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

The terms you will run into running a gift card program, in plain English, and what each one means for how you operate.

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: Something redeemable by whoever holds it, or for a digital card, whoever has the code. Gift cards are bearer instruments: nobody checks ID at redemption. That is why fraud controls focus on making codes impossible to guess and on being able to suspend an individual card fast.
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, usually by email, and redeemed by entering or scanning a code at checkout. It behaves exactly like a physical card once issued. Only the delivery differs.
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 bought by one person to give to another, redeemable for goods or services at the issuing merchant. Called a gift voucher or gift certificate in some markets. Wrapped uses "gift card" throughout and treats vouchers, certificates and e-gifts as the same thing.
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 more than one location or store under the same brand. It needs one shared balance behind it, so spending part of the card at one site shows up immediately at every other.
Omnichannel: A program that works the same way for the customer in every channel: in store, online and on 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 that processes your in-store transactions. Wrapped integrates with leading POS platforms including Lightspeed (Retail and Restaurant), Square, Heartland, 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 you grant to a specific customer, most often instead of a cash refund or as a 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 shared balance immediately, so the card is correctly valued everywhere it can be redeemed.

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