How much should a gift card cover?
Before choosing the number on a gift card, open the shop and look at what the recipient might buy. A round amount tells you very little until you put it beside a price.
The same card could pay for a whole game, leave someone a few dollars short of the one they want, or make a useful dent in a purchase they were already saving for. Those are different gifts. Decide which you mean to give before choosing the amount.
Your own budget comes first. Once you know what you can comfortably spend, the question is how to make that amount useful.
Pay for something they can enjoy straight away
If you want to give a complete treat, look for a purchase the card can cover without requiring the recipient to add their own money. That might be one game from their wishlist or a book they have been meaning to read. It does not have to be the most expensive thing in the shop.
For a concrete example, Balatro launched on PC and consoles in February 2024 at $14.99 in the US. A $20 card for the correct store leaves $5.01 above that game price, before any applicable tax. Check the final checkout total when buying credit for someone.
That could be a whole present for someone who wants a poker-inspired card game built around finding powerful combinations. For someone who dislikes that kind of play, the low price is irrelevant. Start with what they would enjoy, then work out the amount.
Covering a full purchase also means checking what is needed to use it. If you have an expansion in mind, confirm whether the recipient owns the required base game. For a digital book, check that the format works with how they read. A price that fits the card is only useful when the purchase fits the person.
Use the total they would actually pay. Check the right edition and account region, and allow for any tax or delivery charge that applies. If the amount only works with a sale price, check when the sale ends. A gift opened next week should not depend on a discount ending tonight.
Give a contribution when that is what they want
A gift does not have to cover the whole purchase. Someone already planning to buy an expensive item may prefer help with that exact choice to a cheaper alternative.
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom launched for Nintendo Switch in September 2024 at $59.99 in the US. A $50 contribution towards that price leaves $9.99 for the recipient to pay, plus any applicable tax. Confirm the price and payment options in the recipient’s store before choosing credit.
For a person who has already decided to buy it, that contribution could be very welcome. For someone who has no money set aside for games, it may leave the intended present out of reach. Being close to the price does not answer whether they want to pay the rest.
Ask before committing the money to a particular shop. You might say, “I can put $50 towards the Zelda game you mentioned. Would Nintendo credit be useful, or were you planning to buy a physical copy?” Their answer can change the gift without changing your budget.
Be equally clear in the note you send with it: “Towards the game you’ve been saving for.” Saying “Here’s your new game” would imply that the cost is covered.
For a larger shared gift, pooling contributions can make a complete purchase possible. Check the total and agree who will buy it before anyone purchases separate cards. Otherwise you may collect enough money overall but have it tied to different shops.
Leave enough room to choose
You may know the right store without knowing the right item. In that case, the card is a browsing budget. Judge it by the choices available within it.
Look at several things the recipient is likely to want. If only one suitable item fits, the apparent freedom is quite narrow. If there are several, they can choose according to what interests them when they redeem the gift.
This matters more than the number of cheap products a store stocks. A catalogue full of inexpensive games does not help much if the person is waiting for a particular new release. Equally, a shop with costly headline products might have plenty of smaller purchases they would enjoy.
You can ask without requesting a precise wishlist: “What do you usually spend when you buy something there?” A person who regularly picks up one ebook has a different use for store credit from someone saving for a new e-reader. Keep the question about their habits; they should not need to justify the most expensive thing they want.
If your budget cannot provide useful choice at that store, consider somewhere else they already use, or offer money towards the planned purchase. There is no need to raise the amount just to keep your original idea.
Before buying, try writing one plain sentence about what the gift covers. “Enough to choose a book” calls for a look at book prices. “Towards your new game” calls for a conversation about the remaining cost. If you can explain the amount honestly, the recipient can see what you had in mind without discovering an unexpected bill.
