Design Crafters

Yesterday in our photo Christmas cards blog I mentioned that some states have a law that gift cards don’t expire (but can have inactive fees). There are some other things you need to understand when it comes to gift cards.

A promotional gift card is completely different than a regular gift card. Promotional gift cards act more as coupons and will have an expiration date on them. They don’t fall under the same guidelines as regular gift cards. The laws refer to gift cards that you have actually put your own money on. With promotional gift cards, the store is basically giving you free money ( a coupon).

Here is an example of a promotional gift card:
Last Christmas Toys R Us gave away a $20 promo gift card when you purchased the Leapster/LeapMax system. You could then use the $20 card on any future purchase by the specific expiration date printed on the card.

I was inspired to look up this so-called law when last Christmas I got stuck behind a lady who was freaking out at the cashier because she claimed it was illegal for them to reject her promo gift card that expired almost two years ago. The poor cashier didn’t know what to say as the lady spewed off, made threats and held up the already long line. The lady apparently heard it on the news but obviously didn’t get all the specifics. Now that you know, hopefully you won’t become this lady or this cashier.

In yesterday’s photo Christmas cards blog we started to talk about photo gift cards. Well, today I’d like to share with you some tidbits of information about gift cards you may find very useful.

Gift cards are great gifts because it allows people to get what they really want. There are however some things to pay attention to.

As mentioned yesterday, if the company has any indication of going out of business, you may want to avoid purchasing a gift card from them. The recipient may not be able to redeem it in time and that would be money down the drain for you.

Pay attention to the print on the back. In some states there is a law that gift cards can’t expire. They can however start to take off fees if not used within a certain timeframe, until there’s nothing left on them. It’s usually two years, which is my opinion is a reasonable timeframe to use it. The policy is usually printed on the back.

I’ve actually heard of people giving their non-used gift cards to their friends and family as gifts. In one case the gift card was so old that there was nothing left on it due to inactive fees. Whoops. In the second case, it was a gift card the recipient originally gave the giver. Double whoops. In the third case, it was so old the company didn’t even exist anymore. So be very careful when you re-gift gift cards.