Open and closed loop cards Gift cards are divided into open loop or network cards and closed loop cards. The former are issued by banks or credit card companies and can be redeemed by different merchants, the latter by a specific store or restaurant and can be only redeemed by the issuing provider. The latter, however, tend to have fewer problems with card value decay and fees. Card value decay is less of an issue since the
Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act was passed by the US Congress in 2009. Inactivity fees and card expirations are both limited by the new law. In either case the giver would buy the gift card and may have to pay an additional purchase or activation fee, and the recipient of the card would use the value of the card at a later transaction. A third form is the hybrid closed loop card whose issuer has bundled a number of closed loop cards; an example is free gift cards for a specific
shopping mall. A
charity gift card allows the gift giver to make a charitable donation and the gift recipient to choose a charity that will receive the donation. Gift cards can also be country-specific, and can be used to access USA-specific programming and media when outside the United States.
Mobile and virtual gift cards gift card display in a shop Mobile gift cards are delivered to mobile phones via
email or
SMS, and phone apps allow users to carry only their cell phone. Virtual gift cards are delivered via email to the recipient, the benefits being that they cannot be physically lost and that the consumer does not has to spend the additional time needed to buy a physical gift card in a brick and mortar store making it more convenient. Gift cards of this type can also be purchased quicker, which is especially attractive if a gifting occasion is on the horizon. Other companies have introduced virtual gift cards that users redeem on their smartphones. As the merchant is not involved in the loop, it is considered a cash transfer rather than a traditional gift card.
Store credit Store credit often provided by retailers in the form of a gift card when customers
return a product in lieu of a cash or credit card refund, or when merchandise cannot be exchanged. The store credit amount is usually equal to the item's last
sale price. In 2022, a group of Italian fashion retailers introduced a scheme in which customers could return used clothes to receive store credit to buy new clothing. •
Aldi •
Applebee's •
Barnes & Noble •
Best Buy •
Burger King •
Chick-fil-A •
Chili's •
Chipotle •
CVS •
Dollar Tree •
Dunkin' Donuts •
Firehouse Subs •
GameStop •
Home Depot •
IHOP •
In-N-Out Burger •
Jack in the Box •
JCPenney •
Kmart •
Krispy Kreme •
McDonald's •
Olive Garden •
Panera Bread •
Perkins •
Qdoba •
Red Lobster •
Red Robin •
Schlotzsky's •
Sears •
Sonic •
Starbucks •
Steak 'n Shake •
Subway •
Target •
Tim Hortons •
Toys "R" Us •
Walmart •
Wendy's According to the
Guinness Book of World Records, the largest gift card collection in the world, as of 2021, belonged to Canadian-American brothers Aaron and David Miller of
Scarsdale, New York. By 2013, the brothers had amassed an estimated 3,125 different cards. In addition, some online collecting websites have pages dedicated to gift card listings for collectors. ==Pitfalls==