Can gift cards be used to purchase pre-orders on Shopify?

Understanding gift card limitations for pre-orders

Unfortunately no, Shopify does not currently support using gift cards for deferred purchases. Deferred purchases include pre-orders, subscriptions, and try before you buy models. When a gift card is used, Shopify processes the payment immediately, which conflicts with the deferred nature of the above models.

Alternative solutions for using gift cards to purchase pre-orders

Since there isn't a direct way for your customers to use gift cards to purchase pre-order items on Shopify, the best alternative solution would be to ask your customers to wait until the pre-order item arrives and become a regular in-stock product before purchasing.

You could also consider enticing them with a small discount to use their gift-card to purchase in-stock items, and use other payment methods to purchase the pre-order item.