Selling salon gift cards in Canada: the holiday rush, Mother's Day and the rules on expiry
A gift card sold in December is money in January, the month most Canadian salons dread. It also brings you a client someone else chose for you. Here is how to sell more of them, when, and what the provincial rules and the CRA expect.
Sell gift cards online in a 14-day trialWhy gift cards are worth the effort
A gift card does two jobs a discount never does. It brings cash forward, into the weeks you would otherwise spend waiting for the phone to ring. And it is bought by someone who already trusts you, for someone who has never been — word of mouth with the money already paid.
The catch is that gift cards are mostly bought in a hurry. Somebody remembers on the evening of 23 December, or on the Saturday before Mother's Day, and buys whatever can be bought from a phone in two minutes. If your gift cards can only be bought at the counter during opening hours, that sale goes to the spa with a button.
The Canadian gift card calendar
Four moments carry most of the year's sales. Plan each one a fortnight ahead.
Late November
Black Friday week
Black Friday falls on 27 November this year, and it is when many people start their gift list. For a small salon a modest bonus is easier to afford than a deep cut: a C$100 card for C$90, or a free add-on with any card over a set amount, for that week only.
December
The last two weeks before Christmas
This is the stretch to be ready for, and its latest buyers arrive after you have closed for the day. Put “Buy a gift card” at the top of your booking page and in your Instagram highlights, and say on the card page that it arrives by email at once — the line that rescues the last-minute buyer.
26 December
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a public holiday in Ontario, and a day of sales when people buy for themselves. A Boxing Day code on gift cards bought for their own use fills February. If you close that day, the online shop does not.
February to May
Valentine's Day and Mother's Day
Valentine's Day sells couples' treatments and lash appointments; Mother's Day — the second Sunday of May, 9 May in 2027 — sells pedicures, facials and massage. Both are bought by people who are not your clients yet, so the gift card page has to explain who you are in one line.
Small things that sell more cards
None of these costs anything but an evening.
Suggest amounts that buy something
Offer amounts that match real services — a pedicure, a gel set, a cut and blow-dry — rather than round numbers that leave the recipient paying the difference.
Make the card a gift, not a code
Let the buyer add the recipient's name and a message, and give her a printable card as well as the email. A code on a screen is a receipt; a card on the table is a present.
Sell at the desk too
The client paying for her own visit in December is your best buyer. Ask her, and record the card at the desk so its balance lives in the same place as the online ones.
Let balances run down
A card should pay for part of a visit and keep the rest. Recipients who can spend C$60 of a C$100 card and come back for the remainder become regulars.
Offer passes to the people who already come
Gift cards bring new clients; a pass of five or ten visits keeps the regular who buys it. Sell both, to different people.
Tell your clients, once, at the right time
One email in early December to clients who agreed to hear from you does more than a week of daily posts. Slotora sends a Canadian salon's campaign only to clients who said yes to marketing or visited in the last two years.
Expiry dates and fees: the provincial rules, briefly
Gift cards are provincial territory, and the provinces do not all say the same thing. In Ontario, the government's consumer page says most retail gift cards cannot have an expiry date; the exceptions it names are a card for one specific service, such as a spa massage, and cards issued for charity. It bans activation, service and dormancy fees on most cards, allows a charge for customizing a card or replacing a lost one, and asks that any restrictions be written clearly where the customer can see them.
British Columbia draws the line in a similar place. Consumer Protection BC says a card for a dollar amount, such as a C$50 spa card, is not allowed to expire, while a certificate for a particular service, such as a manicure, can. It also allows an expiry on a card sold at a discount during a promotion. Other provinces have their own versions; check yours before you print a date on anything.
The simplest way to stay on the right side of all of them is to sell dollar-value cards with no expiry date. Slotora's gift cards carry none. Passes in Slotora can be given a validity period; a pass for one named service is the kind of card the Ontario and BC pages say may expire, but if you are unsure how your province treats yours, leave the date off.
GST/HST and your income: when the money counts
The Canada Revenue Agency's guidance is short. Do not collect GST/HST when you sell a gift certificate. When the client uses it, work out the tax on the full price of the service and then take off the gift card as if it were cash.
For income tax, the CRA says the amounts from gift card sales are business income on the date they are sold. You may choose to set aside a reserve for cards you expect to be redeemed after your fiscal year ends, and that reserve is added back to income the following year. Your accountant will tell you whether it is worth doing; the point is that a big December of card sales is December income, not March income.
What Slotora's gift cards do not do
Plainly, before you plan your December around them.
- Paid online by card only
- Online buyers pay by card through your own Stripe account; there is no Interac e-Transfer option at checkout. At the desk you record the sale however the client pays you.
- No physical cards
- Slotora emails the card and gives a printable version. Plastic cards with a magnetic strip are not something it makes.
- No tax advice
- Slotora records what was sold and redeemed; how you report it is between you and your accountant.
Gift card questions from Canadian owners
Can my salon gift cards have an expiry date?
In Ontario and British Columbia, a gift card for a dollar amount generally cannot expire; a certificate for one specific service may. Other provinces have their own rules. Slotora's dollar-value gift cards have no expiry date.
Do I charge GST/HST when I sell a gift card?
The CRA says not to collect GST/HST on the sale of a gift certificate. Tax is worked out when it is used, on the full price of the service, with the card counted like cash.
Can I charge a fee to issue a gift card?
Ontario bans activation and service fees on most retail gift cards and allows a charge for customizing a card or replacing a lost one. Check your own province's consumer protection office before adding any fee.
Can a client spend part of a card and keep the rest?
Yes. A Slotora gift card keeps its balance, and the remainder can be used at a later visit.
Is a Boxing Day discount on gift cards allowed?
Selling a card below its face value is your pricing decision. British Columbia lets a card sold at a discount during a promotion carry an expiry date; in Ontario, look at the government's gift card page before adding one.
Sources
The provincial rules and the CRA guidance quoted above, from the official pages, opened on the date shown.
- Government of Ontario — Buying or using gift cards — https://www.ontario.ca/page/buying-or-using-gift-cards · Read on Page last updated 14 August 2026.
- Consumer Protection BC — Gift cards — https://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/consumer-help/consumer-information-gift-cards/ · Read on
- Canada Revenue Agency — GST/HST in special cases (gift certificates) — https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/charge-collect-special-cases.html · Read on
- Canada Revenue Agency — Sources of business income (gift cards and certificates) — https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed-income/business-income-tax-reporting/business-income/sources-income.html · Read on
- Ontario — ESA guide, public holidays chapter — https://www.ontario.ca/document/your-guide-employment-standards-act-0/public-holidays · Read on Boxing Day among Ontario's public holidays.
Have the gift card button up before December
Gift cards and passes are part of every Slotora booking page, with no commission on what they bring in. Set them up now in a 14-day trial that needs no card to start.