Bulk Operations

Bulk operations let you create and distribute large numbers of gift cards in one job — without issuing them one at a time.

Three types of bulk jobs

Job type	What it does	Best for
Generate	Creates codes with a set balance, no recipient	Export to CSV, physical card programs, internal use
Send	Creates codes and emails each one to a recipient	Corporate gifting, loyalty rewards, promotions
Update	Adjusts the balance on a set of existing cards	Adding bonus credit, correcting balances

Bulk Generate

Use this to create a batch of gift card codes that you'll distribute yourself (e.g., export and print, add to packaging, hand to a partner).

Settings

Field	Description
Quantity	Number of cards to generate (up to 10,000 per job)
Amount per card	Fixed balance loaded on each card
Currency	Currency the cards are issued in. Only shown when your Shopify Markets enable more than one — see Cards in other currencies
Expiry	Optional expiry date
Gift card type	Which design/settings template to use
Gift cards images	Artwork the generated cards are shown with
Export format	CSV with code, balance, expiry, and status

Generate without import

Use the Generate without import option for physical printed cards. This generates codes without activating them in Shopify — codes remain inactive until sold. Configure a prefix (up to 4 characters) and code length (8-16 characters).

After generation

When the job completes, you can download a CSV with all generated codes and their details. The codes are also live in Shopify as active gift cards (unless you used "Generate without import").

Bulk Send

Use this to send gift cards to a list of named recipients. Each person gets their own card and a personalized email.

Preparing your recipient list

Upload a CSV with the following columns:

Column	Required	Description
initial_value	Yes	Amount the card is issued with
currency_code	Optional	Three-letter currency code, e.g. EUR. Leave empty for your store currency — see Cards in other currencies
email	Yes	Recipient's email address
name	Optional	Recipient name, used in email greeting
message	Optional	Per-recipient personal message
expires_on	Optional	Expiry date in YYYY-MM-DD format
image	Optional	https:// link to the artwork for this card — see Custom artwork per card

Example CSV:

initial_value,currency_code,email,name,message,expires_on
50,,jane@example.com,Jane Smith,Thank you for your loyalty!,2027-03-15
100,EUR,bob@example.com,Bob Jones,Happy birthday Bob!,

Settings

• Default amount — used for rows that don't specify an amount
• Gift card type — design and settings template
• Sender name — shown in the email as "A gift from..."
• Default message — used when a row doesn't have a message column
• Schedule — send all at once or spread over time (e.g., 500/hour to avoid email throttling)

Sending throttle

For large lists (1,000+), GiftCard Hero spreads the sends over time to avoid hitting Shopify's email rate limits. You can set the rate in the advanced options.

Bulk Update

Adjust balances on a set of existing cards. Use cases:

• Add $10 bonus credit to all cards issued in a specific month
• Zero out cards that are past expiry
• Correct an incorrect balance after a system issue

Upload a CSV with the following columns:

Column	Required	Description
code	Yes	The gift card code to update
new_balance	Optional	New balance value. Use + or - prefix for relative adjustments (e.g., +10.00 adds $10, -5.00 subtracts $5)
disabled	Optional	Set to TRUE to disable the card (irreversible)
recipient_email	Optional	Update the recipient email
customer_email	Optional	Update the customer email
notify_customer	Optional	Send notification to customer
notify_recipient	Optional	Send notification to recipient
image	Optional	https:// link to new artwork — re-skins a card that already exists
currency_code	Optional	A check, not a change: the row fails if the card is not in that currency. A card's currency can never be changed

code,new_balance
ABCD-1234-EFGH-5678,75.00
IJKL-9012-MNOP-3456,+10.00
QRST-7890-UVWX-1234,-5.00

Note: Bulk Update sets the balance to the value you provide — it doesn't add or subtract — unless you use the + or - prefix for relative adjustments. To add $10 to a card with $40, either set new_balance to 50.00 or use +10.00.

Bulk Import

Import existing gift cards from other systems into GiftCard Hero.

Upload a CSV with the following columns:

Column	Required	Description
initial_value	Yes	Amount the card is issued with
currency_code	Optional	Three-letter currency code, e.g. EUR. Leave empty for your store currency — see Cards in other currencies
code	Optional	Gift card code (auto-generated if omitted)
customer_id	Optional	Shopify customer ID to associate
expires_on	Optional	Expiry date in YYYY-MM-DD format
recipient_email	Optional	Recipient's email address
customer_email	Optional	Customer's email address
notify_customer	Optional	Send notification to customer
notify_recipient	Optional	Send notification to recipient
image	Optional	https:// link to the artwork for this card — see Custom artwork per card

Steps

1. Navigate to the Import tab
2. Prepare your CSV file with the columns above
3. Upload the CSV file
4. Click Start Import

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Cards in other currencies

If your store sells in several currencies through Shopify Markets, a bulk job can issue cards in any of those currencies rather than only your store currency.

• Generate and Send — pick the currency next to the amount field. The picker only appears when your markets enable more than one currency.
• Import and Send from CSV — fill in the currency_code column, e.g. EUR. An empty column means your store currency.
• Update — a card's currency cannot be changed. Filling in currency_code only checks that the card is in that currency; a row that names a different one fails instead of adjusting the balance in the wrong money.

A row naming a currency your markets have not enabled fails on upload with an explanation, before any card is created.

What the card holds

The card is issued in the currency you chose and keeps its balance in it. Whether a shopper can then spend it in a different currency is controlled by Gift cards → Shopify Markets support → Cross-currency redemption:

Setting	Behaviour
Shopify default	Shopify decides, based on your store and market settings
Only in the card's own currency	The card is refused at checkout in any other currency
Convert at your market's exchange rate	Uses the rate configured for the market
Convert at the spot exchange rate	Uses the standard spot rate at checkout

Analytics

Dashboard totals are in your store currency. Cards in other currencies are listed separately above the tiles, with their own count and totals per currency — amounts in different currencies cannot be added together into a single figure.

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Custom artwork per card

Generate, Send, Update and Import jobs can all give each card its own picture through the image column.

1. In your Shopify admin, open Content → Files and upload your artwork.
2. Hover the file and click the link icon to copy its URL.
3. Paste the URL into the image column of the row.

The copied link looks like this:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0594/1241/4670/files/gift-card-birthday.png?v=1671206648

• The value must be a full URL starting with https:// — http://, protocol-relative (//cdn.shopify.com/...) and bare file names are rejected, and the row fails with an error on the Results tab.
• Keep the ?v=... suffix; it is part of the link Shopify gives you.
• A per-row image overrides the design selected on the page, so one file can mix several designs.
• Use roughly 1000 × 600 px (5:3) PNG/JPG/WebP images under 2 MB.
• Generate jobs have no CSV — pick the design under Gift cards images on the Generate tab instead.

For the step-by-step version, see Managing Gift Cards with Bulk Actions.

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Tracking results

After starting any bulk job, you can monitor progress in Bulk → Results.

The results page shows:

• Job status (queued, running, completed, failed)
• Progress (e.g., 847 / 1000 sent)
• Per-row errors (e.g., invalid email, duplicate code)
• Download links for the results CSV

Results CSV

The results CSV includes all input columns plus:

• status — success / failed / skipped
• error — error message if failed
• helpscout_url — public URL of the gift card (for Generate jobs)
• code_last4 — last 4 digits of the gift card code

Limits and performance

Limit	Value
Max cards per Generate job	10,000
Max rows per Send job	10,000
Max rows per Update job	50,000
Estimated speed (Generate)	~500 cards/minute
Estimated speed (Send)	~200 emails/minute

Large jobs run in the background — you don't need to keep the browser open. You'll receive a summary email when the job completes.