I wonder how many gift cards are never redeemed - must be in the $millions 

CHOICE spokesman Tom Godfrey said the NSW changes were a good start. "Nationally, Australians are losing $200 million in unredeemed gift cards. They simply forget to use them in time or find that the expiry dates are simply too tight for them," he said.

ABC story.

ROSERET,   that sounds totally unfair,    you shouldnt have to pay extra charges on a gift charge,    and this i,d, is going a bit far,      i DO know when i bought my first mobile phone,    i was asked for I.D.      showed them my medicare/rent/ pension card,    they wanted my driving licesense,    i told them i dont drive,     wanted my passport,     didnt have one,      finally they took the I,D, i did have,   but would have thought  the id i had was enough anyway,        bugger them,    they have enough of our information as it is,    tell them you dont have id,     

only other thing to do is,    get a passport photo taken,   or go to the police station,   and get an id photo done,     that way,  at least,  you dont have to show your personal details,   

I would prefer to have cash -- as can spend it anywhere you like -- why spend money on gift cards and give the shop the use of the money and allow THEM to get interest on it -- they make an absolute fortune with the interest made on these cards alone

I think that most people on this site may be the same as me, I have everything that I want, give me a Bunings Card and I am happy, it means I can go and by something I might not neccessarily have bought for myself.

I like Bunnings BUT I would prefer cash as I am against these big organisations making a heap from cheating and can you imagine the profit that is made with these gift cards

I can see no valid reason for gift cards to have an expiry date.  The company alerady has the money and earns interest on it.  Because of inflation they are never going to lose money, as it will buy less as time goes by.  It is time the government legislated against the type of fraud that enables a company to get money and refuse to honour its value because some arbitrary time has passed (even if it is three years).

You could have spent $88 on goods and the remaining $12 on postage making the grand total of $100.

There are always going to be poeple who think their own pwersonal circumstance makes them a special case to be treated differently. Unfortunately it doesn't. I think these changes to extending the 'life' of the card is a good thing. There have been many times when I have had a card only to not find anything I want or the store being out of stock for long periods of time such that the card has been in danger of expiring before use. The extension of time to three years is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. I just hope people are responsible enough to look after the cards and don't expect to have lost cards replaced. Cards are like cash and should be treated as such by the recipient.

Of course you could always call them and place your order over the phone and pay with the gift card.

my daughter often gives me s card,   but it is always for somewhere that sells music,    as in c,ds,  or dvds,     as music is my favourite thing,    so no worry about me not cashing them in,   BUT the 3 year extension is a good thing,      but surely there is something you can use within 3 years,          i give them to one of my grand daughters,   but usually for priceline,    i know she likes that shop,   so they get used,  

I was once given a gift card for Brashes, only problem is they went bust before I had the oppotunity to use it. It was only for a small amount, probably about $50, so it wasn't worth the hassle of making a claim as an unsecured ncreditor and getting back only a small portion of the amount. As someone stated before Bunnings have the right idea, their gift cards do not expire.

$70m a year wasted each year on gift cards that people never redeem. I think they're a waste of time, most people don't like receiving them anyway and more often than not you end up spending more than the card's value if you do happen to redeem it.

Give me a gift card on Dan Murphys, Liquorland, any outlet I can assure the giver I "will" use it before the expiry date even looms on the horizon ;)!!

EDDY,   that happened with DICK SMITH,   as well,    thousands of gift cards were out there,    and he went bust,     they were trying to do something to honour them,   but i never read anymore about it,   so dont know the outcome,    RADISH,   thats why cards that are given to me are usualy for a music store,    JB, HIFI,       is my favourite,    can always find something,