Gift card
Gift cards are generally redeemable only for purchases at the relevant retail premises and cannot be cashed out, and in some situations may be subject to an expiry date or fees.
American Express, MasterCard, and Visa offer generic gift cards which need not be redeemed at particular stores, and which are widely used for cashback marketing strategies.
[9] In 1994 Neiman Marcus introduced the gift card system in US using a payments infrastructure in late 1994,[10] though Blockbuster Entertainment was the first company to do so on a wide scale,[11] test-marketing them in 1995 and launching them around the country the next year.
Nabanco was the developer of the first third-party platform for the processing of gift cards using existing payment infrastructure.
Neiman Marcus and Blockbuster were later followed by the Mobil gas card, which initially offered prepaid phone value provided by MCI.
The magnetic strip is also often placed differently than on credit cards, so they cannot be read or written with standard equipment.
Other gift cards may have a set value and need to be activated by calling a specific phone number.
By adding a custom message or name on the front of the card, it can make for an individualized gift or be used as a gesture of appreciation towards an employee.
Some retailers use the gift card system for refunds in lieu of cash thereby assuring that the customer will spend the funds at their store.
Virtual gift cards are delivered via email to the recipient, the benefits being that they cannot be physically lost and that the consumer does not has to spend the additional time needed to buy a physical gift card in a brick and mortar store making it more convenient.
Gift cards can have many different designs, including for, holidays, special occasions, sports teams, cartoons, and more.
Some hardcore collectors collect different variations of each card, and or prefer where the pin number is not scratched off.
A partial list of popular retailers with collectors who have released gift cards worldwide with many different designs and or variations include:[14][15] According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest gift card collection in the world, as of 2021, belonged to Canadian-American brothers Aaron and David Miller of Scarsdale, New York.
[16] In addition, some online collecting websites have pages dedicated to gift card listings for collectors.
For example, gift cards may be subject to an expiry date, administrative fees, restrictions on use, and absence of adequate protection in case of fraud or loss.
In the United States, many jurisdictions limit or prohibit all fees or expiration dates for gift cards.
In Australia, a gift card can be exchanged for cash if there is a remaining amount that the business believes can't be "conveniently used.
In recent years, cyber criminals have increased their efforts to take advantage of fraudulent gift cards as they are simple to exploit with automated brute-force bot attacks.
[26] In 2023, the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned the public regarding gift cards which appear to have a sticker placed over the barcode.
[27] The United States Department of Homeland Security launched Project Red Hook due to the billions of dollars of gift card losses generated by Chinese organized crime.
This has helped their users recoup their share of some $55 million per day that goes unredeemed in the United States every year.
[citation needed] All Canadian provinces have legislations passed to ban expiry dates and fees collected on gift cards.
