Gift cards

A gift card is a balance somebody else can spend at x3dstudios.com — on a custom print, on anything in the store, or on postage. You buy it at /gift-cards for between $10 and $500, and it arrives by email or as a printed card in the post. The recipient enters the code in the cart, and whatever is left over stays on the card for next time.

Buying one#

You have to be signed in to buy — we need somewhere to send the receipt and someone to talk to about a refund. The recipient needs no account at all, which is the point of a gift.

A posted card costs $3 more than its face value. That is card stock, colour printing and US delivery, and it is charged as its own line on the checkout page so the card itself is worth exactly what you paid for it — a $50 card posted is $53 charged and $50 of balance. The fee is shown on the buy form before you reach Stripe.

1. 1
   Fill in the form at /gift-cards

   Amount, delivery method, design, recipient and message. Everything about the recipient except a posted card's delivery address is collected here rather than on Stripe's page, because Stripe only knows how to ask about the person paying.

2. 2
   Pay on Stripe

   Checkout opens as a one-off payment. A posted card also collects a US delivery address there. Card details never reach X3D.

3. 3
   The card is created when the payment lands

   Nothing exists until Stripe confirms the payment — an abandoned checkout mints no balance. The code is generated at that moment, so it does not appear on the checkout page.

4. 4
   It is delivered, and you get a receipt

   An emailed card goes out immediately unless you set a send date. A posted one goes to the print-and-mail vendor. Your receipt does not contain the code: for an emailed gift so a forwarded receipt cannot spend it, for a posted one so the card stays a surprise.

The purchase endpoint#

const res = await fetch("https://x3dstudios.com/api/gift-cards/purchase", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    amountCents: 5000,
    delivery: "email",
    recipientEmail: "[email protected]",
    recipientName: "Alex",
    message: "Print something ridiculous.",
    style: "birthday",
  }),
});

const { url } = await res.json();
window.location.href = url; // Stripe Checkout

These are session endpoints on the website, not part of the developer API — they read your sign-in cookie and there is no API key that reaches them. A signed-out request answers 401. Twenty purchase attempts per account per hour are allowed; past that the response is 429 with a Retry-After header.

The code#

Every card carries a code in the same shape: the prefix X3D and twelve random symbols in three groups of four.

X3D-4K7M-9QRT-2WXY

The alphabet is the digits plus the letters, minus I, L, O and U. Dropping those means nothing on a printed card can be misread as a 1 or a 0, and no four-letter group spells anything unfortunate. That leaves 60 bits of entropy, so a code cannot be guessed.

Checking a balance#

The cart checks the code for you when you press Apply, but the endpoint is there directly if you want it. You must be signed in.

{
  "valid": true,
  "code": "X3D-4K7M-9QRT-2WXY",
  "availableCents": 7000
}

availableCents is what is spendable right now, which is the remaining balance minus anything held by a checkout you have open in another tab. Abandon that checkout and the hold comes back within 24 hours.

Spending it#

Gift cards are redeemed in the cart, and nowhere else. Put whatever you want in the cart — store products, custom prints, or both — then enter the code before you check out.

1. 1
   Fill the cart

   Go to /store or /print and add items. A print has to finish being weighed before checkout will open; see /docs/studio/checkout.

2. 2
   Enter the code and press Apply

   The cart checks it against the server and shows the balance. An invalid code says so there rather than on Stripe's page.

3. 3
   Check out

   The card is applied to the total after any first-order discount, and it can settle postage as well as goods. Stripe allows one discount per session, so a gift card and the first-order discount arrive as a single amount and the split is recorded on the Stripe checkout session.

4. 4
   The balance is taken when the payment lands

   Until then it is only held. If the card covers the whole order the checkout completes at $0, and you still confirm a delivery address.

Balances and holds#

One card, one order at a time: the cart takes a single code, so two cards cannot be stacked on one checkout. If you want to spend both, split the order.

Printed cards#

A printed card is posted within the United States only — the address form at checkout accepts US addresses and nothing else. It is printed and posted by a mail vendor rather than by hand, and the code is on the card itself.

Delivery is the part we do not control. If the vendor cancels a letter after accepting it — an address it cannot verify is the usual reason — the card goes back on the operator's list and is posted by hand instead. The balance is never affected by any of that: it exists from the moment the payment lands, whatever happens to the envelope. If a card has not arrived, ask at /contact and we will resend the code by email.

Limits at a glance#