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Quick Start: Send Your First Gift Card

This guide walks you through manually issuing one eGift card. It takes about 5 minutes and is the fastest way to see GiftCard Hero in action.

If you want customers to purchase gift cards themselves from your storefront, this still works — but that flow is automatic once your store is set up. This guide is for manually issuing a card (e.g., as a gift to a VIP customer).

Step 1 — Go to eGift Cards

In GiftCard Hero, click eGift Cards in the left navigation.

You'll see your list of gift card types (denominations and designs). If you just installed the app, there may already be default denominations set up from the onboarding wizard.

Step 2 — Click "Issue Gift Card"

Click the Issue Gift Card button in the top right corner.

Issue eGift card form with example data

Step 3 — Fill in the details

Field What to enter
Amount The value to load onto the card (e.g., 50)
Recipient email Where the gift card email will be sent
Recipient name Displayed in the email greeting
Sender name Shown as the "from" in the email
Personal message Optional message included in the email
Send date Send now, or schedule for a future date

Step 4 — Click "Send"

Click Send Gift Card. The recipient will receive an email within a few seconds containing:

  • The gift card code
  • The current balance
  • A link to check their balance at any time
  • Your personal message

Step 5 — Verify in Shopify Admin

To confirm everything worked:

  1. Go to your Shopify Admin → Gift Cards
  2. You'll see the new card with its balance and the last 4 digits of the code

The card is now a fully functional Shopify gift card. The recipient can use the code at your store's checkout.

The recipient receives an email like this

What happens when the recipient uses it

  1. Recipient goes to your store and adds items to their cart
  2. At checkout, they enter their gift card code in the Gift card or discount code field
  3. Shopify applies the balance to the order
  4. If the order total exceeds the card balance, they pay the remainder with another method
  5. The remaining balance stays on the card for future purchases

Next steps