WooCommerce gift cards let customers buy a voucher on your website, send it to someone by email and have it redeemed against a future order. The simplest route is the official Gift Cards for WooCommerce extension, which creates a unique code for each card and lets customers pay with it at checkout. Before you switch it on for Christmas, though, you need to decide how expiry, VAT and redemption in a physical shop or venue will work, because those choices are much harder to change once vouchers are in circulation.
Key takeaways
- The official Gift Cards for WooCommerce extension sells digital, prepaid cards that are redeemed online, with scheduled delivery, account balances and per-card expiry.
- It is digital only; printable or posted vouchers need a different product or a custom build.
- For VAT, HMRC splits vouchers into single-purpose (VAT due when sold) and multi-purpose (VAT due when redeemed), so check which yours are with your accountant.
- If customers will redeem vouchers in a shop, salon or restaurant, you need a way for staff to check and deduct balances against the same records as the website.
- Set your rules for expiry, refunds and lost codes before launch and state them on the voucher page.
Why sell gift vouchers online at all?
A voucher is the gift people buy when they do not know what to buy. For a restaurant, a salon, a garden centre or an independent shop, that makes vouchers a natural Christmas line: there is no stock to pick, no parcel to post and, with a digital gift voucher, no last posting date to worry about. Someone can buy one late on Christmas Eve and still have something to give.
Selling them on your website rather than over the counter also means you reach people who live elsewhere, such as family members buying for someone local to you. And because a voucher is redeemed later, the recipient has a reason to come back to you after the holidays.
The catch is that a voucher is a promise. Once you have taken the money, you have to honour the code reliably, track what is left on it and treat the money correctly in your accounts. That is why the setup matters more than the design of the email.
How the official WooCommerce Gift Cards extension works
The Gift Cards for WooCommerce extension is sold by WooCommerce itself. Its product page describes prepaid, multi-purpose digital gift cards that customers redeem online. The main features listed are:
- Unique codes: each gift card order generates a code of the same value, emailed to the recipient once the order is complete.
- Scheduled delivery: the buyer can choose a future delivery date, so a card can arrive on Christmas morning.
- Balances in the account: logged-in customers can add a card to their account, see their balance and use it on later orders. Others can type the code at checkout, like a coupon.
- Expiry: you can set an expiry per gift card, counted from the delivery date.
- Product types: simple and variable gift cards, so you can offer fixed amounts such as £25, £50 and £100 as variations.
- Admin tools: transaction logs, balance reports for issued, used and expired amounts, and CSV import and export.
The product page listed the extension at €72 for a one-year plan when we checked in November 2026, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Check the current price before you buy.
Two limits are worth knowing. First, the extension is digital only; the product page points people who want printable or physical vouchers to a separate product. Second, emails are sent using WooCommerce's background processing. Test a scheduled card on your live site before you advertise it.
Gift card plugin or custom build: which do you need?
Most online shops that sell physical products and only redeem vouchers on the website will be well served by an off-the-shelf gift card plugin. Where it starts to strain is when the voucher has to work somewhere other than your checkout.
| Situation | Off-the-shelf plugin | Custom work |
|---|---|---|
| Online shop, vouchers spent online only | Usually enough | Rarely needed |
| Printed or posted vouchers as well as email | Needs a second product or workaround | One system for both formats |
| Restaurant, salon or venue redeeming at the till | Usually means staff using the WordPress admin | Simple staff redemption screen |
| Experience vouchers (a meal for two, a treatment) rather than money | Sold as a money value, not a specific service | Voucher tied to a specific service |
| Link to an EPOS or booking system | Depends on available integrations | Built to match your systems |
Our article on custom WooCommerce plugins covers how we decide when a bespoke extension makes more sense than stacking several plugins together.
Redeeming vouchers in store and online
This is the question to settle before anything else. If you run a restaurant, a salon or any venue, many of your vouchers will be spent in person. A member of staff needs to check a code is real, see the balance and deduct what was spent, and the website needs to know that has happened so the same code cannot be spent twice online.
There are three common approaches:
- Staff use the WordPress admin. A trusted staff member logs in, finds the code and records the redemption. It works, but it gives staff access to more of your site than they need, and it is slow at a busy till.
- A dedicated redemption screen. A simple, mobile-friendly page behind a staff login that does one thing: enter or scan a code, see the balance, deduct an amount. This is a custom build and is what we would recommend for most venues.
- Connect to your till or booking system. If your EPOS or booking software can accept external vouchers, codes can be checked against one shared record. This depends entirely on what your existing system allows, so find out before you plan around it.
Whatever you choose, keep one source of truth for balances. Two separate lists, one on the website and one on paper by the till, is how vouchers end up spent twice. Clinics face the same question; see our clinic website design guide for treatment-led sites. For hospitality businesses, our guide to restaurant website design covers how vouchers fit alongside bookings and menus.
VAT on gift vouchers: single-purpose or multi-purpose?
VAT on vouchers is a real trap, and it is worth getting right before you sell your first card. HMRC's VAT information sheet 09/18 on face-value vouchers explains the rules that apply to vouchers issued from 1 January 2019. In summary:
- Single-purpose voucher: when you issue it, you already know where the goods or services will be supplied and that they carry one VAT liability. VAT is accounted for when the voucher is sold.
- Multi-purpose voucher: anything that is not single-purpose. No VAT is due when it is sold; VAT is accounted for when it is redeemed.
Which one applies depends on what your voucher can be spent on. A business that sells items with different VAT rates may be in a different position from one where everything is standard-rated. This is a question for your accountant, not your web developer, but your developer needs the answer so that orders, reports and exports to your accounting software record voucher sales correctly. Ask before Christmas, not after.
Setting up gift vouchers online: a pre-Christmas checklist
- Decide the values. Fixed amounts are simpler for buyers and staff. A custom amount option is useful but adds checks.
- Set an expiry policy. Decide how long a voucher lasts, then set it in the plugin and state it clearly on the product page and in the email.
- Agree the VAT treatment with your accountant and check how voucher sales appear in your reports.
- Write the terms. Can a voucher be exchanged for cash? What happens if a code is lost? Can it be used on sale items or with discount codes?
- Test delivery. Buy a card, schedule another for a future date and confirm both emails arrive and are not in spam.
- Test redemption online and, if relevant, at the till, including a partial spend that leaves a balance.
- Brief your staff on how to check a code and what to say if one does not work.
- Promote it. Put vouchers in your header, on the homepage and in your Christmas emails, and point to them as the answer for late gift buyers.
After Christmas: keeping voucher sales going
A digital gift voucher is not just a December product. Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day and birthdays are further gifting occasions. Once the setup is in place, the effort of promoting vouchers again is small.
Use the balance reports to keep an eye on what is outstanding. Ask your accountant how unredeemed balances should be treated in your accounts. The expired amounts report helps here, as long as your expiry policy is clear and applied consistently.
It is also worth reviewing which values sold best and whether people tend to spend more than the voucher value when they redeem. That tells you whether to add higher denominations or package vouchers as experiences.
Frequently asked questions
Can I sell gift vouchers without a plugin in WooCommerce?
You need something to do the voucher work. The official Gift Cards extension creates a unique code for each card bought, emails it to the recipient, stores balances and keeps transaction logs. Without an extension or a custom plugin, someone would have to create, send and track every code by hand, which does not scale at Christmas.
Can customers spend part of a gift card and keep the rest?
With the official Gift Cards for WooCommerce extension, yes. Logged-in customers can store a card in their account, see their balance and use it across several orders, and the extension keeps transaction logs. If you also redeem in person, make sure staff deductions are recorded in the same system so the online balance stays correct.
Can I sell printable gift vouchers that people post in a card?
The official Gift Cards extension is digital only, and its product page refers people who want printable vouchers to a separate product. If you want both a printed design and an emailed code from one system, we can build a custom plugin that handles both.
When does a gift voucher get counted as a sale for VAT?
It depends on whether it is a single-purpose or multi-purpose voucher under HMRC's rules. VAT on a single-purpose voucher is accounted for when it is sold; VAT on a multi-purpose voucher is accounted for when it is redeemed. Your accountant should confirm which applies before you start selling.
How do I stop the same voucher being used twice?
Keep one record of every code and its balance, and make every redemption, online or in person, update that record straight away. A common risk is staff keeping a separate list at the till. A simple staff redemption screen connected to your website solves this for most venues.
Get your vouchers ready before the Christmas rush
If you only sell online, install a tested gift card plugin, set your values, expiry and terms, and run a few test orders this week. If vouchers will be spent at a till, a table or a treatment room, plan the redemption side first. We build custom WooCommerce plugins for gift vouchers, staff redemption screens and system integrations. Start a project or contact us.
