Gift cards and passes for Canadian salons, with no expiry date to explain
Sell gift cards on your booking page and at the desk, and sell packages of sessions that clients pay for up front. Most provinces forbid an expiry date on a gift card for a dollar amount — and a Slotora gift card has none, so there is nothing on it that a provincial rule could catch.
Sell your first gift card — 14-day trialHow gift cards are sold and spent
On your booking page a buyer chooses an amount from the buttons you set, adds the recipient's name and a message, and pays by card into your own Stripe account in Canadian dollars. The code arrives by email straight away, with a printable card whose QR code opens the card's own page. Slotora takes no share of it.
Not using Stripe yet? The purchase then arrives as a request in your gift cards screen. The buyer pays you directly, by Interac e-transfer, say, and once the money is in your account you press approve and the code is sent. A card sold over the counter is issued by hand in the same screen.
The holder spends it with the code when she books online or at the desk, and anything she does not use stays on the card for next time; every redemption is logged against its booking. In the app, typing the code shows the balance and its history while she is standing at the counter.
Discount codes are separate: a percentage or a fixed amount off, with a start and end date and a cap on uses, for filling a quiet week. A promotional code is not something the client paid for, which is why it can have an end date.
What the provinces say about expiry dates
Each line summarises the province's own page, read on 10 November 2026. Slotora's gift cards carry no expiry date, so they sit on the right side of every one of them.
Ontario
The Consumer Protection Act bans expiry dates on most retail gift cards, and most fees, including dormancy fees. A card for one particular service, such as a single massage, may expire.
British Columbia
Cards for a dollar amount may not expire. Exceptions include a card for a specific good or service, like a manicure, and a card sold at a discount.
Alberta
No expiry dates and no inactivity fees; a business may charge only a purchase, replacement or customization fee. Cards for a specific service with no dollar value are outside the rule.
Manitoba
Most prepaid purchase cards never lose their value. A card sold for a specific good or service may carry an expiry date.
Saskatchewan
Gift card balances do not expire. The exceptions named are charitable cards and cards given for nothing of value.
Nova Scotia
A supplier may not issue or sell a gift card with an expiry date. The regulation allows one on charitable and promotional cards, and on cards for a specific service only if they were issued before it came into force in 2010.
Passes are different: they always have an end date
A pass is a package of sessions — five lash fills, ten laser sessions across two areas — that the client pays for up front and spends one visit at a time. Each pass type in Slotora has a validity you set, from 7 days to 730 days, and it is 90 days unless you change it. There is no setting for a pass that never ends.
Several provinces allow an expiry date on a card for a specific service, and a pass for one treatment may well be that. Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia list narrower exceptions, though, and a package that covers several services is less obviously a single service. If you are unsure how your province would see your packages, give them the longest validity, two years, and say the end date clearly at the sale; for a firm answer, ask your province's consumer protection office.
Where you still have to think
Slotora handles the card; some questions remain yours.
- No pass without an end date
- Passes always expire after the validity you set, at most 730 days. If your province treats your packages like gift cards, that may not be enough.
- Tax is not worked out for you
- Slotora does not calculate or add GST/HST on a gift card or pass sale, or tell you when it falls due. Ask your bookkeeper how you account for them.
- Online sales need Stripe
- Without a connected Stripe account, the booking page takes a request and you collect the money yourself before approving it.
- Not every province is summarised here
- New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have their own gift card rules, whose official pages we could not open on the day we checked; Newfoundland and Labrador and the territories are not covered above either. Check the rule where you trade.
Questions about gift cards and passes in Canada
Do Slotora gift cards expire?
No. A Slotora gift card has no expiry date at all, and the printable card says so.
Does Slotora charge a fee on gift card sales?
No commission and no fee from Slotora. A card payment carries Stripe's normal fee, paid to Stripe.
Can a client use part of a gift card?
Yes. The rest stays on the card for her next booking or visit.
Can I sell a gift card if the client pays by e-transfer?
Yes. Without Stripe, the purchase waits as a request; approve it once the e-transfer has arrived and the code is emailed. At the desk you can issue one by hand.
How long can a pass last?
Between 7 and 730 days, set per pass type. New pass types start at 90 days.
Provincial sources
Each province's own consumer page or regulation, read on the day shown. They are summaries, not legal advice; the law itself governs.
- Government of Ontario — Buying or using gift cards — https://www.ontario.ca/page/buying-or-using-gift-cards · Read on
- Consumer Protection BC — Gift cards — https://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/consumer-help/consumer-information-gift-cards/ · Read on
- Government of Alberta — Gift cards — https://www.alberta.ca/information-about-gift-cards · Read on
- Manitoba Consumer Protection Office — Gift cards — https://www.gov.mb.ca/consumerinfo/initiatives/shopping/gift-cards.html · Read on
- Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan — Gift cards — https://fcaa.gov.sk.ca/consumers-investors-pension-plan-members/consumers/purchasing-goods-and-services/gift-cards · Read on
- Nova Scotia — Gift Card Regulations under the Consumer Protection Act — https://novascotia.ca/just/regulations/regs/cpgiftcard.htm · Read on
Ready for the gift-giving season
Set your amounts, connect Stripe and buy a card from your own page to see what the recipient gets.