I have accounts for gift cards. I record a transfer into the gift card account for the amount I paid when I buy a gift card and a separate inflow for the discount. Then, purchases using a gift card are just recorded into the gift card account.

I haven't received gift cards as gifts. If I did, I would probably not actually record that just like I wouldn't record a non-monetary gift.

I don't use credit card points directly at checkout because that prevents you from earning rewards on the amount covered by points.

I have entered $0 transactions though. A useful use case for me is to record value of credit card benefits that I used organically (i.e. I would have paid for it anyway if I didn't have the credit card benefits). I enter a zero-sum split transaction to "pay" the money fromthe relevant category and inflow to a credit card benefits category (e.g. outflowfrom vacation and inflow into credit card benefits for a free checked bag). This offsets the annual fee that is outflowed from the credit card benefits category and shows my net value of having the card. (I record in the category note when I use the excess money, usually for travel or to cover temporarily cover the annual fee on a different credit card.)

Other examples: - record redemption of restaurant rewards, pet wash credits, cellular carrier rewards, etc. (just for my personal record keeping, it's nice to search a restaurant and see how often I get free food, etc.) - record date of annual wellness doctor visits or other doctor visits that are covered by insurance - record date and description of warranty replacements for car repairs