How a gift card payout actually works
From the moment you press redeem to the code landing in your inbox: what happens to your Rebux, why cards are checked before they are sent, and what to do if one does not arrive.
Most rewards sites show you a wall of logos and say nothing about what happens after you click one. It is worth knowing, because it explains the wait, the email, and the handful of things that can go wrong.
What happens when you press redeem
- Your balance is checked and the amount is held. This happens first, on purpose: it means a failure later refunds you rather than paying you twice.
- The request is written with the exact product to buy — not just "Xbox", but the specific card and denomination our supplier sells.
- It joins the payout queue, which is processed within 48 hours.
- The card is bought and its code is emailed to your registered address.
Step two is the one worth dwelling on. Every brand on the wall is tied to a specific product code at our supplier, and that mapping is refreshed twice a day. If a supplier stops carrying a brand, it leaves the wall rather than sitting there accepting requests nobody can fill.
Why it is not instant
A gift card is bought with real money the moment it is issued, and once a code is out it cannot be recalled. The window between your request and the code being bought is what lets us check that the activity behind a balance was genuine. Forty-eight hours is short enough not to be a wait and long enough to be worth something.
Where the code arrives
By email, to the address on your account, as a code and a short set of redemption instructions specific to that brand — some are entered at checkout online, some in an app, some in store. Those instructions come from the card issuer, so they are the same ones printed on a card you would buy in a shop.
- Check your spam folder the first time. Add our sending address to your contacts and it will not happen again.
- The code is tied to your account, not to your device — opening the email on a different phone is fine.
- Most cards are US-region. If you are outside the US, check the brand's card before you spend the balance.
If something goes wrong
A payout that has not arrived is almost always one of three things: it is still in the queue, the email went to spam, or the address on the account is stale. Your cashout history shows the status of every request you have made, so start there — it will tell you whether it has been processed at all.
If it says paid and nothing arrived, contact support with the request date and amount. Codes are recorded against the request, so a resend is straightforward.
Every request you have made, with its current status.
Check your cashout history