Gift cards for small businesses
Sell gift cards on your website.
Flint lets a cafe, salon, boutique, studio, or restaurant sell its own digital gift cards from the website it already has, with no code and no gift card app. Set your amounts in the dashboard, or let buyers choose any amount in a range, add a Gift cards button to your site, and buyers pay by card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. Flint emails the card on the day the buyer picks, and the recipient spends it at your checkout. A $50 card costs $2.25 to sell, and nothing more to spend.
No monthly fee
3.79% + 35¢ when a card sells. No load fee, and no fee when it's spent.
Delivered on the day
Buyers schedule the email up to 90 days ahead, with their own message.
Never expires
No expiration date and no fees on any Flint gift card, so the federal expiry and fee limits never come into play.
01Set it up
From nothing to a gift card button in an afternoon.
Everything here happens in the Flint dashboard and your site builder. You don't need a developer, a plugin, or a new website.
Create a gift card offer
In the Flint dashboard, open Products, choose Create product, and pick Gift card as the type. Name it, set the gift card value up to $2,000, and, for a sale, turn on Sell for less than the gift card value. To let buyers pick the amount, turn on Let buyers choose the value and set a minimum and maximum, such as $10 to $500. Or make one offer per amount you sell, such as $25, $50, and $100.
Make a payment link for it
From the offer's menu in Products, choose Create payment link. Flint gives you a web address and a QR code for the gift card's checkout page.
Put the link on your website
Add a Gift cards button or page to your site in Squarespace, Wix, Framer, WordPress, or any site builder, and point each button at its link. The same link works in your Instagram bio, an email, or a QR code by the register.
Buy one yourself in the sandbox
Open the link in your free sandbox and buy a card with a test card number, sent to your own email, so you see exactly what buyers and recipients see.
Go live and share it
Verify your business in the dashboard, make the same offers and links in live mode, and swap the live links into your site.
Any amount, one button. Turn on Let buyers choose the value and set a range, such as $10 to $500. Checkout shows a Gift card amount field with your range under it, updates the total once the buyer enters an amount, and stops one outside the range before they pay. Your Gift cards page needs one button.
Or set amounts. Many small businesses sell three: $25, $50, and $100. Each is its own offer with its own link, so your Gift cards page is three buttons. Let buyers change the quantity on the link and one buyer can send several cards to one person.
02Buy and send
The buyer writes the note. Flint delivers it on the day.
At checkout, the buyer says who the card is for, adds a message, and picks when it arrives. Flint does the rest, so you never email a code by hand.
A message and a send date. The recipient’s email, an optional name, a message of up to 200 characters, and a delivery time up to 90 days out. Leave the date empty and it goes as soon as the payment is confirmed.
A private page, not a PDF. The email links to a page with the balance and the code, under your business name and logo. The recipient can check what’s left on it any time.
Handing it over in person? The buyer sends it to their own email and prints it or forwards it.
Built-in fraud checks. Gift cards are a favorite way to cash out a stolen card number, so buyers confirm their email with a one-time code before they pay, and Flint caps how much one buyer, one card, or one device can buy in a day. Every card is issued only after its payment is confirmed.
Every sale is an order. Gift card purchases land in Orders with everything else you sell, ready to export for your books.
03Spend it
The recipient types the code at checkout.
Flint payment links and hosted checkout have a Use a gift card field on every order except subscriptions, including your product links and deposit links. The card's value comes off the total, and a card payment covers anything left.
Partial balances carry over
Spend $38.50 of a $50 card and $11.50 stays on it. Nobody has to use it all at once or lose the change.
Up to 20 cards on one order
A recipient holding cards from three relatives can use all three, and pay the rest by card in the same checkout.
Gift card value is money, not a coupon
It pays after discounts and tax, so a promo code and a gift card work together. It can't buy another gift card or pay for a subscription.
Refunds go back on the card
Refund an order that a gift card paid for, and the value returns to that card first.
At your counter. Flint doesn’t sell card readers or a register, so Flint gift cards are spent at Flint checkout, not swiped in the shop. For a service you’ve just finished, like a haircut or a class, send the customer a payment link for the amount and they apply the code on their phone. If a developer connects your register to Flint, it can spend gift card balances directly.
04What it costs
Flint costs less per card than Square, Shopify, or Gift Up!
Flint charges its standard 3.79% + 35¢ when a gift card sells, and nothing when it's spent: the part of an order a gift card covers isn't a card payment. There is no load fee, no per-card app fee, and no monthly fee. Here is the total to sell one card and have it spent, as of October 2026.
| Fees to sell and spend | Flint | Square eGift Cards, Free plan | Shopify Basic, store opened on or after May 12, 2025 | Gift Up! with Stripe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A $25 gift card | Flint: $1.30 | Square: $1.76 | Shopify: $1.53 | Gift Up!: $1.90 |
| A $50 gift card | Flint: $2.25 | Square: $3.20 | Shopify: $2.75 | Gift Up!: $3.50 |
| A $100 gift card | Flint: $4.14 | Square: $6.10 | Shopify: $5.20 | Gift Up!: $6.69 |
| Plan | Flint: No monthly fee | Square: Free plan | Shopify: $39/month, or $29/month billed yearly | Gift Up!: No monthly fee |
Flint
3.79% + 35¢ on the sale. Spending it is free, on any amount.
Square Free plan
3.3% + 30¢ to sell an eGift card online, plus Square's 2.5% load fee on the value. Cards are spent on Square Online or Square Point of Sale.
Shopify Basic
2.9% + 30¢ to sell, then a 2% fee on the amount the card pays when it's spent, for stores opened on or after May 12, 2025. Plus the plan.
Gift Up!
3.49% per card sold, 50¢ minimum, plus your own card processor. The table uses Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢.
Already on a website builder? Square says its eGift Cards don’t work with custom domains, ecommerce partners, or API integrations, so a Square card is sold on Square’s page and spent in Square’s store. Flint’s links go on the site you have. See how that works on Squarespace without a Commerce plan and on Framer, and what the plan, apps, and processing add up to in what Shopify really costs a small store.
Fees are per card at face value, rounded to the cent, on US cards. Square and Shopify figures are for the plans named in the column headings. Every Flint rate is on the pricing page.
05The rules
Gift card law in plain English.
US gift cards fall under the federal CARD Act rules in Regulation E, and many states add their own. This is the short version, not legal advice.
Five years, at least
Funds on a gift card can’t expire sooner than five years after the card was issued or last loaded, and the card has to say when they expire, or that they don’t. 12 CFR 1005.20
Fees only after a year
A dormancy, inactivity, or service fee is allowed only after 12 months with no activity, no more than once a month, and only if the card discloses it.
States can go further
The CFPB notes that some state laws give buyers more time, and some states require paying out a small leftover balance in cash on request. Check your state’s rules. CFPB
Flint’s cards sit inside every one of those limits. No expiration date and no fees, and checkout tells every buyer the card is issued by your business, redeemable only with your business, with no expiration date and no fees. You don’t have to write terms or track dates.
Promotional cards are a different category. The federal rule excludes loyalty, award, and promotional cards, which carry their own disclosures. Flint sells purchased gift cards, including discounted ones, and doesn’t offer free bonus cards, so every Flint card follows the purchased-card rules.
Breakage is real, but don’t budget on it. In a 2024 Bankrate survey, 43% of US adults had an unused gift card, voucher, or store credit, worth $244 on average. That unspent value is money you owe until it’s spent, and depending on your state it may never become yours to keep: some states require unclaimed balances to be reported as unclaimed property. Ask your accountant how your state treats it.
The money arrives up front. A gift card sale pays out like any other card payment, months before the recipient comes in. Keep track of what’s still owed, so that December’s cash isn’t spent twice.
06Timing
Be ready before the holidays, not during them.
Gift cards topped holiday wish lists again this year: 47% of consumers told the National Retail Federation they want one. The weeks before December 25 are when a gift card button on your site earns the most, and the last few days are where a digital card beats anything that has to ship.
Early November
Put the gift card button on your home page and in your email signature. Buyers who shop early can schedule delivery for the morning of the 25th, up to 90 days ahead.
Black Friday to Cyber Monday
Run a sale offer, like a $50 card for $45, as its own link for the weekend. Turn the link off on Tuesday, and anyone who opens it reads your message instead of an error.
December 20 to 24
The last-minute rush is where a digital card wins: nothing ships, and the card is emailed as soon as the payment is confirmed. Post the link again on the 23rd and 24th.
January
Recipients come in to spend. A card that covers part of an order keeps the rest, and the buyer pays the difference in the same checkout.
Valentine's Day and Mother's Day
Two more gifting dates for cafes, salons, spas, and florists. Reuse the same links, with the dates in your post.
Graduations and teacher thank-yous
May and June bring group gifts. A buyer can send several cards to one recipient in a single purchase.
A holiday offer, worked through. Create a second $50 offer with Sell for less than the gift card value turned on and a price of $45.00. The buyer pays $45.00, Flint’s fee is $2.06, and the card holds $50.00. Flint records both amounts, and your other promo codes don’t stack on gift cards, so the discount you meant is the only one you give.
07Your website
A gift card button on the site you already have.
A Flint link is a web address, so it works anywhere you can add a button or paste a link. Your site stays as it is.
Squarespace and Wix
Add a button block that links to each gift card link. On Squarespace, no Commerce plan needed. Squarespace, step by step
Framer and Webflow
Point a button at the link, or build a Gift cards page with one card per amount. A store on a Framer site
Instagram and email
Put the link in your bio, a story, or your newsletter. Selling from Instagram
By the register
Print the link's QR code on a counter card or the menu, so customers can buy a card on their phone while they wait.
Alongside what else you sell
The same dashboard sells products, takes deposits, and runs memberships, and gift cards spend on all of it except subscriptions.
Building something custom
A developer can put gift cards inside your own checkout and pull the outstanding balance report. Gift card API
08Start
Have a gift card button live this week.
Sign up, create a $25, $50, and $100 offer, and buy one in the free sandbox with your own email as the recipient. You’ll see the checkout, the email, and the gift card page exactly as your customers will, before you add a single button to your site.
3.79% + 35¢ on cards · no monthly fee · free sandbox · no credit card
Then read these
- 01Gift card APIFor a developer adding gift cards to a custom site or app.
- 02Payment linksEverything a link can sell, and how buyers pay.
- 03PricingEvery Flint rate, published.
- 04Payment links guideMaking, sharing, and turning off links.
Sources
Where each outside figure comes from.
Square charges up to a 2.5% load fee each time funds are added to a gift card or eGift card, on top of the standard processing fee when a customer buys one. Square Gift Cards are redeemed at Square Point of Sale or on a Square Online website. Square: Gift cards
squareup.comOn the Square Free plan, online payments cost 3.3% + 30¢, eGift cards sold on the Square eGift Card order site pay a card-not-present fee of 3.3% + 30¢, and gift card loads carry a 2.5% load fee. Square Support: What are Square's fees
squareup.comSquare eGift cards don't work with custom domains, eCommerce partners, or API integrations. Square Support: Sell and send gift cards
squareup.comShopify Basic costs $39 a month billed monthly or $29 a month billed yearly, with online card rates of 2.9% + 30¢ and a 2% third-party transaction fee. Selling gift cards is included. Shopify pricing
www.shopify.comFor Shopify stores created on or after May 12, 2025, orders that use a gift card as payment are charged third-party transaction fees on the amount the gift card paid. Shopify Help: Gift cards
help.shopify.comThe gift card and store credit transaction fee applies to stores using Shopify Payments too, on the part of the order the gift card or store credit covers. Shopify Help: Third-party transaction fees
help.shopify.comGift Up! charges 3.49% per gift card sold, with a 50¢ minimum, and no monthly fee. You attach and pay for your own card processor. Gift Up! pricing
giftup.comStripe's standard US rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card payment. Stripe pricing
stripe.comThe federal gift card rule: funds can't expire for at least five years from issue or the last load, dormancy, inactivity, or service fees need 12 months without activity, clear disclosure, and no more than one a month, and loyalty, award, or promotional cards are excluded. CFPB: Regulation E, 12 CFR 1005.20
www.consumerfinance.govGift card funds must be good for at least five years under federal law, and some state laws give more time. CFPB: If my prepaid card expires, do I lose my money?
www.consumerfinance.gov43% of US adults had an unused gift card, voucher, or store credit, worth $244 on average, in a YouGov survey of 2,373 adults in August 2024. Bankrate gift card survey, September 2024
www.bankrate.com47% of consumers said they would like to receive gift cards this holiday season, the top item on wish lists, in a survey of 8,094 adults on October 1 to 7, 2026. NRF holiday survey, October 2026
nrf.com
last reviewed 2026-10-27 · corrections: Flint Help
FAQ
Questions small businesses ask about gift cards.
How do I sell gift cards on my website?
With Flint, create a gift card offer in the dashboard, turn on Let buyers choose the value so buyers enter any amount in the range you set, make a payment link for it, and add a Gift cards button to your site that points at the link. Buyers pay by card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay, add the recipient's email and a message, and pick when it arrives. Flint emails the recipient a private link with the balance and the code, and they enter the code at checkout to spend it. No code, no app to install, and no monthly fee.
Do I need Shopify or Square to sell gift cards online?
No. Flint sells and redeems your own gift cards from the website you already have, with no monthly fee and no load fee. Square eGift Cards are sold on Square's own ordering page and spent on Square Online or Square Point of Sale, and Square says they don't work with custom domains, ecommerce partners, or API integrations. Shopify sells gift cards inside a Shopify store, and its Basic plan is $39 a month billed monthly.
How much does it cost to sell gift cards with Flint?
A gift card sale is an ordinary card payment: 3.79% + 35¢, so a $50 card costs $2.25. When the card is spent, the part of the order it covers isn't a card payment, so there's no second fee. There is no monthly fee, no setup fee, and no load fee.
Can gift cards expire or charge fees?
Under the federal CARD Act rules, gift card funds have to stay good for at least five years from the day they were issued or last loaded, and an inactivity fee is only allowed after 12 months without use, at most once a month, and only if it is printed on the card. Some states go further. Flint gift cards have no expiration date and no fees at all, and every card says so.
Can customers use a gift card in my shop in person?
Flint doesn't sell card readers or a register, so Flint gift cards are spent at Flint checkout online. For a service you've just finished, such as a haircut or a class, you can send the customer a payment link for the amount and they apply the code on their phone. If a developer connects your register to Flint, it can spend gift card balances directly.
Can buyers choose their own gift card amount?
Yes. On the gift card offer in the Flint dashboard, turn on Let buyers choose the value and set a minimum and maximum, up to $2,000. At checkout the buyer types the amount in the Gift card amount field, which shows your range under it, and the total updates once they enter it. An amount outside the range is refused before they pay, so one link and one button cover every amount.
Can I sell discounted gift cards for the holidays?
Yes. Turn on Sell for less than the gift card value and set, for example, a $50 card for $45. The card holds $50, Flint records that the buyer paid $45, and your other promo codes don't stack on top of it. Free bonus cards, like a $10 card with every $50 card, aren't offered.
What happens to gift card balances that never get spent?
Unspent value is money you owe until it is spent, so it stays on your books as a liability. Some of it is never redeemed: in a 2024 Bankrate survey, 43% of US adults had an unused gift card, voucher, or store credit. Whether you can ever count that as income, or must report it to your state as unclaimed property, depends on your state, so ask your accountant before you plan around it.
Can a customer use part of a gift card, or more than one?
Yes. A card spent on a smaller order keeps the rest of its balance for next time, and checkout accepts up to 20 gift cards on one order, with a card payment covering whatever they don't. Gift cards can't pay for subscriptions or buy another gift card.
How does the recipient get the gift card?
The buyer enters the recipient's email, an optional name, and a message of up to 200 characters, and can schedule it up to 90 days ahead. Once the payment is confirmed, Flint emails a private link that shows the balance and the code, with your business name on it. A buyer who wants to hand it over in person can send it to their own email.