Gift subscriptions.

Sell subscriptions as gifts with configurable durations and branded recipient emails. The buyer picks a duration, the recipient gets a redemption link, and the gift runs for exactly the deliveries the buyer paid for and then ends by itself.

Last updated · November 7, 2026

How a gift subscription works

The buyer chooses Send as a gift on a product page and checks out through Shopify’s standard checkout. A gift runs for as many deliveries as fit its length on the subscription plan the buyer picks: a 3-month gift on a monthly plan is 3 deliveries; on a plan that bills every 3 months it would be 1. The first delivery is the checkout order itself, which goes to the buyer’s own address.

Because of that, a gift needs at least 2 deliveries. A 3-month gift on a plan that bills every 3 months, or a 12-month gift on a yearly plan, can’t be bought, and neither can a plan whose billing interval doesn’t divide the gift length evenly (for example a 6-month gift on a yearly plan). In those cases the gift is not created.

Daima then emails the recipient a unique gift code and a redemption link. Until the recipient redeems, their gift is not renewed, so the buyer is not charged for deliveries the recipient hasn’t received. Each renewal after that spends one delivery, and the last delivery completes the gift and cancels its billing — the buyer is never charged beyond the duration they chose.

Enable gift subscriptions

Open Gift Subscriptions in the admin nav. The Gift Settings card has:

• Enable gift subscriptions — shows the “Send as gift” option on the subscription widget.
• Gift Durations — tick 3 months, 6 months and/or 12 months. These are the lengths buyers can choose.
• Payment model — Pay upfront (full amount) or Pay each billing cycle (gifter billed at every renewal). Upfront is the default.
• Allow personal message — lets the buyer add a note that appears in the recipient’s email and on the redemption page.

The same page shows Gift Stats (total gifts, purchased, sent, redeemed, active, completed, and total revenue) and a Gift Orders table you can filter by status. A How it works button at the top expands a short walkthrough.

The buyer’s experience

On a product page where gifting is enabled, the subscribe widget shows a Send as a gift checkbox. Checking it opens these fields:

• Recipient’s name and Recipient’s email (both required)
• Gift message — optional, up to 500 characters, only if you allow personal messages
• Gift duration — picked from the lengths you ticked
• Delivery date — optional. Leave it blank and the gift email goes out right away; choose a future date (a birthday, an anniversary, a holiday) and Daima holds the email until that day.

The gift fields do not get in the way of a theme’s own Add to cart button. The buyer then checks out normally, and the gift appears in your Gift Orders table once the order is paid.

The recipient’s experience

On the delivery date (or straight away), the recipient gets an email titled “<gifter> sent you a gift subscription” with their gift code, the gifter’s message if there is one, and a redemption link.

The link opens a page on your store titled Redeem Your Gift Subscription. It shows the product, the duration and the frequency, then asks for the recipient’s name, email and shipping address. The email must be the one the gift was sent to. They press Activate My Gift Subscription, and Daima creates their customer account and starts their subscription. There is no separate sign-in step.

If the recipient hasn’t redeemed, Daima nudges them with up to two reminder emails: the first 7 days after the gift email, the last at 14 days. The gifter gets an email when the gift is on its way and another when the recipient redeems.

The gift lifecycle

The Gift Orders table shows each gift in one of these states (you can filter by them):

• Awaiting payment — the gift was started but the order isn’t paid yet. It can’t be redeemed, emailed or counted as revenue.
• Purchased — paid; the recipient email is queued or waiting for its delivery date. Mark Sent lets you override the timing.
• Sent — the redemption email has gone out.
• Redeeming — the recipient has started redeeming.
• Redeemed / Active — redeemed; deliveries are running and the deliveries column counts down.
• Completed — the final delivery is done. The column shows Done.

Deliveries count down by themselves as the gift’s subscription renews. Mark Delivered appears only for a gift with no subscription of its own, for shops that ship those by hand.

What happens when the gift is used up

After the last delivery the gift moves to Completed and its billing is cancelled, so the buyer isn’t charged again. If the gift shared a subscription with the buyer’s own items, only the gift’s lines are removed and the rest carries on.

The recipient gets a branded email saying their gift has wrapped up, with a link to carry on with a subscription of their own. Daima never charges the recipient’s card or converts the gift into a paid subscription by itself.

Designing a useful gift program

• Lead with the 3-month gift. Lower price point, lower commitment for the buyer, often the highest-converting duration. The 12-month gift is for known relationships (parents, partners).
• Write the personal message prompt into your product copy. The gifter's message is the first thing the recipient reads on the gift email and the redemption page, so encourage buyers to add one.
• Schedule, don't deliver immediately. Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries are gift-buying moments. Surface the future-delivery option prominently in your buy form.
• Use the wrap-up email. When a gift is used up, Daima emails the recipient an invitation to continue with a subscription of their own, so the end of the gift is a natural moment to convert them.