Plastic Gift Cards for Shopify POS

How does a printed gift card work in Shopify POS?

The card carries a code, and that’s all. Nothing is stored on the card itself: Shopify keeps the value against the code, so the balance goes down in Shopify as the card is spent.

1. PrintEvery card is printed with its own code from your file, large and clear.
2. SellStaff tap Add gift card in Shopify POS, set the value, tap Enter gift card code and type the code. Once the sale is paid, the card holds that value.
3. SpendAt your till, staff type the code when the customer pays. Online, the customer types it in at checkout.
4. TrackShopify takes each spend off the balance. Staff can see what’s left from the order the card was sold in.

1. The code, large and clear. The one thing Shopify asks for. Staff type it at the till and customers type it online, so it’s in capitals, in groups of four, in a plain font, under a label saying what it is.
2. Where to spend it. In your shop, or online at checkout.
3. Keep it safe. Anyone with the code can spend the card, so say so.

What does Shopify ask for on a printed gift card?

Shopify’s help sets out what a gift card from another supplier needs. We read it in October 2026. Features change, so check the pages linked below before you order.

Four things to set up in Shopify first: a gift card product; Type to issue set to Digital or physical, in the Gift cards settings of the POS editor; gift cards turned on as a payment method; and the Add gift card tile on the POS home screen. Gift cards are on every Shopify plan. Shopify’s help on selling gift cards in Shopify POS, its gift cards overview and its POS launch checklist show where.

You don’t load the codes into Shopify beforehand. A printed card becomes a Shopify gift card when it’s sold and its code is typed in at the till.

All of this is for Shopify’s own gift cards. If your gift cards run through an app instead, the app decides what each card must carry, so ask its provider and send us its instructions.

Can Shopify POS scan the cards?

Not as it comes. Shopify’s POS launch checklist says there are no scanning capabilities for gift cards from other suppliers. Staff type the code when they sell the card and when it’s spent, so a barcode or a QR code of the code doesn’t help. What helps is a code that’s easy to read and type.

If you want cards that can be scanned

Shopify’s own cards, from its Hardware Store, have a QR code that Shopify POS reads, and the QR code on Shopify’s digital gift cards holds an identifier Shopify creates for each card, not the code. A gift card app can give you QR codes like that for printed cards. GiftCard Hero, for one, makes the codes and gives you a file for your printer with each card’s code and the text for its QR code, which it calls “necessary for QR code compatibility with Shopify POS”.

• Send us the app’s file. We print each card’s code and its QR code from it, letter for letter, so the two on each card always match.
• Ask the app’s provider how its cards are sold and scanned: in Shopify POS itself or through the app’s own tile.
• Check your scanner. The 2D scanners Shopify sells in the UK, the Socket Mobile S720 and the Zebra DS2208 and DS2278, read QR codes, and so does the camera on the POS device. A 1D-only scanner, such as the Socket Mobile S700, can’t. Shopify’s guide to choosing a barcode scanner lists them all.
• Size. We recommend QR codes at least 15mm square, dark on a white background, with clear space all round.
• Test one before the full run: see testing below.

If another system needs a magnetic strip

Shopify POS doesn’t need one. If you also use the cards with a system that swipes them, such as an older till or a membership system, we can encode the strip to that system’s specification, or leave it blank for you to encode. Ask the system’s supplier for the details below and send them with your order.

• HiCo or LoCo. HiCo strips are black and hold their data far better; we recommend them for gift cards. Check your system’s reader and encoder can take HiCo. See HiCo v LoCo.
• Which track. Track 1 holds letters and numbers. Tracks 2 and 3 hold numbers only, so a Shopify code with letters in it can only go on track 1. If your system reads track 2, use codes made of numbers only.
• What goes on it. The exact data for each card, as an extra column in your codes file, one column for each track.
• Where it goes. The strip runs across the back, 13mm deep and 3mm down from the top edge, so the code sits below it.
• Which cards. Cards with a magnetic strip must be 760 microns thick. Strips aren’t available on EcoTough or Plastic-Free Board cards.

Full details are on our magnetic strips page.

How to lay out your codes file

One row for each card, with the codes in column A and a heading in row 1. Everything in the file is printed, so it holds the codes and nothing else. Here are the first rows of our example file:

• Format the column as Text before you paste the codes in: select column A, right-click, then Format Cells › Text. Otherwise Excel drops zeros from the start of a code, and it keeps only 15 digits of a number, so a 16-digit code in an ordinary cell loses its last digit for good.
• Make every code different. To check, select column A and choose Home › Conditional Formatting › Highlight Cells Rules › Duplicate Values. Any code that appears twice is highlighted.
• Make them random. If the codes run in order, anyone holding one card can work out the codes on others.
• Leave out characters that look alike: 0 and O, 1, I and L, 2 and Z, 5 and S, 8 and B. Staff and customers type these codes, and these are the ones they get wrong.
• If a formula made the codes, turn them into plain values before you save: copy the column, then Paste Special › Values. Otherwise the codes change every time the sheet recalculates.
• Save it as Excel or CSV. For CSV, choose CSV UTF-8, and check it in Notepad or TextEdit rather than reopening it in Excel, which can strip the zeros and long numbers again.
• Keep a copy. We print the codes exactly as they are in your file, and we can’t check them against your Shopify store, so check them before you send it.

Don’t print our codesThe 25 codes in these files are public: anyone can download them. Replace every one with your own before you send us the file.

If a gift card app gives you the text for each card’s QR code, put it in column B, next to its code, exactly as the app gives it. Our guide to gift card codes in Excel or CSV shows each of the steps above in more detail.

What we need from you

This is what we need to make sure the cards work with your Shopify POS. Send it to sales@cpcards.co.uk with your quote request, and we’ll come back to you with anything that’s missing.

• Your codes, in an Excel or CSV file laid out as above: one code for each card, 8 to 20 letters and numbers.
• Which gift card system you use: Shopify’s own gift cards, or an app. With an app, the app decides what each card must carry, so send us its instructions too. If you’d like cards that can be scanned, tell us your scanner’s make and model.
• Where the code goes. The back is usual. We suggest capitals in groups of four.
• Anything else that reads the cards, such as a magnetic strip for another system, with its specification.
• Your artwork, or your logo and wording for our £29 +vat design service.
• How many cards. Our minimum order is 25. Prices are on our gift cards page.
• Whether you’d like a postal proof to test real cards before the rest are printed.

We can print any type of QR code or barcode from your file, so if another system needs one alongside Shopify, tell us which.

How to test cards on your own till before the full run

We can’t test cards on your till, because every Shopify setup and scanner is different. There are two ways to test them yourself.

1. Before you order: try your setup, free

1. Set upIn your Shopify admin, add a gift card product and set Type to issue to Digital or physical.
2. SellIn Shopify POS, tap Add gift card, choose a physical gift card and a value, then tap Enter gift card code.
3. TypeType a made-up test code in the same format as your codes, such as 16 capitals and numbers.
4. StopIf Shopify accepts the test code, it will accept yours. Stop there, before taking payment.

Using a gift card app’s QR codes? Make one of them with our free QR code generator: choose Text and paste in the app’s text for one card. Print it about 15mm square and scan it the way the app tells you to.

2. With your order: a postal proof

Add a postal proof to your order and we post you a few real cards, printed on the production presses to the final spec, with the codes, and any QR code or magnetic strip, in place. Try them on your own till, then approve the full run, which is printed in around 7 working days.

• A postal proof is £65 +vat and takes around 5 working days. A revised one is £35 +vat.
• Test the code, not a sale: type or scan a proof card’s code in a sale, check it’s accepted, and stop before taking payment. If a test sale does go through, refunding it means deactivating the card first, and a deactivated card can’t be used again.
• Postal proofs are for full colour cards.

Every order also gets a free photorealistic proof by email, showing where the code sits on the card, so you can check the layout and wording before anything is printed.

Keeping the codes safe

A Shopify gift card can be spent online by anyone who types its code at checkout. The code on a card is worth nothing until the card is sold, but after that it works like cash.

• Keep unsold cards behind the counter, not on an open display, where anyone can copy a code and wait for the card to be sold.
• Cards loaded before they’re sold are worth money from the day they arrive. Some apps, such as GiftCard Hero, can load the value when the codes are imported, so store those cards like cash.
• Keep your codes file safe, and delete spare copies of it.
• Use random codes. A code that follows a pattern lets someone work out others.
• If a card is lost, Shopify lets you deactivate it and issue a new gift card for what was left on it. Deactivating can’t be undone.
• A scratch-off panel won’t help here. Staff need to read the code when they sell the card, so it can’t be hidden.

Loyalty, membership and discount cards with Shopify

Shopify POS has no loyalty scheme of its own. Loyalty and membership schemes come from apps in the Shopify App Store, and each app decides whether a printed card can be scanned. Some find the customer by name, email or phone number only. Others add a tile to Shopify POS that scans a QR code or barcode. Four examples, from each app’s own pages in October 2026:

Ask your app’s provider what a printed card should carry and in which format, then send us the numbers in a file. We print each card’s number as a QR code or barcode, with the number underneath. Our guide to loyalty cards and your till covers the questions to ask.

Discount cards. Since Shopify POS version 11.5, staff can apply a discount code by scanning its QR code, with the camera or a 2D scanner. Shopify makes the QR code for you: open the discount in your Shopify admin and download it. Send it to us with your artwork and we print it on your discount cards. Automatic discounts have no code, so there’s nothing to scan. Shopify’s help on applying discounts in POS has the details.