Shopify development stores don't allow gift cards at checkout, and there's no Shopify sandbox that does: Shopify processes gift card payments as real transactions, which test payment modes can't handle. You can still use a development store to test connecting, buying gift cards and seeing them created. To test redeeming a gift card, do a small real redemption on your live store and then correct it.
What you can test on a development store
| Test | Works on a development store? |
|---|---|
| Connecting Shopify to Wrapped | Yes |
| Wrapped creating the Digital Gift Card product | Yes |
| Issuing a gift card in Wrapped and seeing it in Products › Gift cards in Shopify | Yes |
| Buying the Digital Gift Card product with Shopify's test payments, and Wrapped creating and emailing the gift card | Yes |
| The "Send as gift" and "Send to a friend" options, including scheduled sends | Yes |
| Refund as gift card on a test order | Yes |
| Paying for an order with a gift card at checkout | No |
| Paying with a gift card plus a card (split payment) | No. Shopify shows an error such as "Your payment details couldn't be verified". |
| Redeeming a gift card in Shopify POS with test payments | No. Shopify's test payment gateway doesn't work with Shopify POS. |
The checkout errors come from Shopify's development store and test mode restrictions, not from Wrapped. On a live store with real payments, customers can pay with a gift card and another payment method. See Gift cards at Shopify checkout: split payments and limits.
Test orders are only processed while your Shopify sales channel is Enabled and your gift card program is live (Go live on Home). If your test store is the only store connected, going live doesn't affect real customers.
Test a redemption on your live store
- In Wrapped, issue a low-value gift card to yourself: Gift cards › All gift cards › Issue gift card.
- Wait a few minutes, then place a real order on your live Shopify store and pay with the gift card, alone or together with a card.
- Check that the order appears against the card in Wrapped and the balance went down, and that your other sales channels show the new balance.
- Correct it with one of these: refund the order in Shopify back to the gift card (Wrapped updates the balance for you), put the amount back with Adjust balance on the gift card, or delete the test card.
Don't both refund to the gift card and adjust the balance, or the card ends up with more than you started with. See Refund to a gift card in Shopify.
To test in store, redeem a small amount in Shopify POS with the card and take the rest in cash, then correct it the same way.
Moving from a test store to your live store
Keep the same Wrapped account; don't create a new one.
- On Settings › Sales channels, select Disconnect on the development store.
- Connect your live store with Add sales channel (see Connect Shopify), switch it on, and set up its Digital Gift Card product.
- Delete your test gift cards so they don't appear in reporting: open each one and choose Delete gift card. See Removing test gift cards before you launch.
- If you added the "Send to a friend button" to your test store's theme, add it to your live theme with the live store's sales channel ID.
See Go-live checklist: moving from test stores to your live stores for the full list across all your sales channels.
Common questions
Can Wrapped give me a test mode for Shopify gift cards?
No. Gift cards at checkout are handled entirely by Shopify, and Shopify doesn't offer a test mode for them.
Will test gift cards I delete be removed from Shopify?
Deleting a gift card in Wrapped sets its balance to $0 in every connected sales channel and removes it from reporting. It doesn't delete the card inside Shopify. See Void or delete a gift card.
Do test gift cards count toward my plan?
See How the monthly gift card allowance works.