Banks and Credit-Card Companies
Company Name Purchase Fee Per Card Maintenance/Inactivity Fee Comments American Express $3.95 $2.00 per month after 12 months Won't ship to states with restrictive gift-card laws Charter One/Citizens Bank $3.50 $2.50 per month after 12 months Helpfully reminds recipients to register, which makes replacement easier if card is lost or stolen Discover $3.95 to $6.95 $2.50 per month after the card is not used for 12 consecutive months Fees for inactivity are more friendly than fees applied indiscriminately to anyone with a remaining balance National City $2.95 to $8.95 $2.50 per month after six months Purchase fee depends both on size of card and whether it's personalized SunTrust $4.95 or $6.95 (plus $3 more if card is more than $200) $2.50 per month after six months The bank says the $3 surcharge covers increased usage and fraud risk on larger cards U.S. Bank $4.99 to $7.95 $2.50 per month after six months Insists that users not try to buy gas at the pump Wachovia $1.95 $2.50 per month after six months Only Scrooge would give a gift that loses value after six months Washington Mutual $5.45 to $5.95 $2.50 per month after either six or 12 months, depending on the card Even worse than Wachovia, given the high purchase price Wells Fargo $2.50 $2.50 per month after 12 months As with others, you can request a replacement for an expiring card (for yet another fee)
Retailers
Retailer Name Any maintenance/
Inactivity fee or expiration date?Replaceable if lost or stolen? Abercrombie & Fitch No Yes Amazon.com Yes Technically no, though the company
can almost always track it downAmerican Eagle Outfitters Yes No Banana Republic No Yes Barnes & Noble No No Bed Bath & Beyond No Yes Best Buy No Yes Blockbuster Yes Yes Bloomingdale's Yes Yes Borders No Yes Circuit City No Yes Claire's Yes No CompUSA No Yes Container Store No Yes Costco No Yes Foot Locker No No Gap No Yes Home Depot No Yes Ikea No No iTunes No No J.Crew No No Lands' End No Yes L.L.Bean No No Lowe's No Yes Macy's Yes Yes Movie Gallery No No Neiman Marcus No Yes Nordstrom No Yes Old Navy No Yes Patagonia No Yes Pottery Barn No No Radio Shack No No Sports Authority No No Starbucks No Yes Target No Yes Tiffany No Yes Toys "R" Us No Yes Wal-Mart No No West Elm No No Whole Foods Market No No Williams-Sonoma No No Source (both charts): Companies and their Web sites
*A bit of fine print on the fine print: Some banks and card issuers sell their gift plastic through third parties, in which case the purchase fee may differ from what's listed above. Others may hit buyers with shipping fees on top of the purchase fee if the cards are bought on the Web. These cards may give users trouble if they're trying to use both a card with a small balance and, say, cash to make a single large-dollar purchase. Some retailers, meanwhile, distinguish between "virtual" cards that work on the Web and regular ones that work at all sales outlets. Rules may differ for the virtual cards.
Other general tips for both kinds of cards: In order to get a replacement for a lost or stolen card, you almost always need an original receipt, the card number, the personal identification number printed on the card if any, the giver's name or some combination of those pieces of information. If someone has found or stolen the card and used up all of the remaining value, you may not be able to have all or part of it reinstated. If that hasn't happened but the retailer won't replace the lost card, you may still be able to use up the money by shopping online if you've saved the card number and PIN. It also never hurts to ask in person for an exception to be made to any of these rules; better retailers, especially, will sometimes bend them.
News Release | Introduction | New York Retail Store Return and Exchange Policies
The Disclosure Methods of Retail Store Return & Exchange Policies | The Return Exchange
Gift Cards | Consumer Tips | Recommendations | Methodology | Exchange Survey Results
Gift Card Survey | NYPIRG Consumer Protection Pages | www.nypirg.org