Using gift cards at checkout
Customers can pay with a gift card balance at your online checkout. The balance reduces the order total; if it doesn't cover everything, their card pays the rest. Any leftover stays on the gift card for next time.
Using gift cards at checkout
Gift cards aren't only something you sell — your customers can also spend them at your online checkout. They enter the code, the balance is applied to their order, and they pay any remainder by card. Whatever balance is left over stays on the gift card for next time.
This all happens automatically. There's nothing you need to switch on, and no extra steps for you once an order comes through.
What the customer does
- Add items to the cart and continue to checkout on your store.
- Click "Have a discount code?" near the order summary to open the code field.
- Type the gift card code — it looks like
G-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX— and apply it. - Check the total. A line shows the amount the gift card is covering, and the total to pay updates.
- Pay any remainder by card and place the order. If the gift card covers everything, there's nothing left to pay.
The same field accepts both gift card codes and discount/promo codes, so customers only ever have one place to enter a code.
When the gift card covers the whole order
If the balance is equal to or larger than the order total, the customer pays nothing by card. The order completes, the card's balance drops by the order amount, and any leftover stays on the card.
A balance-only sale is still a real order — it lands in Orders marked Paid and triggers the normal confirmation email and fulfilment, exactly like a card sale.
When the gift card covers only part of the order
The gift card pays what it can, and the customer's credit card is charged the rest. The card's balance drops to zero (or by however much was applied, if the customer's order was smaller than their balance).
Your Orders record shows both sides — the gift card credit and the card charge — so you can always see exactly how each order was paid.
Refunds
When you refund an order that was partly or fully paid with a gift card, the gift card portion goes back onto the same card the customer used, and any card portion is returned to their credit card. You don't have to split this out yourself — it happens as part of the refund. See Refunding an order for the full picture.
Troubleshooting
"My customer says the gift card isn't working." First check the card belongs to your store — a card from another business on Zillo won't apply at yours. Then look it up in Gift cards: voided, expired, and zero-balance cards are all rejected at checkout.
Code rejected? The code field isn't fussy about capitals, but the dashes matter. Both g-aaaa-bbbb-cccc and G-AAAA-BBBB-CCCC work — typing the letters run together without dashes won't. Ask the customer to copy the code straight from their email or wallet pass.
If a customer wants to confirm their balance before checking out, point them to your-store.zillo.app/balance, where they can enter the code and see what's left.