before renewal to prevent service disruptions. For subscription upgrades, Recurly uses the billing information on file to cover the upgrade cost.

Recurly.js integration

Recurly.js supports gift card purchase and redemption flows. The redemption process uses Recurly.js Pricing to preview a gift card credit applied to a new subscription before checkout — giving customers a transparent view of what they owe.

Email notifications

Recurly's gift card system supports four email notifications:

Gift Card Purchase Confirmation — sent to the gifter after a successful purchase
Gift Card Delivery — sent to the recipient with the redemption code
Gift Card Balance Low — alerts when the recipient's balance is running low
Gift Card Redemption Reminder — reminds the recipient to redeem their card

Webhooks and API

Recurly's gift cards support six webhook notification events, letting you customize customer interactions. Gift cards can also be purchased and redeemed programmatically via the Recurly API.

Exports

Recurly offers a Gift Cards export and adds gift card data to existing exports. Use it to analyze gift card usage, popular amounts, redemption rates, and more.