Gift cards never expire unless you turn expiry on. To give new cards an expiry date, go to Settings › Gift card rules, edit Expiry, choose Gift cards expire and set Expire after (months). When a card expires, Wrapped sets its remaining balance to $0 in Wrapped and in every connected sales channel. You can change or remove the expiry on any individual card.
Countries and states have different laws about gift card expiry, and some don't allow it. Check the rules that apply to you before turning expiry on, and make sure your website, terms and sales channel gift card products say the same thing.
Turn on expiry for new gift cards
- Go to Settings › Gift card rules (or Gift cards › Settings).
- Next to New gift cards, click Edit.
- Choose Gift cards expire and enter the number of months in Expire after (months).
- Click Save.
The setting applies to cards created from then on. Existing cards keep the expiry they already have.
When the expiry clock starts
| How the card was created | Expiry date |
|---|---|
| Sold in a sales channel, sold on your web store, issued from the dashboard or created through the API | The number of months after the card is created. On the Issue gift card page you can change the date before issuing. |
| Bought in Shopify | The number of months after the Shopify order date |
| Generated in a batch | The date you choose under Advanced settings › Expiry. If you choose No expiry date, the default applies from the day the card is first loaded with value |
| Imported from a CSV file | The ExpiresAt date in the file (in your account's time zone). If it's blank, the default applies from the day the card is activated |
What happens when a card expires
Wrapped checks for expired cards once a day. For each card past its expiry date, it:
- marks the card Expired,
- records the remaining balance as an expiry adjustment and sets the balance to $0,
- sets the balance to $0 in every sales channel the card is in, and logs "Expired gift card with remaining balance … in …" for each.
The customer isn't emailed. Reminder emails aren't sent for expired cards.
Shopify also receives the expiry date when Wrapped creates the card there, so Shopify stops accepting the card after that date too.
Let expired cards keep working
In the Expiry dialog you can tick:
- Let expired regular gift cards still be used: Wrapped doesn't zero cards when they pass their expiry date. While this is on, expired promotional cards are left usable too.
- Let expired promotional gift cards still be used: only cards marked Promotional keep their balance after expiry.
When one of these applies to a card, Wrapped doesn't send an expiry date to Shopify for it. The card still shows as Expired in the dashboard once the date has passed.
Change or remove one card's expiry
- Open the card from Gift cards › All gift cards.
- Under Details, next to Expires, click Change (or use … › Change expiry).
- Pick a new date and time in Expires on, or click Remove expiry so the card never expires.
- Click Save.
The change is recorded in the card's activity. Changing a card's expiry in Wrapped doesn't change an expiry date that's already set on the card inside Shopify, and it doesn't sync anything to your sales channels by itself.
Bring an expired card back
Expiry sets the balance to $0, so extending the date alone isn't enough:
- Open the expired card and change Expires to a future date (or remove the expiry).
- Click Adjust balance and enter the balance the card should have.
- Click Apply. Wrapped pushes the balance to your sales channels.
If you only add value without moving the expiry date, the card becomes active but the nightly check expires it again. A card that's reactivated counts toward your gift card allowance in that billing period. See Adjust a gift card's balance.
Common questions
Do gift cards expire by default?
No. Expiry is off until you turn it on.
I turned on expiry. Will my existing cards expire?
No. Only cards created after the change get an expiry date. Change existing cards one at a time, or re-import them with an ExpiresAt column (which needs Let your team change a card's expiry turned on). See Import existing gift cards from a CSV file.
Can promotional gift cards have a different expiry?
A promotional (bonus) gift card can have its own expiry, set in the automation, giveaway, batch or when you issue it. Bonus credit added to an existing card can't expire separately from the card. See Bonus gift card or bonus credit?.
Where does the expired balance go in reports?
It's recorded as an expiry adjustment, so it shows separately from redemptions. Reports catch up within about 2 hours. See The Adjustments report.
Can I set expiry through the API?
Yes. The Wrapped API (Pro plan and above) can update a card's expiry date. See The Wrapped API.