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Use case · Employee gift cards

Virtual gift cards for employees

Skip the Amazon-only restriction. Issue bulk virtual Visa gift cards to your team in one Excel upload. Recipients spend them anywhere Visa is accepted.

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The problem

Three ways to thank your team. All three have problems.

You want to reward your people. The usual options are weak.

  • Amazon gift cards. One retailer. No flexibility. Reads as the easy choice.
  • Cash bonus. Gets lost in payroll. No gift framing. Often feels like a smaller paycheck.
  • Physical gift cards in bulk. Ordering, addressing, mailing, lost in the post. The moment passes before the cards arrive.
How we fix it

One spreadsheet. Bulk virtual gift cards delivered today.

Build a recipient sheet with names, emails, and amounts. Upload. We issue a virtual Visa gift card to each recipient and email them the card. They spend it at any Visa merchant.

  • Bulk via Excel. Upload a sheet with 5 recipients or 5,000. Each row becomes a gift card. One upload, one funding step.
  • Open-loop Visa. Recipients spend it anywhere Visa is accepted. Not locked to one retailer.
  • Branded delivery email. Recipients get an email with your company name on it, not a generic gift-card vendor's.
  • Physical option for big moments. Physical gift card options are available for eligible programs.
  • Works alongside other use cases. Same wallet funds contractor payments and department spending.
How it works

Four steps from spreadsheet to spent gift card.

  1. 01

    Build the recipient sheet.

    Columns: name, email, amount, optional message. One row per recipient.

  2. 02

    Upload and fund.

    The dashboard validates the sheet, totals the funding, and pulls from your wallet.

  3. 03

    Recipients receive the cards.

    Branded email with the virtual gift card details. They can add the card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.

  4. 04

    Track redemption.

    See which cards are redeemed and which have not been touched. Resend the delivery email to recipients who have not accessed their card.

See it in action

Your gift card program in one dashboard.

Watch redemption land, by recipient and by batch. Issue, freeze, or close any card from the same screen.

  • Virtual Card Maker dashboard showing active cards, total spending, pending and declined transactions, and recent activity for virtual gift cards for employees

    Live dashboard

    Active gift cards, total program spend, declined attempts, every redemption as it happens.

  • Create New Card form in Virtual Card Maker, with options to pick a Visa card type, set a spending limit, and choose between virtual or physical card

    Issue gift cards in minutes

    Pick the Visa Gift Card type, set the amount per recipient, choose virtual or physical, send the batch.

Controls

What you can set on every batch of gift cards.

ControlWhat you setWhy it matters

  • Per-recipient amount

    Set per row

    Different amounts per role, tier, or moment.

  • Delivery channel

    Email or physical

    Match the moment. Quick win or milestone.

  • Custom message

    Per recipient or batch-wide

    Personal touch on a programmatic process.

  • Expiry

    Set within applicable state-law limits

    Set within applicable consumer protection rules.

  • Reporting tag

    Campaign name or batch ID

    Per-batch redemption stats for HR or Finance.

In practice

Three ways teams use virtual gift cards.

  • 200-person holiday bonus

    People Ops uploads a sheet of 200 employees, each getting a $100 holiday gift card. Delivered Dec 15 with a branded message from the CEO. The per-recipient transaction record exports for payroll reporting.

  • Employee of the month

    $250 virtual card with a custom note. Pushed to Apple Wallet within an hour of the announcement. Recipient buys whatever they want.

  • Conference attendee thank-you

    Marketing sends $50 cards to 1,200 webinar attendees the day after the event. Branded as a thanks-for-joining-us follow-up.

Need cards for other kinds of spend? See contractor payments, business travel, or department budgets.

FAQ

Common questions.

Where can recipients spend the gift card?

Anywhere Visa is accepted. Online and in stores. Virtual Visa gift cards are open-loop, unlike single-retailer gift cards.

How is this taxed for the recipient?

Gift cards given to employees by an employer are generally taxable income according to the IRS (Publication 15-B), regardless of amount. Talk to your tax or payroll provider for the right treatment. We provide a per-recipient transaction record to support payroll reporting.

Can recipients add the card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet?

Yes. Recipients can push the virtual gift card to Apple Wallet or Google Wallet and tap to pay at any contactless terminal.

What if a recipient never redeems the card?

Gift card expiration and inactivity fees are regulated by state law and Visa network rules. Unredeemed balances stay on the card until used or the card expires. Funds for unissued cards remain in your wallet.

Can I send physical gift cards too?

Yes. Choose between virtual delivery via email or physical Visa gift cards shipped to any U.S. address.

Keep reading

Related setups.

Use cases

Issue the first one this afternoon.

Virtual gift cards for employees take about a minute each: pick the type, set the limit, add the restrictions, send it.

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