Ulta Gift Card Balance: How to Check It, Where to Use It and What If It’s Lost

An Ulta gift card works like cash at Ulta Beauty, and it’s treated like cash if you lose it. Here’s how to check what’s left on it, where you can spend it and how to avoid the gift card scams the FTC warns about.

Based on Ulta Beauty’s Gift Cards page and its Gift Card Terms and Conditions (last updated Aug 16, 2026), the Ulta Beauty Rewards terms, and the Federal Trade Commission’s gift card scam guidance (checked Sep 29, 2026).

How do I check my Ulta gift card balance?

Ulta offers three official ways to check it:

1. Find the PIN. On a physical card, it’s on the back under the black and silver scratch-off coating at the bottom. On an eGift card, the number and PIN are in the eGift email.
2. Go to Ulta’s Gift Cards page and scroll to the balance checker, which asks you to “enter your gift card number and pin below to check the card’s current balance.”
3. Type the 16-digit number and the 8-digit PIN and select Check balance.
4. If the form won’t accept the card, call 1-888-566-2736 or take the card to a store.

Where can I use an Ulta gift card?

Ulta says its gift cards are redeemable in all Ulta Beauty stores in the US and on ulta.com (including UB Marketplace items), on both products and beauty services.

Online, you can use up to five gift cards or $1,000 in gift cards per order. The order total, including tax and shipping, comes off the card; if it’s more than the balance, you pay the rest with another payment method.

In store, hand over the physical card or show the digital one. For an eGift card, Ulta’s terms say to present the original eGift email printed with the card number and PIN.

Ulta gift card online: buying and sending one

• Where to buy: Ulta stores, ulta.com and ulta.cashstar.com, or authorized retailers. eGift cards are sold only online at ulta.com and ulta.cashstar.com.
• Amounts: Ulta’s terms say any amount up to $500; its Gift Cards page lists $10 to $500.
• Delivery: eGift cards arrive within an hour by email, or as a shareable link. You get an email when it’s delivered and another when it’s viewed. If it goes unviewed for 15 days, Ulta emails you options.
• No activation is needed after purchase.
• Fees: none, except expedited shipping if you order a plastic card online.
• Refunds: gift card sales are final. An eGift sent to a wrong or invalid email isn’t refunded; you can cancel one only before it’s delivered, by contacting Customer Support.

Do Ulta gift cards expire or have fees?

No. Ulta’s terms say the card does not expire and there are no fees associated with using it. The one exception in the terms: promotional gift cards and eGift cards (for example, a bonus card from a promotion) can have an expiration date, so read the terms printed on those.

The card is not a credit or debit card and can’t be exchanged for cash, except where the law requires it.

What if my Ulta gift card is lost, stolen or damaged?

Ulta’s rule is strict: a lost, stolen or damaged card won’t be replaced without proof of purchase, and Ulta isn’t responsible for cards used without authorization or redeemed by the wrong recipient.

1. Find the proof of purchase: the store receipt or the order confirmation email from ulta.com or ulta.cashstar.com. Have the card number ready too, if you kept a photo of the card.
2. Contact Ulta at 1-888-566-2736 (the gift card line) or Ulta Guest Services as soon as possible.
3. For an eGift that never arrived, contact CashStar customer support (linked from Ulta’s Gift Cards page) with your order number.

Gift card scams: what the FTC says

The Federal Trade Commission is blunt: “Only scammers will tell you to buy a gift card” and give them the numbers off the back. No real government agency, utility or tech support company asks for payment in gift cards, including Ulta cards.

• Common stories: someone posing as the IRS or Social Security, tech support, a relative in an emergency, a prize you have to “pay fees” on, a utility threatening to cut service, or a new online romance.
• Before you buy: buy from stores you trust and inspect the card. Walk away if the packaging looks tampered with or the PIN is exposed.
• If you already paid a scammer: contact the company that issued the card right away (for Ulta, 1-888-566-2736), tell them it was used in a scam, keep the card and receipt, and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Other things to know

• Returns paid with a gift card: Ulta’s refund rules are in our Ulta return policy guide.
• Visa or other bank gift cards: Ulta says to check that card’s own terms for where it can be used.
• Ulta birthday gift: it can’t be redeemed for gift cards. How the birthday perk works is in our Ulta birthday gift guide.