Quick answer: If you want an authentic Costco gift card in 2026, the official answer is Costco itself. Costco calls these cards Costco Shop Cards, and current Costco support says members can buy them at any Costco warehouse or online at Costco.com. They can then be used by both members and non-members for warehouse shopping or online at Costco.com.
If you searched this because you want to know whether Costco gift cards are sold through Amazon or other broad retail channels, the most reliable answer is narrower: the official Costco purchase path is through Costco. That is the safest way to avoid stale assumptions, unofficial resale listings, or confusion about whether a so-called "Costco gift card" is really the current Costco Shop Card product.
| Situation | Best current answer | What to do next |
|---|---|---|
| You are a Costco member and want to buy a Shop Card | You can buy it in a warehouse or on Costco.com | Choose the warehouse or online route based on whether you want physical or digital delivery |
| You are not a Costco member and want to use a Shop Card | You can use one if a member bought it for you | Use the Shop Card for warehouse shopping or online at Costco.com |
| You want a digital option | Costco supports digital/eGift delivery through Costco.com | Order online and watch the delivery email or Costco Wallet path |
| You want a guaranteed legitimate Costco gift card source | Buy directly from Costco | Avoid relying on generic marketplace assumptions when official Costco channels are available |
Table Of Contents
What Costco gift cards are actually called now
The first useful clarification is naming. Costco's current support pages use the term Costco Shop Card. That matters because many searchers ask about "Costco gift cards," but the official product readers need to look for is the Shop Card. If you search inside Costco's own help center or catalog, that is the label that will get you to the right page fastest.
This is also why a good refresh should stop treating Costco gift cards like a generic open-market gift-card product. The official name and official channel matter more than old blog shorthand.
Where you can officially buy a Costco Shop Card
Costco's current Shop Card FAQ gives the cleanest answer: to purchase a Costco Shop Card, you must be a Costco member, and you can buy one at any Costco warehouse or online at Costco.com. That means the official purchase answer has two channels, not one.
This is a key correction to older versions of the article. You do not need to frame the answer as "warehouse only," and you do not need to lean on unofficial third-party purchase routes. Costco's own support already gives the official online and in-warehouse paths.
Do you need a membership to buy one, and can non-members use one?
To buy a Costco Shop Card through Costco's official channels, the current Costco FAQ says you must be a member. That is the buyer-side rule. The use-side rule is different. Costco's current gift-card catalog says a Costco Shop Card can be used by both members and non-members for warehouse shopping or online at Costco.com.
That difference is one of the most useful things to explain in the article. A non-member may not be the official purchaser, but a non-member can still benefit from the Shop Card once a member buys it. So if the real question behind the search is "Can I shop at Costco without buying a membership first?" the practical answer is that a Shop Card can be part of that route.
Can you buy a Costco Shop Card online, and is there a digital version?
Yes. Costco's current support pages show that Shop Cards can be ordered on Costco.com, and Costco's eGift-card support page says eGift cards purchased on Costco.com are normally delivered within about two hours. That is a much cleaner and more current answer than telling readers they must go in person or that they need to rely on third-party apps.
Costco's current Wallet FAQ also shows that Costco Wallet can store Costco Shop Cards for online and in-warehouse use. So the up-to-date answer is not just that digital Shop Cards exist, but that Costco has an official digital-storage workflow for them too.
How much can you put on a Costco Shop Card?
Costco's current Shop Card page says the cards start at $25 and go up to $2,000. That gives the reader a specific current range without guessing from older blog posts. It is enough to answer most ordinary purchase-intent questions without padding the article with unsupported fee or denomination folklore.
Costco's support pages also say Shop Cards never expire and can be recharged, which makes them more practical than a one-time-use novelty gift card. That is useful context for readers deciding whether a Shop Card is a good gift or a workaround for a non-member shopper.
What should you do if you want the safest purchase path?
The safest answer is direct: buy from Costco. That means either a Costco warehouse or Costco.com, depending on whether you want a physical or digital Shop Card. If you are reading old articles asking whether Amazon sells Costco gift cards, the better current framing is that Costco already provides an official purchase channel, so the official route should come first.
If the goal is certainty rather than bargain hunting, this matters. The more you move away from Costco's own channel, the more you have to worry about resale status, delivery problems, or simply whether the listing you found matches Costco's current Shop Card product. The official channel removes most of that uncertainty.
Bottom line
You can officially buy Costco gift cards, meaning Costco Shop Cards, from Costco itself: at a Costco warehouse or online at Costco.com, and current Costco support says the purchaser must be a member. Once issued, the Shop Card can still be used by members and non-members for warehouse shopping or online at Costco.com. If you want the most current and least risky answer, stop thinking in terms of generic gift-card marketplaces and start with Costco's own Shop Card pages.