Sell gift vouchers online in Malta
and get paid before the visit.

A gift voucher is the easiest thing you will ever sell online. There is no stock to ship, the buyer pays today, and the person who receives it often becomes a new customer who has never heard of you. For spas, restaurants, salons, hotels, tour operators, gyms and shops in Malta and Gozo, vouchers are also the answer to the late gift: the person searching at 11pm on 23 December, or on the morning of a birthday.

Most local businesses still sell vouchers only at the counter or by bank transfer and a screenshot sent by message. That means no sales while you are closed, no sales to people abroad buying for family in Malta, and a drawer of paper slips nobody can check. A small voucher shop on your own website fixes all three. The four steps below are what it has to handle.

This guide covers what Malta’s consumer rules expect from a voucher, which type of voucher suits which business, how to stop codes being reused, and the numbers behind it, with a free planner. For the website side, see our web design in Malta page and our guide to building an ecommerce website in Malta.

Malta does not have a separate gift voucher law, but the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA) is clear about how vouchers are treated. In its Consumers Hub answers, it says that any conditions about using a voucher, including an expiry date, must be clearly communicated at the time of purchase and written on the voucher itself. If a condition was not stated, it cannot normally be enforced against the customer.

The MCCAA’s consumer column in the Times of Malta adds the practical side. When no expiry date is written on a voucher, there is no time limit to use it. If the voucher does not say it must be used in one go, the customer may use it for part of a purchase and keep the balance. Once a voucher is sold, its written terms bind the seller and cannot be changed afterwards. And a lost voucher that is not personalised is treated much like lost cash, which is one more reason to issue named, coded vouchers that you can cancel and reissue.

Selling online adds the EU distance selling rules. Under Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights, you must show the main details, the total price and your identity before the customer pays, and a consumer normally has 14 days to cancel a distance purchase. There is an exception in Article 16(l) for leisure and catering services when the contract is for a specific date. An open-dated voucher usually has no specific date, so plan for the 14-day right and say how a refund works in your terms. Ask your lawyer to check the exact wording for your business.

Finally, if you run a voucher offer, the discount rules apply. The MCCAA reminds traders that a “was” price must be the lowest price used in the 30 days before the reduction. A “€100 voucher for €80” is fine; a fake “was €150” is not. Our guide to website legal requirements in Malta covers the rest of what any selling website must show.

A voucher shop is a small product page plus a code system. It does not need a full online store. These are the parts that matter, in the order buyers notice them.

• One clear voucher page on your own website, with three to six amounts or experiences, real photos and a short line on who it suits.
• A personal message box and the recipient’s name, so the voucher feels like a gift and not a receipt.
• Delivery choices: email the voucher to the buyer, email it to the recipient on a chosen date, or print it at home.
• Card payment on the phone, with Apple Pay and Google Pay where your payment provider supports them; see our payment gateway guide for Malta.
• A designed voucher with your logo, the value or experience, a unique code, a QR code and the terms written on it.
• A terms page in plain English: expiry, balance, where to redeem, refunds within 14 days, and lost vouchers.
• A simple check screen for staff: type or scan the code, see the value left, mark it used.
• Booking with the code for spas, restaurants and tours, so the recipient books a slot and redeems in one step.
• Automatic emails: confirmation to the buyer, delivery to the recipient, a reminder before any expiry date.
• A report of vouchers sold, used and still open, so you always know what you owe in service.

If you already sell online, vouchers can sit inside the shop you have. If you only have a brochure site, a voucher page can be added without turning the whole site into a store. Restaurants can link it from the menu and booking pages; see our restaurant website guide.

Type in your own figures. The planner shows the cash you collect when vouchers are sold, the extra spend when they are used, and how many vouchers would cover the cost of the shop.

If fewer than 7 in 10 vouchers are used within a year, the reminder emails and booking link are usually the weak point. If very few recipients are new customers, sell experiences people would not buy for themselves, such as a tasting menu or a couples treatment.

1. Pick your voucher types. One money voucher and up to three named experiences is enough to start.
2. Decide the rules. Expiry or none, balance allowed or single use, which branches, refunds within 14 days.
3. Write the terms in plain English and ask your lawyer to check them.
4. Design the voucher. Logo, value or experience, recipient name, unique code, QR code, expiry and short terms on the face.
5. Set up card payments that work on a phone, with wallet payments if your provider offers them.
6. Build the voucher page with photos, prices, a message box and delivery choices.
7. Set up the emails: buyer confirmation, recipient delivery, and a reminder before any expiry.
8. Train staff on the check screen. Scan or type the code, check the balance, mark it used.
9. Link it everywhere: menu, booking page, Google Business Profile, Instagram bio and your email footer.
10. Launch before the peaks: mid-November for Christmas, mid-January for Valentine’s Day, April for Mother’s Day.
11. Check the report every month: sold, used, still open, and which voucher brings new customers.