Shopify gift cards no longer count toward the minimum order amount for free shipping, even when shipping settings are configured as “based on order price.”
Workarounds identified:
Physical product substitute: Create a regular physical product instead of using Shopify’s gift card feature, assign it a custom shipping profile with free shipping. This allows it to count toward shipping thresholds but requires manually creating and sending gift cards.
Checkout blocks solution: Keep standard shipping rules intact (e.g., free shipping over $50), then add a custom shipping discount using checkout blocks. Configure it to trigger free shipping when cart subtotal meets the threshold AND contains an item from a “Gift Cards” collection. This preserves Shopify’s native gift card functionality and tracking.
The issue appears unintended since gift cards do count toward order totals. Users suggest Shopify could add a toggle option for merchants to choose whether gift cards count toward free shipping thresholds.
In the past, our customers used gift cards to reach the minimum order amount required for free shipping. However, it appears that this no longer works, as Shopify does not count gift cards towards the minimum order amount.
I already checked the shipping options for free shipping and they are set to “based on order price”
if anyone got any ideas?
Same issue here. Any solutions?
Hi Thomas,
We have now “fixed” the issue by avoiding the use of the gift card product and instead using a regular (physical) product as a substitute for a gift card. This allows us to assign a specific shipping profile to it, which includes free shipping. This solution ensures that the gift card counts towards the shipping total for other products, but does not incur shipping costs when only a gift card is ordered. The downside is that we have to manually create and send out these gift cards.
I wish there was a simple option for gift cards, like a toggle that says “counts towards free shipping” or something similar.
That’s a clever solution, even if it’s not perfect. Makes sense. It seems like an unintended issue. Gift cards count toward the order total, and free shipping in Shopify can be/is set up based on the order total. Hopefully, it is something they resolve, your idea would be a great way to do so if not every merchant wants that functionality. Regardless, your response is much appreciated!
Wanted to share my solution to this in case anyone comes across this thread.
I did not want to create a physical product and then have to do all the work of sending out the gift cards since Shopify already does all of the nicely and tracks the gift cards and balances.
I left the regular shipping rules in place in the shipping policy/settings for free shipping on orders over $50.
Then I added a custom shipping discount using checkout blocks that checks if the cart subtotal is $50 or more, and if one of the items in the cart is in the collection Gift Cards (which I added my gift card product to), then shipping is free. Seems to be working!