Are gift cards and gift vouchers the same thing?

Yes — they're synonyms. "Gift card" is the more common term in U.S. and Canadian English; "gift voucher" is more common in Australian and British English. Both refer to the same stored-value instrument.

What's the difference between an e-gift card and a digital gift card?

Nothing — they're the same thing. Both refer to a gift card delivered electronically (typically by email) and redeemed by entering or scanning a code rather than presenting a physical card.

Reference

Gift card glossary

By Natasha Mazey Last reviewed 27 April 2026

Definitions of the terms that come up most often when running a gift card program — what they mean, how they relate, and how Wrapped uses each one.

Activation: The act of loading a gift card with value and making it redeemable. Activation typically happens at the point of sale (for physical cards) or immediately on purchase (for digital cards). Wrapped meters most pricing plans by new activations per period.
Bearer instrument: A financial instrument redeemable by whoever physically holds it (or, for digital instruments, whoever holds the code). Gift cards are bearer instruments — there is no account holder check at redemption — which is why anti-fraud controls focus on code entropy and card-level suspension.
Breakage: The portion of issued gift card balances that is never redeemed. Breakage is recognized as revenue under ASC 606 / IFRS 15, typically in proportion to actual redemptions when historical data supports an estimation.
Card draining: A physical fraud where attackers tamper with unactivated gift cards on retail racks, harvest the codes, then drain the value as soon as a customer activates the card. Mitigated by tamper-evident packaging, behind-counter inventory, and platform-level card suspension.
Deferred revenue: Cash received before goods or services have been delivered. Gift card sales create deferred revenue (also called a contract liability) on the balance sheet, recognized as actual revenue only when the card is redeemed.
Digital gift card: Also called an e-gift card or e-voucher. A gift card delivered electronically (typically by email) and redeemable by entering or scanning a code at checkout. Indistinguishable from a physical gift card in the ledger — the format is just delivery.
Escheat: The process by which unredeemed gift card balances are remitted to a government authority as unclaimed property after a state-defined holding period. Rules vary by U.S. state; some exempt single-merchant retail gift cards entirely.
Experience voucher: A voucher entitling the recipient to a specific experience or service (e.g. a wine tasting, a hotel stay, a tasting menu) rather than a dollar balance. Operationally similar to a gift card but bookable against a defined product, often with a redemption date.
Gift card: A stored-value instrument purchased by one person to give to another, redeemable for goods or services at the issuing merchant. Also called a gift voucher or gift certificate in some markets. Wrapped uses "gift card" as the canonical term and treats vouchers, certificates, and e-gifts as synonyms in customer-facing copy.
Gift voucher: Synonym for gift card, more common in Australian and British English. The two terms refer to the same instrument and are used interchangeably across Wrapped's documentation and platform.
Issuance: The creation of a new gift card with a unique code and starting balance. May happen at the point of sale, online, in bulk for corporate orders, or programmatically via the API.
Liability: The total outstanding gift card balance owed to recipients. Equal to all issued balances minus all redemptions. Reported on the balance sheet as a contract liability and tracked per channel for reconciliation.
Multi-site gift card: A gift card redeemable at multiple physical or digital locations under the same brand. Requires a unified balance ledger so a partial redemption at one site is immediately reflected at every other site.
Omnichannel: A program where the customer experience is consistent and synchronized across every channel — in-store, online, mobile. For gift cards, omnichannel means a card sold online can be redeemed in-store, a partial redemption updates everywhere in real time, and balances stay in sync without manual reconciliation.
POS: Point of sale — the system used to process in-store transactions. Wrapped integrates with leading POS platforms including Lightspeed (Retail and Restaurant), Square, Heartland, Hike, and Bopple, syncing gift card sales and redemptions in real time.
Redemption: The act of using gift card balance to pay for goods or services. Reduces the card's remaining balance and is recognized as revenue at the moment of redemption.
Refund-to-credit: The practice of issuing store credit instead of returning cash to the customer's original payment method. Keeps revenue inside the business and tends to result in repeat visits and incremental spend.
Site: A single physical location or eCommerce store where Wrapped is connected. Pricing plans set a maximum number of included sites; additional sites are billed at $20/month each.
Store credit: A balance the merchant grants to a specific customer — most commonly as a refund alternative or loyalty reward. Tied to a customer account, typically not transferable, and spends like cash inside the merchant's ecosystem.
Sync: The real-time propagation of balance changes across every connected channel. A redemption at one location updates the canonical balance immediately, so the card is correctly valued everywhere it can be redeemed.

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