Gift Cards Fulfilled by HeyTaco
Gift Cards fulfilled by HeyTaco let your team redeem tacos for real gift cards, delivered automatically by HeyTaco directly to the recipient's email. There's no manual fulfillment required — once someone redeems, HeyTaco handles everything.
Step 1: Add funding
Before your team can redeem gift cards, you need to pre-fund your account.
- Go to Admin → Gift Cards and click "Add Funds."
- Enter the amount you want to add. The charge is applied to the credit card on file for your HeyTaco subscription.
- Funds appear in your Available Balance immediately after payment.
All funding and gift card charges are processed in USD, regardless of the currency of the gift card being redeemed — the exchange rate is set by HeyTaco's gift card provider at the time of redemption.
From Admin → Gift Cards you can also view your full funding history and download invoices and receipts for bookkeeping.
If your Available Balance reaches $0, your team won't be able to redeem gift cards until more funds are added — you will never incur a negative balance. To avoid running out unexpectedly, set a Low Balance Alert in your user settings; HeyTaco will email you when your available balance falls below the threshold you set.
If you decide to stop using gift cards, any unused Available Balance can be refunded — contact us to request one.
Step 2: Add gift cards to your Taco Shop
Go to the Taco Shop, click "Add Reward," and select Gift Card as the reward type. HeyTaco partners with Tango to offer thousands of gift card options across 100+ countries, available in a variety of currencies. Browse the catalog directly in the Taco Shop when adding the reward — it's filterable by country and currency.
Gift cards don't all show up automatically for your team — admins curate which ones appear in the Taco Shop. Each gift card you want available has to be added individually, the same as any other reward, so you control exactly what your team sees rather than exposing the entire catalog.
If you want one option that works well across a global team, the prepaid Mastercard is the most versatile choice — it's available in 100+ countries, so it's a safe default when your team is spread across multiple regions.
If you want to check availability for a specific country before setting anything up, you can browse Tango's public catalog here.
If your country isn't in the catalog: you can still offer a local gift card as a custom reward instead — see Custom Rewards for how to set one up. For example, Venezuela isn't currently supported in the gift card catalog, but a company could add a local option (like Netflix or Rappi) as a custom reward, fulfilled manually by the HeyTaco admin.
Step 3: Announce to your team
Once gift cards are live in your Taco Shop, let your team know. A few things worth communicating upfront: redemptions are instant and final (no exchanges or returns), and gift cards are sent to the email address associated with their HeyTaco account.
Step 4: Monitor and top up
As redemptions happen, keep an eye on your Available Balance in Admin → Gift Cards, and rely on your Low Balance Alert to catch it before you hit $0.
Mixing gift cards with other reward types
Many teams find a good balance by offering gift cards alongside non-monetary rewards like team experiences, extra PTO, or perks unique to your culture. This keeps the Taco Shop from becoming purely transactional and maintains the spirit of recognition.
Transitioning from manual gift card fulfillment
If you've been offering gift cards as custom rewards and fulfilling them manually, switching to HeyTaco's gift cards eliminates that admin work entirely. To transition: add gift cards to your Taco Shop, then remove the manual gift card custom rewards to avoid confusion. Existing taco balances are unaffected — employees keep everything they've earned.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Is there an extra fee to use Gift Cards? | A small amount of international gift cards are subject to additional fees. For majority of gift cards, once you fund your account, the full amount is available for gift card redemptions. The main cost is the credit-card processing fee on funding. |
| What happens if we run out of funds? | Gift card redemption will be disabled until more funds are added. The balance can't go negative. |
| Can we refund unused gift-card funds? | Yes — reach out to HeyTaco support to request a refund of any available balance. |
| Where do gift cards get sent? | Directly to the email address tied to the user’s HeyTaco (work) account. |
| Are gift cards available globally? | Yes — HeyTaco offers thousands of gift cards across 100+ countries. |
| Who can add funds or manage gift cards? | Only admins (or billing admins) have permissions to add funding and curate gift-card rewards. |
| Can admins approve a gift card before it's sent? | No — gift cards are sent automatically by HeyTaco as soon as someone redeems. There's no admin approval step in between. |
| Can admins send a gift card directly to someone? | No — gift cards only go out when someone redeems one themselves in the Taco Shop; admins can't push one out on demand. If you want to manually send someone a gift card, set it up as a custom reward instead. |
Troubleshooting: gift card issues
I redeemed a gift card but haven't received it
- Check your spam or junk folder — gift card emails sometimes land there.
- Make sure you're checking the right email address. Gift cards are sent to the email on your HeyTaco account, which may be different from your personal email — you can see your account email in your HeyTaco profile settings.
- If it's been more than a few minutes and it's not in spam, contact us at heytaco.com/contact and we'll resend it.
I received the wrong gift card
Contact us at heytaco.com/contact with your account email and the redemption details (like what the gift card was for) and we'll get it sorted.
Note: custom gift card rewards
If your company set up a gift card as a custom reward (rather than using HeyTaco's gift cards feature), it's fulfilled manually by your company's HeyTaco admin — not automatically by HeyTaco. If you're waiting on one of those, reach out to your admin directly.