Gift cards for employee rewards are fee-free when each card costs your company face value and its terms charge employees no activation or monthly fee. Most brand gift cards and US prepaid Visa cards qualify when the sending platform charges no platform or per-card fee.
Fees show up in only a few places: credit card funding, cash payouts, and some prepaid spending in other currencies. Each of the 15 cards below lists its own conditions, so you can check them before you send.
Brand gift cards and US prepaid Visa cards can reach employees with no fee on either side. The company pays face value, and the employee pays no fee to use the card unless the brand’s own terms set one. Virtual, electronic, and e-gift cards for employees all mean the same thing here: a card sent digitally instead of plastic.
Here’s who pays what by card type, based on Giftronaut’s pricing page and Help Center as of October 2026.
| Card type | Company pays | Employee pays | Where it works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand gift cards (Amazon.com, Walmart, Target) | Face value, no per-card fee | Nothing, unless the brand’s terms set a fee | The country the card is issued for |
| US prepaid Visa | Face value, no per-card fee | No activation, redemption, monthly, or inactivity fee | The United States, including Washington, DC |
| Global Visa Reward Card | Face value, no per-card fee | Nothing on USD purchases; 6% on purchases in other currencies | Visa merchants abroad, except countries under US sanctions |
| PayPal or Venmo payout | Face value, plus 4% (minimum $0.25) if you cover the fee | 6% (minimum $1) if you don’t, which is the default | The employee’s PayPal or Venmo account |
Outside the cards, credit card funding carries a 3% processing fee, and ACH and wire funding are free. To compare no-fee cards for clients and personal gifts as well, start with our no-fee gift card roundup. For corporate gifting alone, see our corporate gift cards with no fees.
These 15 cards cover the ways employees spend rewards: shopping, food, tech, travel, and giving. Every brand card here is in Giftronaut’s US catalog as of October 2026. The fee and expiry notes quote each brand’s own terms from its catalog listing, and where a listing says nothing, the brand’s terms decide.
Which brands land best depends on your team. For more brand ideas before you choose, see our employee gift card list.
Amazon.com is the brand US recipients pick most when they get a free choice. In Giftronaut Choice Card selections for US products, from orders placed January 2025 to August 2026, Amazon.com ranked first. The Visa Virtual Reward Card, the US prepaid Visa in item 2 above, ranked second, and Walmart ranked third.
Source: Giftronaut Choice Card selections for US products, orders placed January 2025 to August 2026.
The ranking shows the top three only. Recipients chose other brands too, so a choice-based reward leaves room for every other pick.
See which of these cards employees in each country can get before you send.
Browse Brands →Giftronaut charges no platform, setup, subscription, or per-card fee, but a few other costs are worth checking. They come from how you fund the account, cash payouts, prepaid spending in other currencies, and rewards nobody redeems.
Giftronaut’s pricing page lists a 3% processing fee on credit card deposits. ACH and wire funding are free, and deposits start at $100. The card fee applies to your deposit and is never taken from an employee’s reward.
For example, on an illustrative $5,000 deposit, funding by card adds $150 and funding by ACH adds nothing.
Giftronaut’s bulk gift card page lists a PayPal and Venmo payout fee of 4% (minimum $0.25) if you cover it. It rises to 6% (minimum $1) if the employee does. The employee covers it by default.
So a $100 payout with the default setting leaves the employee $94. If you cover the fee instead, that same reward costs you $104.
The Global Visa Reward Card has no fee on USD purchases. Purchases in other currencies carry a 3% international fee plus a 3% foreign-exchange fee, 6% in total. To check the fee on a specific Visa card before you send, use the Visa fee breakdown in the Help Center.
The US prepaid Visa avoids this fee because it works only in the US. For how each Visa card compares, see our guide to Visa gift cards with no fees.
A Giftronaut reward expires 180 days after sending and can’t be redeemed after that date. With no Refund Option, unredeemed value isn’t returned. Once an employee redeems, the gift card follows its brand’s own validity, which is a separate date.
The Refund Option is selected when you place the order. You pick a 30-, 60-, or 90-day deadline and get back 50%, 40%, or 30% of unredeemed value to your Giftronaut account balance.
Say you send on March 1 with the 30-day option. When that window closes, 50% of whatever is still unredeemed returns to your balance.
Most US brand cards work only in the US, so staff abroad need a card issued for their country or a global prepaid card. Giftronaut offers local gift cards in 71 countries. Where no local catalog exists, two global prepaid cards fill the gap.
If you send a Choice Card to a mixed team, you can filter the brands employees see by category, country, and brand before you send. So a team spread across the US and Europe can get one order with the right cards for each place.
Provider reviews often stop at “no fees,” which leaves out the costs that move your budget. Five questions show the real cost of a program before you commit.
Giftronaut lets you send any of these cards from one account, to one employee or as a bulk gift card order for your whole company. There are no platform fees, contracts, or subscriptions. A Choice Card lets each employee pick from 4,300+ brands in 225 countries, depending on their location.
SMS delivery, added in October 2026, works with US and Canadian mobile numbers (+1) only. See how teams run employee recognition on Giftronaut.
Brand gift cards and prepaid cards cost face value to send, plus a processing fee only if you fund by credit card. Choice Card payouts to PayPal or Venmo are the exception, with a fee on each payout. Fund by ACH, check that each card works where the employee lives, and pick the redemption window that fits your budget.
Create a free account, add funds by ACH, wire, or card, and send your first employee reward.
Sign Up Free →Employees pay nothing to use most gift cards and prepaid cards, unless the brand’s own terms set a fee. Cash payouts through PayPal or Venmo are the exception, at 6% by default when the employee covers the fee.
Virtual gift cards and e-gift cards are the same thing: a gift card delivered digitally, with a code or link instead of plastic. Electronic and online gift cards are the same product under other names.
You can, as long as each card works where the employee lives. Most US brand cards work only in the US. For staff abroad, send a local card, a Global Visa Reward Card, or a Choice Card that lets them choose their country at redemption.
Gift cards that work like cash are taxable wages in the US. The IRS page on de minimis fringe benefits, updated in June 2026, says cash equivalent gift certificates are taxable and belong in W-2 wages. To plan payroll reporting before you send, read our gift card tax guide for employers.
The best card is the one each employee will actually use, so it depends on your team. Amazon.com ranked first in US Giftronaut Choice Card selections from orders placed January 2025 to August 2026. The Visa Virtual Reward Card and Walmart came second and third.