Buying a gift card for someone abroad

Your cousin has been living in another country for a year, and instead of posting a parcel, you simply want to send her a gift card for her favourite shop. Giving a gift card to someone abroad sounds like the easiest solution there is: digital and with no postage. In practice, though, this is exactly where many cards fail, because they are tied to one particular country version of the same retailer and do not automatically work everywhere the name on the card appears.

The reason is rarely bad intent. It lies in how online shops are built technically: many retailers run a separate version of their shop for each country or language area, with its own range of products, its own currency and its own system for accounts and balances.

Why borders matter for gift cards at all

One and the same brand name can stand for several technically separate shops, one per country or region. A gift card issued for the shop in a particular country is then usually meant only for that shop, and the version for another country will not even recognise it, even if both sites look almost identical. This applies not only to physical cards but just as much to codes sent purely digitally.

For you as the buyer, that means the recipient's place of residence decides which version of the card makes sense, not where you live or which shop you usually use yourself.

Currency and conversion with a gift card

If you buy a card in euros for someone outside the eurozone, the destination shop often shows the balance in the local currency there, not in euros. How exactly it is converted depends on the retailer and the exchange rate, which you can read more about in the article on exchange rates and card fees abroad. The main thing to know is that the euro amount printed on the card will not necessarily arrive one to one in the local currency.

Say you buy a gift card for 25 euros that will be used in another currency in the destination country, and in this example the exchange rate on that day is 1 euro to 1.08 of that foreign currency. On paper, that would come to around 27 units of the foreign currency, not a round figure but the result of a fluctuating rate that shifts slightly from day to day.

How to check before buying whether a card works in the destination country

The most reliable way is to look on the retailer's own website before you buy, to see which countries a particular gift card is valid for at all. Many shops state this directly next to the card, for example as a note about a particular country code or language. If there is no such information at all, it is worth asking customer service briefly before spending money on a card that ends up in the wrong shop.

One simple check question almost always helps: if the recipient normally orders through a particular web address or app version, the card should be meant for exactly that version, not for the one you are used to using yourself.

Digital delivery as an easier way across borders

A gift card sent digitally saves postage and waiting time compared with a physical card, but it does not solve the country problem by itself. The code remains tied to the same country-specific shop as a physical card. The only difference is how it is delivered: an email instead of an envelope, while the actual restriction to the right country shop stays in place.

Returns and each country's own rules

Within the EU, online purchases generally come with a 14-day right of withdrawal, but this mainly concerns the original purchase and does not change whether a card technically works in the destination country at all. These are EU rules; outside the EU, for example in Switzerland, the UK, the US or Canada, each country has its own rules. If you give a card across borders, it is therefore better to rely less on a general right to return it and more on checking beforehand whether the card can actually be used where the recipient lives.

An alternative when there is no suitable card

If there is no suitable gift card for the destination country, the only option is often to buy directly from the shop there and have the delivery addressed to the recipient, rather than taking the detour through a card. How to keep the risk of loss smaller when giving a card within the same country is described in the article Giving gift cards: loss and expiry. An overview of how gift cards differ in principle from a simple discount code is given in the article Gift cards and vouchers: the difference. You can find a list of many shops in the shop overview on daily-coupons.info.

Frequently asked questions

Can I simply use a gift card in any country the retailer operates in?

Not reliably. Many retailers run a separate shop version for each country, and a card is usually only valid for the version it was issued for. So it is worth checking the country information on the card before you buy.

Why is the value of my card shown differently in the destination country?

Because many shops outside the eurozone show the balance in their local currency. The euro amount originally paid is then converted at the current exchange rate, which can fluctuate slightly every day.

Is a digital card easier than a physical one across borders?

For delivery, yes, because no post is needed. It does not change the actual country problem, though, since the code is still only meant for the intended country shop.

What do I do if a card I bought does not work in the destination country?

The first step is the customer service of the shop that issued it, ideally with the receipt. A refund is not always guaranteed, which is why checking before you buy remains the safer route.