Critical Gift Card API Features That Developers Actually Need

3 critical features for a gift card API:
👉 Consistency across endpoints: to avoid confusion
👉 Idempotency: so you prevent double orders
👉 Test environments: so you can build and debug without real-world consequences
. . . all of which should be reflected in comprehensive API docs📚

It goes without saying: every gift card API provider is going to tout their gift card API features. Check any gift card company's website and you'll read about how straightforward and reliable their API is. 

Of course, developers generally care less about what a marketing team has to say about an API, and more about what the docs actually do.

Engineers are regularly tasked with building, integrating, and maintaining up to dozens of APIs, each with its own quirks. When it comes to financial reward APIs specifically, getting the build right can mean smoother programs, happier recipients, and fewer headaches for everyone involved.

In this article, we'll explore gift card api features that work best for engineers, from an engineer’s perspective. We'll share which features separate good gift card APIs from great ones, along with some real-world tips from the Giftbit dev team that can make your next project a lot easier.

💻 Real developer insight:

To write this article, I spoke with several intermediate developers on our engineering team.

Intermediate Developers at Giftbit handle everything from integrations with new partners, like bringing partner APIs into our system, to smoke testing after each release. That means checking out API docs, translating data structures, figuring out how his team will communicate with their endpoints, and doing all the identity 'stuff' so we can create our own digital gift cards and run orders.

For Giftbit's own API, they also roll out bug fixes, new features, log changes, and then tests to make sure it all works after deployment.

Critical gift card api features for an easy build

More and more companies are relying on instant digital rewards and global payouts for their customers.

That means more and more developers are having to integrate gift card delivery into their existing systems. 

Of course, choosing a gift card API partner often starts as a business decision, i.e., someone on the business team picks the platform you'll be using. That decision is usually based more on financial fit and other non-technical factors, than the API’s actual features.

So it's only when development gets involved that anyone is looking for red flags that might actually impact the build. 🚩

💬 "The main thing is making sure the partner’s API aligns with our needs," says our dev. "It’s good to be clear in the docs so developers can tell right away if it fits with their use case."

If engineering finds an insurmountable problem (say, a system that’s too asynchronous for real-time delivery, or convoluted steps that don’t fit their flow), they might have to pump the brakes. Even the best business relationship can’t fix a technical mismatch. 

But more often than not, devs just have to make do with what they've got. 

And 'making do' is a lot easier if the API fits their needs. 

A developer's short list for assessing financial APIs 

Remember that developers don't just work with the Giftbit API. They also works with other gift card APIs, and need to make sure we can communicate effectively with them. 

So here’s his shortlist of the most valuable features to looks for in any reward API, boiled down from lots of trial and error.

1. Consistency across endpoints

Basics first. To order a gift card, you need to reference the API's order endpoint, which expects a certain request structure: what card you want, in what currency and denomination, etc.

💬 "We have to make sure we match their expected data types—for instance, card value would be a number, a brand code would be a string—and that we’ve got the right objects or fields," says our dev. "You need consistency across endpoints, so fields refer to the same data between requests and responses, without suddenly changing field names." 

You also need to be able to authenticate correctly, by sending the API key to the right place.

All this should be readily apparent in the API docs. 

Note: Giftbit's API uses standard RESTful endpoints.

2. Idempotency is non-negotiable

Beyond the basic structure, the first thing the Giftbit dev team looks for is idempotency, to ensure they never have issues like double-ordering. 

💬 "If I make a duplicate order request, the API should recognize that and not create a second order," says our dev. "We handle this with an order reference or ID, and if someone tries to use it again, we return an error. This prevents accidental double orders, which is really important when money is involved."

So . . . is there idempotency in a gift API you're evaluating? 🤔

Sometimes, there will be a whole section in the API docs explaining how idempotency works in their system. 

Other times, it’s noted on a per-endpoint basis in the data attributes—something like "orderID must be unique."

💬 "Looking at our docs, a developer will be able to see our required order identifiers and know we have idempotency. Plus, our test environment lets them confirm it’s actually working."

Note: not having clear idempotency may be a red flag, but it's not always a black and white issue.

According to our devs, it can be ok if an API is a little different from what's standard. 

💬 "As long as it's clearly documented, you can work with it," they say.

3. Good test environments

Finally, having a test environment (sometimes called a sandbox or playground) is also a huge benefit for devs. APIs that don’t have them are tough to work with.

Giftbit has our testbed, which lets you safely test in development. According to our devs, it mimics the production environment well.

Synchronous vs asynchronous APIs

Your boss likely wants you to integrate bulk digital gift cards into your app because they want to offer recipients instant rewards.  

But speedy, instantaneous rewards don't necessarily require synchronous orders. 

With Giftbit's API, you'll send us a request and get a response saying, 'order is being created.'

Of course, if an API is very asynchronous or requires pre-ordering rather than ordering gift cards on the fly, that will likely create challenges. 

But 'asynchronous' doesn't inherently mean 'slow.' Your recipients will still get their Giftbit-powered gift cards in seconds (or a lot less🙌).

Meanwhile, Giftbit API integrators also have the option to use direct gift links. With this use case, you'll order a batch of links that you can use for rewards that are immediately accessible.

Still, we'll be setting those up asynchronously on our end. 

Make sure you can depend on your catalog

Finally, having worked with multiple gift card catalogs, our dev says it’s very clear that they are not all created equally. 

The main problem is that API partners sometimes make changes, but they don't always communicate them in advance.

💬 "I think our gift card brand catalogue is more user-friendly for developers specifically because we work to minimize those disruptions for clients," says one our our devs. "Our team is great at communicating with customers and finding solutions quickly if there’s a problem."

Ultimately, working with Giftbit's API for automating gift card fulfillment can help eliminate the issue of less reliable gift card solutions.  

💬 "We run a task to fetch and compare available brands, so we can detect changes and manually fix issues," says the team.

Gift card catalogs can be unreliable

Some engineering teams might decide to work directly with individual gift card brands (like Amazon or Apple, for example) to offer that brand's gift cards through a brand-specific direct API. 

Sometimes, this is the right call. But building directly with brands can create a wild and tangled backend (we know because we’ve seen them and had to try to make sense of them). 

Partners sometimes update their offerings, remove options, or change how things work—and it’s easy for those changes to go unnoticed until something breaks.

Meanwhile, our team works to spot changes and fix issues before they become client-facing problems. 

For Giftbit clients, our brand endpoints always have the most current list. That lets their teams proactively remove or hide unavailable brands on their end before recipients see them. It keeps things frustration-free and reduces surprises.

Ultimately, the dynamic world of digital gift cards means backward compatibility can break all your hard work if you’re not careful. Relying on a trusted API partner helps take the sting out of these surprises.🐝

API design choices matter

"I can’t talk about our platform without talking about our engineering culture," says Bryan Dwyer, Giftbit Chief Product Officer.

"From day one, our CTO set the tone: we're here to engineer software, not just ship code. Our developers take deep ownership of their work. If a bug gets reported, the person who built it is the first to jump in. There are no silos, and no throw-it-over-the-wall mindset. 

"We craft everything we build. The Giftbit API is flexible, intuitive, and designed to fit into your workflows."

At the end of the day, a lot of this comes down to picking a gift card API partner that “gets” developers and supports your business goals.

When gift card APIs are built around clarity, real-time fulfillment, great test tools, data you can trust, and fast communication, life's easier for everyone.

Giftbit focuses on the right gift card API features to ensure an easy incentive integration. Create a Testbed Account now to try it out.