Corporate gift cards are prepaid cards a business buys to reward employees, thank clients or run incentives, and the right one depends on how well you know the person receiving it. If you know their favorite brand, send that brand. If you don’t, or your team spans several countries, let them choose.
Picking one brand for a whole team is like choosing the restaurant for a group dinner without asking anyone. It works if you know everyone’s taste. Otherwise somebody ends up eating a salad at a steakhouse.
Here’s how to match the card to the people, what it costs and what to check before you send.
What are corporate gift cards, and when do companies send them?
A corporate gift card is a prepaid card a company pays for and gives away: to an employee for a milestone, to a client as a thank-you, to a customer for answering a survey. The company funds it, and the recipient spends it at the brand or brands on the card.
On Giftronaut, the common occasions are employee recognition (milestones, work anniversaries and holidays), marketing incentives, sales incentives, and survey and research incentives.
Digital corporate gift cards are delivered instantly by email, so there’s nothing to ship, and they produce zero packaging waste.
Sending peaks in December: in 2025, Giftronaut had 4.4 times as many recipients that month as in the average month (Giftronaut data, 2025). If you plan a holiday send, fund early. The first deposit for a new business account is held during verification, and most reviews finish within one business day.
Which type of corporate gift card should you send?
It comes down to one question: do you know what this person wants? Giftronaut has three reward types, and each answers it differently.
| Reward type | Best when | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Choice Card | The group is mixed, or recipients are in different countries. They choose the country, currency and brand. | Once a recipient confirms a pick, it can’t be changed, and the brand’s own terms apply from then on. |
| Branded Gift Card | You know the brand, or your program requires a specific one. You choose the brand, country and currency when you order. | It can’t be exchanged for another brand once the code is revealed. |
| Payout Options | Recipients would rather take cash through services such as PayPal or Venmo. | It’s the one reward type with a redemption fee (see the cost table below). |
Most senders lean toward choice: rewards where recipients pick their own brand account for 82% of Giftronaut recipients and 82% of total order value (Giftronaut data, September 2026). Branded cards make up 31% of orders but only 18% of recipients, which suggests they’re used mostly for smaller, targeted sends where a program needs a specific brand.
A Choice Card isn’t a free-for-all. You can limit which countries and brands the recipient sees, and they can split one reward across brands, say part Amazon and part Uber. Our guide to Choice Cards has more.
Which brands do recipients actually pick?
If you’re tempted to build your own top-10 list, look at what people choose when nobody picks for them. Amazon.com is the brand Giftronaut recipients pick most often, chosen 18,446 times. That’s almost five times the Visa Reward Virtual Account (3,828), the runner-up, and well ahead of Walmart (2,264), Starbucks (1,928) and Target (1,318), measured as of September 2026.
Popularity depends on where the recipient lives. Amazon accounts for 49.4% of redemptions in the United States, while GrabFood PHP leads in the Philippines at 32.9%. In Spain the top brand captures 78.1% of selections, but in Brazil the top brand takes just 11.4% (Giftronaut data, September 2026).
So a brand list built around US habits doesn’t travel. The catch is that a popular pick tells you where the crowd goes, not what your team wants. If you can’t ask them, let them choose.
How much do corporate gift cards cost to send?
Giftronaut charges zero platform fees and has no contracts, subscriptions or per-card fees, so the main cost is the rewards you send. Every order is prepaid, so you add funds first, and how you fund decides whether a fee applies.
| Cost | When it applies | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Credit card deposit | You add funds by credit card | 3% processing fee, $100 minimum deposit |
| ACH or wire deposit | You add funds by invoice paid through ACH or wire | No fee, $100 minimum deposit |
| Standard gift cards and prepaid cards | The recipient redeems | No redemption fee, unless the issuing brand’s own terms say otherwise |
| Payout Options | The recipient takes the reward as cash | 4% (minimum $0.25 per recipient) when the sender covers it, 6% (minimum $1 per recipient) when the recipient covers it |
Say you run people ops at a 150-person company and send everyone a $50 holiday card. That’s $7,500. A 3% processing fee on a credit card deposit of that size works out to $225. Funding by ACH or wire costs nothing, though wires usually take 1 to 2 business days and ACH 2 to 5, counted from the day your bank sends the payment. (That’s a hypothetical example, so check the numbers against your own order.)
Payout Options have one catch worth knowing. If you enable them on a Choice Card and cover the fee yourself, it’s charged for every recipient in the order, including the ones who end up redeeming a regular gift card. By default, recipients cover it.
How do you send corporate gift cards to a global team?
Start with the rule that trips up most senders: gift cards are country-specific. An Amazon.co.uk card can’t be redeemed on Amazon.com, and the same goes for other brands sold in several countries.
There are two ways around that. The first is a Choice Card. You don’t pick a country catalog when you order. Each recipient selects their country and currency when they redeem, from 51 currencies, then chooses from the rewards available there.
The second is a global prepaid reward. Giftronaut offers local gift cards in 71 countries, and where there isn’t one, the Global Visa Reward Card USD can be used in 225 countries (our guide to bulk prepaid Visa and Mastercard gift cards has the details). You can also translate reward emails into any of 15 languages. Our guide to e-gift cards for international recipients covers the options by region.
Two limits apply. Access is blocked from 12 countries under US sanctions, and some countries need client-level enablement before branded cards appear at checkout. If one is missing from your account, email support@giftronaut.com.
How do you run a corporate gift card program, step by step?
You can set up a first program on a gift card platform in an afternoon. This order keeps it simple:
- Pick one occasion and one audience. Employees, clients and survey participants need different cards. Start with something you already reward, like work anniversaries or the holiday send.
- Choose the type. Use the table above. If you’re unsure, send a Choice Card.
- Set the amount. Our guide on how much to send can help. Every product has its own minimum and maximum, and about 86% need whole amounts, so $25.50 won’t go through on those.
- Fund the account. Orders can’t go out until your account is funded, so deposit before your send date.
- Brand the email. A Brand Template adds your logo, colors, sender name and a default message, and works across one-time orders, Smart Orders and campaigns. With White Label on, recipients see your logo on the verification and redemption pages too.
- Send now or schedule it. A one-time order can go out immediately or on a set date, and you can add recipients one by one or upload a spreadsheet with a different amount for each person. For recurring dates like birthdays and work anniversaries, Smart Orders send on schedule once they’re set live, so recurring rewards don’t depend on someone’s memory. A scheduled order can be canceled until it’s sent, but a fulfilled order can’t be canceled, returned, exchanged or refunded.
- Check in on the data. Order History in Order Management lets you track delivery in real time, and you can download a recipient-level CSV with emails, amounts and delivery status.
Most rewards that get redeemed are claimed quickly. Of 45,162 redeemed rewards, 37.3% were redeemed the same day, 51.6% within one day, 76.3% within 7 days and 95.6% within 30 days (Giftronaut data, September 2026). That’s redeemed rewards only, so it says nothing about the cards nobody opened.
It gives you two natural check-ins. Around day 7, about three quarters of the rewards that will be redeemed are already claimed. Around day 30, almost all are, so a card still sitting unopened then is worth a nudge.
If a recipient hasn’t claimed a card, only the sender can update the email address and resend it. Resending doesn’t reduce your balance or add a charge, though several resends in a short period can trigger spam filters. Corporate security filters often hold reward emails, so ask the recipient’s IT team to allowlist no-reply@giftronaut.com and the giftronaut.com domain.
Are corporate gift cards taxable?
For US employees, the IRS gives a firm answer on one point. Publication 15-B says cash and cash equivalent fringe benefits, such as gift certificates and gift cards, are never excludable as a de minimis benefit, no matter how little they’re worth (IRS Publication 15-B, 2026). Tell your payroll team before the send so they can decide how to report them. Our guide for employers on taxable gift cards goes deeper.
That covers US employees only. For client gifts, or employees in other countries, ask your tax adviser.
If you turn on Giftronaut’s W-9 feature before you send, a US recipient redeeming a USD reward from a US IP address is asked for W-9 details once their rewards reach $2,000 in a calendar year. We don’t issue or e-file 1099 forms for you.
Pick the first card to send
You don’t need a full program on day one. Choose one occasion you already reward, decide whether you know what each person wants, and send that first batch. If you know everyone’s favorite restaurant, book it. If you don’t, hand them the menu.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can a company buy corporate gift cards in bulk?
Through a platform that lets you place one order for many recipients, as our guide to bulk gift cards for employees explains, or compare where to buy gift cards more broadly. With Giftronaut, you fund your account, choose a Choice Card or a Branded Gift Card, and upload a spreadsheet of recipients, with a different amount per person if you need it. Orders are prepaid, and the minimum deposit is $100 USD.
Are there fees on corporate gift cards sent through Giftronaut?
Giftronaut charges zero platform fees, with no contracts or subscriptions. Funding by ACH or wire has no fee, while credit card deposits carry a 3% processing fee. Standard gift cards and prepaid cards carry no redemption fee unless the issuing brand’s terms say otherwise, while Payout Options carry a 4% or 6% fee depending on who covers it.
Which corporate gift cards work for employees in different countries?
A Choice Card works well, because each recipient selects their country and brand when they redeem, so you don’t need to know where anyone is when you order. Giftronaut gift cards are country-specific and can’t be redeemed in another country, so a branded card works only in the country it was issued for.
Are corporate gift cards taxable for employees in the US?
The IRS says cash equivalents such as gift cards can never be excluded as a de minimis fringe benefit, however small the amount (IRS Publication 15-B, 2026). Check with your payroll team or tax adviser about how to report them.
What happens if an employee never redeems a corporate gift card?
The reward stays unredeemed, and the sender can update the email address and resend it at no extra charge. If you chose the Refund Option when you placed the order, 50%, 40% or 30% of the unredeemed value (for a 30, 60 or 90 day window) returns to your balance when the window closes.
Can you put your company logo on corporate gift cards?
Yes, on the reward email. A Brand Template adds your logo, colors, sender name and a default message, and White Label carries your logo and button color onto the verification and redemption pages. For a Choice Card you can also upload your own image as the card design.
