2008.10.29
Gift cards will be hot this year
Whether or not to give gift cards this year has come up in discussions lately. With the holidays approaching, there is a fear that certain retailers may shut their doors unexpectedly because of financial troubles. No one wants to be left with a gift card that they no longer can use.
Based on its latest gift card buying survey, the National Retail Federation is telling people to buy gift cards from reputable retailers, rather than obtaining them from online auction sites because they’re more likely to be fraudulent.
I’m checking in with the federation about which kinds of retailer's gift cards are safest to buy this year, based on economic conditions, so I’ll let you know what I find out.
Similar to other holiday seasons, the NRF’s latest holiday intentions and actions survey reveals that gift cards will be the most requested gifts this season, followed by books, CDs, DVDs, videos or video games and clothing or accessories. The survey says that 54.9 percent of consumers want to receive a gift card, which is up from 53.8 percent last year.
Consumers said they liked to buy gift cards because the cards allow the recipient to choose their own gift and they’re faster and easier to buy than traditional gifts, according to the survey.
But some people don’t like to buy gift cards because they think the cards are impersonal or carry expiration dates and fees. A small number of people, about 3.9 percent, are afraid to buy gift cards for fear that a retailer will close.
Here are gift card buying tips to keep in mind this holiday, according to the NRF.
1) Know the difference between gift card policies from retailers and from banks. According to the NRF, none of the gift cards from the nations’ 25 largest retailers have expiration dates and 84 percent of them have no fees. Often gift cards from banks, malls and credit card companies have fees and expiration dates.
2) Keep the receipt, in case the recipient loses the gift card. Some retailers can reissue a card if consumers keep the original purchase receipt.
3) Spend your gift card as early as possible. Retailers likely will use Christmas sales to entice you to spend your gift cards. That’s because the sales from gift cards do not count for a retailer until the cards are redeemed. Also some retailers are required to turn over unused gift card dollars to state governments if the cards are unused or unredeemed for more than a few years.
