47%
of holiday shoppers would like to receive gift cards this season (NRF, 2026).
Fees checked October 25, 2026
Digital gift cards for restaurants (2026): what each platform charges
The gift card tools that publish their fees take 2.5% to 3.49% of every dollar you sell, plus card processing. Here is what Square, SpotOn, Toast, Clover, Gift Up and Yiftee publish, what $5,000 of holiday eGift sales costs on each, and the rules your cards must follow.
One-minute answer
- Selling $5,000 of eGift cards costs about $300 to $350 in fees on the tools that publish their prices: $300 on Square Plus, $312.50 to $334.50 on SpotOn, $349.50 on Gift Up with Stripe.
- Square and SpotOn charge a 2.5% load fee on top of card processing. Square Premium ($149 a month per location) drops the load fee to 0%.
- Gift Up has no monthly fee and charges 3.49% per card sold, and you bring your own payment processor.
- Toast and Clover do not publish their gift card fees. Get them in writing before you order cards.
- In New Jersey the money on a gift card cannot expire within 24 months, and federal rules generally require five years. Square, Toast and Clover cards do not expire.
- Why now: 47% of holiday shoppers want gift cards this year and 43% planned to start before November (NRF, 2026). Restaurant cards were the top gift card type last season (27%, NRF 2025).
- Disclosure: Orderitto publishes this page. Our pricing page does not list gift cards, so Orderitto is not in the fee table.
Why set this up in October and November
Holiday buyers want gift cards, and restaurant cards lead
The National Retail Federation's 2026 holiday page says 47% of holiday shoppers would like to receive gift cards, more than any other gift, and 43% planned to start shopping before November. In its 2025 Thanksgiving weekend survey, NRF expected total gift card spending of $29.1 billion and said restaurants were the most popular gift card type at 27%. Have your eGift page live before Black Friday (November 27, 2026), so it is there when they start.
27%
for restaurant cards, the most popular gift card type, ahead of bank-issued and department store cards (25% each) (NRF, 2025).
$29.1B
expected US holiday gift card spending in 2025, up from $28.6 billion in 2024 (NRF).
Every fee, from the vendors' own pages
What each restaurant gift card platform charges
Every cell was read on October 25, 2026 from the page linked in the sources at the bottom. “Not published” means we read the vendor's page and the figure is not there. Ask for it in writing before you sign or order cards.
| Platform | What it is | Monthly fee | Fee on each sale or load | Card processing | Redeeming | Expiry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square Gift Cards | Built into Square POS and Square Online | $0 on Square Free; $49 (Plus) or $149 (Premium) a month per location for the whole Square plan | 2.5% load fee on Free and Plus; 0% on Premium | 2.9% + 30¢ on an eGift ordering page (Square's pricing page lists 3.3% + 30¢ online on Free) | No fee to redeem | Square cards do not expire |
| SpotOn gift cards | Built into SpotOn POS | $0 a month for gift cards (POS from $0 or $55 a station) | 2.5% load fee on e-gift cards | Keyed and online: 3.45% + 15¢ (POS Essentials) or 3.79% + 20¢ (All-In) | No redemption fee listed | Not stated on the gift card page |
| Toast Gift Cards | Toast module for Toast POS and Toast Online Ordering | Not published | Not published | Custom quote (“We'll work with you to build a custom rate”) | Not published | Toast cards have no expiration date |
| Clover Gift Cards | Built into Clover POS | Not published on clover.com | Not published on clover.com | Your Clover processing rate | Not published | Clover cards do not expire |
| Gift Up | Stand-alone gift card shop for your website | $0: no monthly or setup fee, no contract | 3.49% per card sold ($0.50 minimum); 1.99% on free cards you give away | Your own processor, which Gift Up says is “typically between 1.4% and 2.9%” | Not listed as a fee | Not stated; Gift Up says you keep any expired or unused value |
| Yiftee Merchant Cards | Stand-alone cards, any POS, tap-to-pay redemption | $29.95 a month for one location (+$12 a location after that) | Not published for merchant cards | Not published | Mastercard-powered tap-to-pay | Not stated on the pricing page |
| eGiftify | White-label gift card and loyalty platform | Not published | Not published | Not published | Integrates with POS systems such as Toast | Not published |
Scroll the table sideways on a phone. A load fee is charged each time money is put on a card, so a guest who reloads a card pays it again, and on Square Free and Plus the 2.5% applies to every load.
Worked math
What $5,000 of holiday eGift card sales costs on each platform
The example: you sell $5,000 of eGift cards online between Thanksgiving and New Year's, as 100 cards of $50 each (our assumption). Each total is the fee on the sale plus card processing. Monthly plan fees are listed beside it, not in the total, because a POS plan pays for far more than gift cards.
| Platform and plan | Plan fee | Sale or load fee | Card processing | Fees on $5,000 | How it adds up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square Premium | $149 a month per location | $0 | $175 | $175 | No load fee. The plan costs $100 a month more than Plus, so it only pays for itself on gift cards above $4,000 a month in loads. |
| Square Plus | $49 a month per location | $125 | $175 | $300 | 2.5% load fee plus 2.9% + 30¢ online. |
| Square Free | $0 | $125 | $175 to $195 | $300 to $320 | Square's gift card page lists 2.9% + 30¢ on its eGift ordering page; its pricing page lists 3.3% + 30¢ online on Free. Both shown. |
| SpotOn, POS Essentials | $55 a station for the POS | $125 | $187.50 | $312.50 | Assumes e-gift sales are charged SpotOn's published keyed and online rate. Confirm with SpotOn. |
| SpotOn, All-In | $0 a station | $125 | $209.50 | $334.50 | Same assumption. All-In has processing minimums and a two-year minimum term. |
| Gift Up + Stripe | $0 | $174.50 | $175 | $349.50 | Gift Up's 3.49% plus Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ as the example processor. Works beside any POS. |
| Toast, Clover, eGiftify, Yiftee | See the fee table | Not published | Not published | Not possible | Ask each one for the monthly fee, any sale or load fee and any redemption fee in writing. |
What the math shows
Card processing is about the same everywhere, $175 to $210 on $5,000. The difference is the fee on each sale: $0 on Square Premium, $125 on Square Free and Plus and on SpotOn, $174.50 on Gift Up. On a whole season that gap is a few hundred dollars, so pick the tool whose cards your counter can actually take.
Using Orderitto, or thinking about it?
Our pricing page does not list gift cards on any plan. Ask us in a 15-minute demo how gift cards would work with your ordering site and POS before you plan a holiday promotion around them.
Ask us about gift cards
How it works at your counter
Selling online, redeeming in the restaurant
An eGift card only helps if your staff can take it. This is how each POS describes redemption on its own pages.
Square
eGift cards are free to set up and can be sold online and in-store. Guests redeem them at your Square Point of Sale with a scannable QR code or barcode, or on your Square Online site, at any of your locations. Balances can be checked and reloaded by the guest.
Toast
Guests buy eGift cards on your website or through Toast Online Ordering and send them by email or text, even on a scheduled date. They pay with them over the phone, online, or in person by QR code, which only Toast Go handhelds and Toast-issued scanners can scan. Toast cards cannot be used on DoorDash, Grubhub or Uber Eats orders.
Clover
Clover Gift Cards are set up from the Clover device dashboard, in physical and digital form, and a gift card can start a payment that another card finishes (split tender). Clover's reports include an outstanding liability report.
SpotOn
Physical cards are activated and loaded from the SpotOn POS Front of House screen and redeemed as a Gift Card tender. E-gift cards can be sold on your restaurant's website, including with online ordering, and guests check balances with a QR code.
Gift Up
A gift card shop you add to your own website, with no monthly fee. It does not run your POS, so plan how staff will look up and take a card at the counter before you launch.
Yiftee
Merchant cards are POS-agnostic and redeemed with Mastercard-powered tap-to-pay, for $29.95 a month at one location. Yiftee also runs town-wide community cards, where buyers pay a $1 + 5% eDelivery fee.
If you also want plastic cards
What printed gift cards cost
Only SpotOn publishes a full price list. SpotOn: 75 cards for $85.50, 125 for $130, 250 for $245 and 500 for $450, plus shipping. Clover says physical cards cost “less than $1 per card.” Toast says the cost per card varies with the quantity ordered through its card printer, eCard Systems, with up to six business days to produce generic cards and up to 12 for custom designs, before shipping. Square says its physical card price depends on how many you order. Order in early November if you want them at the register for the holidays.
The rules your cards must follow
Federal and New Jersey gift card law, in plain words
Read from the regulation and the statute on October 25, 2026. This is a summary for planning, not legal advice. Other states have their own rules.
Federal: 12 CFR 1005.20
- A store gift card's funds cannot expire sooner than five years after it was issued or last loaded, and the expiry has to be disclosed on the card.
- No dormancy, inactivity or service fee unless the card has had no activity for a year, the fee is disclosed on the card, and no more than one fee is charged a month.
- Promotional, loyalty or award cards are treated differently, but only if the front says they are promotional and shows the expiry date.
New Jersey: N.J.S.A. 56:8-110
- The money on a gift card cannot expire within 24 months of the sale.
- No dormancy fee within 24 months of the sale or of the last use, and never more than $2.00 a month.
- Any expiry date or dormancy fee, and a phone number to call about them, must be printed in at least 10-point type on the card, receipt or package.
- If less than $5 is left after a purchase, you refund it in cash when the owner asks, with exceptions such as rewards cards.
The simplest card to sell is one with no expiry date and no fees, which is how Square, Toast and Clover say their cards work. Gift Up's pricing page talks about expired gift card value, so check both rules before you put an expiry on any card you sell.
Holiday gift card promotion
A six-step setup before Black Friday
Black Friday is November 27, 2026. Work back from it.
1. Pick the tool your counter can take
If your POS has gift cards built in (Square, Toast, Clover, SpotOn), start there so the balance works at the register. Otherwise choose a stand-alone tool and test a redemption with a staff member before you sell one.
2. Get the fees in writing
Ask for the monthly fee, the fee on each sale or load, the processing rate on an online gift card sale and any redemption fee. For Toast and Clover, none of these are on their public pages.
3. Put the eGift link where guests already order
Toast and SpotOn both say their e-gift cards can be sold on your own website, and Square on Square Online. Add the link to your menu page and your online ordering page, not only to social posts.
4. Set up a bonus card the legal way
A “buy $50, get a $10 bonus card” offer works best when the bonus card is clearly promotional: the word promotional and the expiry date on its front, as the federal rule requires for it to be treated as a promotional card. Keep bought cards free of expiry dates and fees.
5. Brief your staff
Show every cashier how to scan or key a card, check a balance and split a payment, and tell New Jersey staff about the under-$5 cash-back rule.
6. Track what you owe
Gift card money is a liability until it is spent. Toast's help center says gift card sales sit in your books as deferred revenue until redeemed, and Clover offers an outstanding liability report. Check the balance each month after the holidays.
The figures behind the tables
Six numbers worth checking yourself
Each figure links to the page it was read from.
47%
47% of holiday shoppers say they would like to receive gift cards this holiday season, ahead of clothing (44%), and 43% plan to start shopping before November.
Source: NRF: Winter Holiday Data and Trends · 202627%
Restaurants were the most popular holiday gift card type at 27%, ahead of bank-issued and department store cards (25% each), with gift card spending expected to reach $29.1 billion.
Source: NRF Thanksgiving weekend survey (November 20, 2025) · 20252.5%
Square charges a 2.5% load fee each time funds are added to a gift card or eGift card on Square Free and Plus, on top of processing, and 0% on Square Premium ($149 a month per location).
Source: Square Pricing and Square Gift Cards · 20262.5%
SpotOn gift cards are $0 a month, with a 2.5% load fee on e-gift cards purchased by customers; 75 physical cards cost $85.50 plus shipping.
Source: SpotOn Gift Cards · 20263.49%
Gift Up has no monthly or setup fee and charges 3.49% per gift card sold (50-cent minimum); the restaurant pays its own card processor on top.
Source: Gift Up Pricing · 202624 months
In New Jersey, the funds on a gift card cannot expire within 24 months of the sale, and any dormancy fee is capped at $2.00 a month.
Source: N.J.S.A. 56:8-110 · 2026How we compared
Method and disclosure
Fees from vendor pages only
Every fee was read from the vendor's own pricing, product or help page on October 25, 2026. No figure comes from another comparison site, a reseller or an affiliate list. There are no paid links on this page.
Who wrote this
The Orderitto team at INVASSO LLC in Parsippany, New Jersey. Orderitto sells online ordering for restaurants. Our pricing page does not list a gift card feature or fee, so Orderitto is not ranked or totaled here.
What the totals leave out
Monthly POS plan fees, printed cards and shipping, chargebacks, sales tax handling and any service fee you choose to add for buyers. The $50 card size is our assumption; your own average card changes the 30¢ part of processing.
What to ask every vendor
Get five things in writing: the fee on each sale or load, the processing rate on an online gift card sale, any monthly fee, whether cards work at your counter and online, and how you export card balances if you leave.
Built in Parsippany, New Jersey
Planning gift cards around your own ordering site?
Orderitto builds commission-free online ordering websites for independent restaurants: Starter is $799 setup and $149 a month, Pro is $1,299 and $249 and adds the app, loyalty and promo codes. Gift cards are not listed on our pricing page, so ask us how they would work with your setup before the holidays.
Keep planning your holiday season
Restaurant loyalty program software
Points, rewards and repeat-order tools that bring gift card recipients back a second time.
Square online ordering fees
What Square charges per online order on its Free and Plus plans.
Toast online ordering
Toast's online ordering, its fees and the direct-ordering alternatives.
Clover online ordering
How online ordering works for Clover restaurants and what it costs.
Online ordering system prices
Every major online ordering system priced from the vendors' own pages.
Orderitto pricing
Starter, Pro and Founders plans, setup fees and what each includes.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost a restaurant to sell digital gift cards?
On the fees published on October 25, 2026, the tools that publish their fees take 2.5% to 3.49% of every gift card dollar sold, plus card processing of about 2.9% + 30¢. On $5,000 of eGift cards sold as 100 cards of $50, that is $300 on Square Plus, $312.50 to $334.50 on SpotOn and $349.50 on Gift Up with Stripe. Square Premium has no load fee ($175 in processing only) but costs $149 a month per location. Toast and Clover do not publish their gift card fees.
Can I use an eGift card at a restaurant?
Yes, at the restaurant that sold it, if its system accepts them. Square says its gift cards can be redeemed at a Square Point of Sale or on the business's Square Online site. Toast says guests can pay with an eGift card over the phone, online through Toast Online Ordering, or in person by scanning a QR code. Toast also says its gift cards cannot be used on orders placed through DoorDash, Grubhub or Uber Eats.
Which is the best gift card platform for a restaurant?
There is no single best one; it depends on your POS. If you run Square, Toast, Clover or SpotOn, start with the gift cards built into that POS, because the balance works at your counter with no extra hardware. If your POS has no gift cards, or you want a shop you can put on any website, a stand-alone tool such as Gift Up or Yiftee works beside it. Compare the fee per sale, the monthly fee and where the card can be redeemed.
Do restaurant gift cards expire in New Jersey?
Under New Jersey law (N.J.S.A. 56:8-110), the money on a gift card cannot expire within 24 months of the sale, and no dormancy fee can be charged in that time. The federal rule (12 CFR 1005.20) goes further: funds generally cannot expire for at least five years from issue or the last load. Square, Toast and Clover each say their cards do not expire at all. This is a summary of the law, not legal advice.
Can a bonus gift card from a holiday promotion expire?
Yes, if it is set up as a promotional card. Under 12 CFR 1005.20, a loyalty, award or promotional card is not treated as a store gift card when its front says it was issued for promotional purposes and shows the expiration date, with any fees and a toll-free number provided as the rule lists. New Jersey's law does not count a rewards card given without payment as a gift card. Keep bonus cards visibly different from cards guests pay for.
Do I have to give cash back for a small gift card balance in New Jersey?
Yes, in most cases. Since September 1, 2012, N.J.S.A. 56:8-110 says that if a balance of less than $5 is left after a purchase, the merchant must refund it in cash when the owner asks. The law lists exceptions, such as rewards cards and non-reloadable cards with an initial value of $5 or less.
Is gift card money revenue when I sell the card?
Not yet. Toast's help center says gift card sales appear in your books as deferred revenue, a liability, until the card is redeemed. You get the cash now and book the sale when the guest uses the card. Ask your accountant how to handle balances that are never used.
Does Orderitto sell digital gift cards?
Orderitto's pricing page does not list gift cards on any plan. If you take orders on Orderitto, or are thinking about it, ask us in a demo how gift cards would work with your setup before you plan a holiday promotion around them.
Want to know how gift cards would work with Orderitto?
Bring your POS and your holiday plans. In 15 minutes we will show the ordering site on your menu and answer what we can and cannot do for gift cards today.
Sources checked
- Square Gift CardsRead October 25, 2026. 2.5% load fee plus processing; eGift ordering page 2.9% + 30 cents; in person 2.6% + 15 cents; keyed 3.5% + 15 cents; no fee to redeem; eGift cards free to set up; cards do not expire.
- Square PricingRead October 25, 2026. Free $0, Plus $49 and Premium $149 a month per location; 2.5% load fee on Free and Plus, 0% on Premium; online 3.3% + 30¢ on Free, 2.9% + 30¢ on Plus and Premium.
- SpotOn Gift CardsRead October 25, 2026. $0 a month; 2.5% load fee on e-gift cards; 75 cards $85.50, 125 $130, 250 $245, 500 $450 plus S&H; e-gift cards on your website.
- SpotOn Payment ProcessingRead October 25, 2026. Preferred: 3.45% + $0.15 for keyed cards and online ordering. All-In: 3.79% + $0.20 for keyed cards and online ordering.
- SpotOn Restaurant PricingRead October 25, 2026. All-In $0 a station, processing minimums, two-year minimum term; POS Essentials $55 a station a month.
- Toast Gift CardsRead October 25, 2026. eGift by email or text, sold on your website or Toast Online Ordering; redeem by phone, online or QR in person. No price on the page.
- Toast Gift Card FAQRead October 25, 2026 (last updated October 8, 2026). No expiration date; not usable on DoorDash, Grubhub or Uber Eats orders; QR scanning only on Toast Go and Toast-issued scanners; gift card sales are deferred revenue until redeemed.
- Toast: Order New Toast Gift CardsRead October 25, 2026. Cards ordered through eCard Systems; cost per card varies with quantity; up to six business days for generic cards and up to 12 for custom, before shipping.
- Toast Payment Processing FeesRead October 25, 2026. "We'll work with you to build a custom rate specific to the characteristics of your restaurant."
- Clover Gift CardsRead October 25, 2026. Physical and digital cards from the device dashboard; cards do not expire; physical cards "for less than $1 per card"; outstanding liability report. No load or sale fee on the page.
- Clover Gift Card APIRead October 25, 2026. Supports split tender payment; cards can be reloaded and have no expiry date.
- Gift Up PricingRead October 25, 2026. No monthly or setup fees, no contract; 3.49% per gift card sold ($0.50 minimum); 1.99% on complimentary cards; your own processor, "typically between 1.4% and 2.9%."
- Yiftee PricingRead October 25, 2026. Merchant & Franchise Cards $29.95 a month for one location, +$12 a location; POS-agnostic; Mastercard-powered tap-to-pay. Community cards: buyers pay a $1 + 5% eDelivery fee.
- eGiftifyRead October 25, 2026. White-label gift card and loyalty platform; POS integrations including Toast. No price published.
- Stripe PricingRead October 25, 2026. 2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction for domestic cards.
- NRF: Winter Holiday Data and TrendsRead October 25, 2026. 47% of holiday shoppers would like to receive gift cards; 43% plan to start before November.
- NRF: Thanksgiving weekend survey (November 20, 2025)Read October 25, 2026. Gift card spending expected at $29.1 billion (from $28.6 billion in 2024); restaurants the most popular gift card type at 27%.
- 12 CFR 1005.20 (eCFR)Read October 25, 2026. Five-year minimum on funds expiry; dormancy fee limits; promotional card disclosures on the front of the card.
- N.J.S.A. 56:8-110Read October 25, 2026. No expiry within 24 months of sale; no dormancy fee within 24 months, $2.00 a month maximum; 10-point disclosure with a phone number; cash refund of a balance under $5 on request.
- Orderitto PricingRead October 25, 2026. Starter $799 + $149/mo, Pro $1,299 + $249/mo (adds the app, loyalty and promo codes), Founders $4,999 + $799/yr. No gift card feature or fee listed.