Christmas Gift Certificates

[Sky Daddy Bingo]

What do most of you use for expiration dates on your gift certificates? Especially Christmas Gift Certificates!  I normally expire gift certificates three months of purchase date.  However, I realize some people will be purchasing Christmas gifts in November and feel I may not be giving enought time for clients to redeem them.  Even three months after Christmas is March 25. Realizing that January is such a busy time for everyone to "recover" from the holidays is this enough time?Thanks for you input!

 

[frizzy-head]

Christmas Gift Certificates

No matter what time of year that I sell a gift certificate, I always make it expire 6 months after date of purchase. This allows the user enough time to "cash it in". The reason I allow for so much time to use it because:1) They may need time to recover from health problem(s) or surgery.2) They may have a busy/hectic schedule and need to hold off before giving themselves time for R&R3) They may want to wait until their birthday or anniversary or some sort of special occasion down the roadetc....and I think clients appreciate that I am not rushing them into using it right away and they can work it in at their own leisure.Be well,Jen

 

[Vega]

This is a very interesting comment you make...I would expect that most states require an expiration date. For example, what if you are in business in March but for whatever reason (you don't renew your license; personal issues require you move out of state/county/etc., your office was no longer available because of building owner selling or deciding to not renew leases, etc.), you are no longer in business by August. You either don't have the means to provide massage anymore or can't legally practice massage (if no current license).  You could get in trouble if you continue working on clients w/o insurance/license. Would you honor a gift certificate 5 or 10 years after you sold it to someone? What if you had health problems that didn't allow you to physically work by then (God forbid)?Be well,Jen

 

[Gym Jock]

Christmas Gift Certificates

How would you go about finding that info out? Who can tell you if exp.. dates are legal or not? I have moved around a lot in my life time and it never occured to me that it would not be legal to put a time frame on a GC.

 

[:bbq:]

Do a search on the internet for "escheat laws" and another for "gift certificate expiration". I live in Arizona, and I found that our situation is very different than, say, California (where I believe that GCs cannot have an expiration date). For one, gift certificates are not considered ' unclaimed property'; therefore, not subject to escheat laws. (If my client dies & has unclaimed gift certificates, they are not considered unclaimed property & do not have to be paid to the state.)Secondly, there is legislation stating that all previous GCs without expiration dates must remain redeemable indefinitely. After the legislation was passed, if a GC has an expiration date in text/font that is 10pt or larger & in capital letters on the front of the certificate (their version of "clearly visible"), it is lawful to have expiration dates.As a small business, you would probably fly under the radar for any of your gift certificate sales, but if just one client knew about the laws/legislation in your area, don't you think you should too?As far as the different scenarios like going out of business, retiring, licensing changes, etc.... the laws are written to protect the consumer, so they are one-sided. Again, I don't think any sole proprietor would find themselves in hot water over it.Its a pain to do the searches, etc, but its part of taking responsibility for your business practices. If you were to be accused of unlawful business practices, saying that you were not aware is not a solid excuse. Neither is going by somebody else's research. Even if you're in Arizona, look it up yourself. (What if I made a mistake/typo here & mislead you, etc?)All of this 'stuff' used to overwhelm me & make me want to do 'less' instead of 'more' for my business' health. Don't let it deflate you. Educate yourself on the lawful perameters, but get out there & promote yourself for those holiday gift givers that would LOVE to purchase your certificates! And look forward to the 'new clients' those certificates will bring you! Win 'em over with your skills & professionalism & you might have a nice new pool of clients in the new year!As for the original question:  I have 6 month expirations (relative to the date of purchase) on all of my gift certificates. If its for a special holiday & they are buying them in November for instance, I will write the expiration relative to the date the gift will be given (Christmas, Chanukah, etc).Jill/Sagetherapist

 

[deep blue2]

Christmas Gift Certificates

Thanks for the info Jill. I often don't know where to start when looking up stuff on the internet. I am getting better though. I will look up escheat laws for Idaho. Again thank you.

 

[Bonsaifweek]

I know here in Washington, new legislation passed last year makes it illegal to have an expiration date on GCs, and if the client requests it,  a cash refund for the value of the GC or whatever unused "balance" is left on the GC must be given.  I know the intention of this law is to help protect consumers, but it's made me worry a bit about some of my marketing tactics.  For example, I'm not exactly clear on how this applies to GCs given as a free promotion or donated as mentioned above?  I also don't like not having the freedom to have an expiration date.  I wish we had the "clearly visible" clause  mentioned above.        I wonder if simply calling it a free "coupon" would get around these requirements?    

 

[SirUberNoobPwnr]

Well that was easy. I did a google search for "Idaho escheat laws" That gave me the Idaho Statutes page and I searched within that for expiration dates. (the gift cert search didn't work) So in Idaho it states that if a gift cert. does NOT have an expiration displayed in a prominent place and remains unclaimed by the owner after a  period of 5 years it will be presumed abandoned. It has a provision for ones without an expiration as well. This tells me it is legal to place an expiration dat eon a GC.

 

[wannamcfranzwiththat]

I have always honored gift certificates, regardless of when they expired, as a common courtesy.  They were paid for, they should be honored in my mind.  I have a one year expiration on paid certs, and 6 month for promos.I just put into effect a $15 re-activation fee for any certificate that has expired, $25 reactivation fee if it has expired more than a year.  I have a clear conscience, increases cash flow, encourages the client to use the certificate.  Win-win!

 

[niceandcool.]

Christmas Gift Certificates

I normally give 3mth expiration date. Sounds like I am being too unreasonable after reading these posts. Might change it to 6mths. I really like the option of paying $x to "reinstate" the certificate. Does anyone else have any thoughts on that?

 

[chicken joe]

Mende...Speaking only from personal experience, a three month expiration would discourage me from purchasing it.  Do you typically have strong GC sales?  If you do, that 's great.  If it's not broke, don't fix it.  

 

[Cloe B]

I'm with kneadful things on this one.  I would NEVER purchase a G/C that expired that soon.  In fact, I get frustrated with ones that have a year exp date.  At my office I do not put an exp. date.  It a real simple way to show people you don't want to "rip them off" whether it be intentional or otherwise.  That's just my thought.I have even gone so far to accept G/C that expired from other establishments because they were told "sorry but you lost out!".  I accepted that $50 G/C and made a client for life.  She sees me about once a month (for the last 2 years )and has even followed me to my new office after I left the spa I was at.  All because I took that expired G/C that the original establishment wouldn't accept.  It's a good idea to go out of your way to please someone........it will always come back!