How to Check Your Barnes & Noble Gift Card Balance

Barnes & Noble gift cards are physical cards with a PIN, or eGift codes by email, and they spend on books, toys, and the café at B&N stores and barnesandnoble.com.

Checking your Barnes & Noble gift card balance

1. Open Barnes & Noble's official balance page (linked above).
2. Enter the card number.
3. Enter the PIN and submit for the current balance.

What you'll need

• The card number — on a physical B&N card or in the eGift email.
• The PIN under the scratch panel or in the email.

Other ways to check

Any Barnes & Noble bookseller can scan the card at the register, including at the café counter, and the balance shows at online checkout. Receipts print the remaining amount.

If the balance won't load

Re-enter the number and PIN carefully. For an eGift, paste the code from the email rather than retyping it. A recently bought card can take a few hours to activate.

Barnes & Noble balance at $0?

A couple of hardcovers or a Nook purchase can clear a B&N card, so a zero usually means it's been read through, so to speak. Check your order history online. If the card is untouched and still zero, keep the receipt and ask B&N support to confirm activation.

Selling a Barnes & Noble card you won't use

Not every reader wants store credit, and B&N cards often linger. FlipGift buys the value in escrow while your code stays private: list the credit, a buyer's payment is frozen first, you place their book order yourself, and you're paid once it's in their hands. The fee is a flat 2.5% split two ways, and sellers usually net 72–88% of face value. How escrow works →