The card, and what it does.

Checking a balance

Enter the code at gift cards / redeem and the remaining balance is shown before you commit to anything. If the card has already been added to an account, the balance appears in your wallet instead, and it applies automatically at the next checkout.

Redeeming

Adding a card to an account moves the balance into that account permanently. Do it from the account the gift was meant for — once attached, the balance cannot be moved to a different account, because that is the same thing as letting a gift card be resold.

You do not have to redeem it to use it. A code can be entered directly at checkout and spent without ever creating an account.

What it buys

Anything in the catalogue, plus shipping and tax. There is no minimum spend and no exclusion list. A card larger than the order leaves the remainder on the card; a card smaller than the order is topped up by store credit and then by a payment card, in that order — the sequence is set out on payment methods.

The one exception: a gift card cannot buy another gift card. That is a rule against laundering value, not against generosity.

Sent to the wrong address

Mistyped email addresses are the most common gift-card problem and the most fixable. Nothing is lost: the code is attached to your order, not to the inbox it was sent to. Open the order in your orders, correct the address and resend. If the wrong recipient has already redeemed it, write to hello@makevessim.com with the order number and we will void and reissue.

Timing a delivery

A card can be scheduled for a future date and will arrive on the morning of it, in the recipient’s time zone. The schedule can be changed or cancelled any time before it sends from gift cards / sent. If a scheduled send fails — a bouncing address, usually — it comes back to you rather than disappearing.

Expiry and refunds

Vessim gift cards do not expire, lose value over time, or carry a dormancy fee. Several provinces and states prohibit all three; we apply the prohibition everywhere rather than tracking which rule governs which card.

An unredeemed card can be refunded to the purchaser within thirty days. Beyond that, we refund where law requires it — several jurisdictions mandate a cash refund below a small residual balance — and will usually do it anyway if you ask. See the returns policy.

Buying one

Gift cards start at $25 and go to $500, in any amount in between. A gift card is the right answer when you want someone to describe their own thing — which is, in the end, the only part of this that we cannot do for them.