Gift Cards...

[freebiepalace]

Has anyone come across...information regarding state laws for gift card fees that's up to date, for specific store/retailer, gift cards that charge fees for inactivity or any fees,

I'm aware that Visa, MC, AE, and other bank related cards all charge after a certain number of months, uses, inactivity, etc.,

I'm more concerned with fees for stores and retailers. I was unaware of any store/retailer doing this until I received a gift over the holidays from Five Below. I had a bad experience with Five Below over the holiday and a policy on the back of their gift cards that states they would charge a fee after a point of inactivity. I won't ever get another card from them.

[snafu]

Is there any possibility of selling the gift card to a friend or colleague who like to shop at Five Below?

[phantom]

I work for a company that deals with gift cards a lot. I'm not involved in the legal department, so my knowledge of the laws related to the industry is higher of that of the average consumer, but still far from complete. But, my understanding is that the laws relating to gift card fees apply no matter if the cards are restricted to a certain retailer or not. It's just more common to see fees on cards that can be used anywhere since it is less likely that the consumer will fail to spend the balance of the card before it expires.

The area where you start to get different laws is with anything that acts like a gift card but is called something else. For example, sometimes companies will buy their "rewards cards" for their employees. Unlike gift cards, there is no law preventing these cards from expiring after less than 5 years.