Does this prevent Ticketmaster from saying a gift card with the words "gift card" printed on it is not a gift card but a discount card?

Wanna know the best way to prevent abusive gift card practices?

Not buying them.

Can we get some government regulation on that please?

They should also ban the fees of 'buying' the gift card. V/M/AM gets double dip. First they charge YOU on purchasing the gift card so you pay $106 for a $100 worth of card. Then they charge the merchant a fee to run the card thru. If the merchant fee is 2%, V/M/AM gets another $2 out of that $100. That's total of $8 for every $100, whopping 8% total. That's not accounting for those maintenance fee if you don't use your card up in 6 months. Making 8% in 6 months with no money out of pocket is a really good deal. Remember, you have to deposit $100 first before you can spend it. So, not only they get your money as a deposit, they also charge you before and when you spend it. Next time before buy a V/M/AM gift card, think about just giving the person cash.

@smartmuffin: Some people like them.

None of this is worth much more than a Circuit City Rebate without the cap on interest rates - 15% - which only 33 Senators voted for.

Can you say bought and paid for?

@JGKojak:

Or can you say genuinely don't think it's a good idea? Just because someone doesn't agree with you, doesn't mean they're corrupt.

In washington it's illegal for this to happen already. But what REALLY needs to happen is to ban prepaid Visa cards from having the monthly 'service fees' after 6 months of non-use. Such a ripoff.

@JGKojak: Why should there be a cap on interest rates? As long as the consumer is informed, I see no problem with the interest rate going to 100%.

People need to start living with the consequences of their actions. The simple way to avoid any of these interest rates is to pay your balance at the end of the month or not use the credit card at all.

@haoshufu: merchant fees aren't the same everywhere, so they may be getting even more than that. my friend owns a restaurant and he gives amex 5.5% for their transactions. So, that's be 11.5%. They negotiated down to that, so I can imagine the percentage being even higher at other merchants.

How about phone cards? I bought one so that I could make long distance phone calls at work (I can't use my cell at work) and it expired after I only used a fraction of the time.

I didn't get another one.

This is bad law, especially about the part that allows the Fed to get into the mix. The Fed, with its unelected governing board, already has too much power.

The terms on some of these cards are horrendous but the consumer has to have some responsibility. Best compromise is for the expiration and any fees to be clearly marked on the front. Then let the consumer decide. I bet the card w/ no expiration and no fees wins.

@ncpeters:
Not likely...Congress has been trying to make the lawless bastards at Ticketmaster act less dickish for years with no success.

@nakedscience: I like them. I'd like them even better though if the government mandated that they never expire and that companies have to give them to me for free.

@JGKojak: That's not true. I watched the vote myself yesterday. The amendment to install a cap was never voted on.

The vote you cite is a procedural vote on whether or not to vote on the amendment or not. They voted to not vote on the amendment by not to waiving the budget act.

This way they can never be shown to have voted against the cap since it will never see the light of day.

@say what?!: Amex runs higher than the others, though.

@ShabnumPappie:

Yes, let the consumer DECIDE THEIR GIFTS.

Yes, I'm sure you'll reply with "the gift giver shouldn't buy them, either."

Fact remains it is a shitty system all-around, and no one offers an alternative outside of cash/check. Sometimes you can't send give things.

@superberg: "Sometimes you can't send/give such things."

Yay for incomplete edits.

They shouldn't expire in the first place. Period.

@haoshufu:

OK, I may be a bit slow (actually I'm from Canada so I really have no direct knowledge on this issue), but I have never heard of a *gift card* issued by visa/MC/AMEX. I know US banks were slow to bring in debit cards (interac/bank cards/atm cards/whatever you call them) but I haven't read a single comment in this thread that makes any sense to me at all..

Here in Canada, stores or groups of stores (i.e. a mall, or several stores with one parent company) go directly to one of the payment processor companies OR to a gift card company and set up their own programs which are designed to be cost neutral/slightly profitable so they don't end up costing the participants money. The regulations and rules are totally reasonable given the actual costs of dealing with payment processing, purchasing the cards, and just generally administering the program. In fact, in the case of a mall, the tenants probably eat a significant amount of the administration costs in their op costs/marketing costs paid to their landlord.

I realize paying for stuff sucks, but that's how it works: if you want a neat little plastic thingy that gets you stuff and is more convenient than cash, you pay a couple bucks for it. Either directly, or at the till when you pay more for your purchases.

Meh.

For an 8% cut of sales at least the Fed/State/County fix the potholes. Seriously, I know they have to cover fraud and buyer protection programs but why does using a credit card cost so much. It's basically a computer transaction.

While Gift Cards do not expire in my state, I am glad this was added for those who don't have that protection. I have bought and received dozens of gift cards without ANY issues.

Two rules to follow:

1. USE THEM. If you get a card, USE IT do not shove it in a drawer. I don't think I have had a gift card for more than two weeks after receipt before it's redeemed.

2. RESEARCH. It takes 2 seconds to check to see if a retailer is in trouble and it's normally all over the news. Anyone who boughts or had a Circuit City, Linens N Things or other dead store gift card and didn't use it was an idiot.

@ShabnumPappie: The part where I break with libertarianism is where libertarians start recommending we do things.

A simple question: do you (or does anyone you know) read every single contract they enter into every single time they enter into it? Answer honestly.

Oh no!!! This kind of heavy handed government regulation will mean that there will be no more gift cards!!!! nooooo! Socialism socialism socialism!

@end snark

@HiPwr: the problem with "not expiring" is that the companies want to be able to write down the unused gift card balance as "profit" at some point.
to me, "no maintenance fee, expire after 5 years" would be more than fine. or, no fees for 2 years, then an annual maintenance fee not to exceed 25% of the initial card balance for an additional 4 years

@gStein: of course, the maintenance fees in the second scenario would only apply after a specified period of inactivity, possibly 12 months or so

Don't even get me started on gift cards!

Don't EVER buy Dave and Buster's gift cards and send them to friends out of state. D&B's actually "follows" the card and if you use it on their games (Power/Gold cards), corporate can pull where the gift card came from! Too many gift cards from too many places causes a red flag and might shut your game card to get shut off.

I can support this as long as the federal law doesn't trump state laws that require gift cards to last longer than 5 years (Massachusetts is 7, but doesn't apply to some of the slimy Visa cards).

@superberg: It's a great system for those with smarts and a no huge unlucky streak. I prefer that to being dicked with annual fees right off the bat.

@hegemonyhog:

Yep.