When Will Your Gift Card Expire?

Shoppers who purchased Dick Smith gift cards can’t do much about it now (unless they were purchased via Prezzie, Coles or Woolworths, all of which have announced that they will allow customers to exchange Dick Smith vouchers sold prior to the electronics retailer falling into voluntary administration) but holders of any other gift cards should do one very important thing: check the expiry date on the card!

According to Canstar Blue research of approximately 2,700 Australians, around 30% of us have let a gift card expire before they could use it – that’s quite a cash cow for the provider!

Some generations are more forgetful than others…

I have forgotten about a gift card / shopping voucher and it has expired before I could use it
18 – 29 years	40%
30 – 39 years	34%
40 – 49 years	32%
50 – 59 years	28%
60 – 69 years	23%

Source: canstarblue.com.au

Given that gift cards are a multi-billion market in Australia, forgotten cards must represent a comforting profit margin for some businesses.

What are the expiry dates of gift cards?

There are too many different gift cards in the market to count, but some quick research has found that the most common expiry date for popular cards tends to be 12 months from date of purchase. Some cards, including David Jones and Myer, has a 24 month expiry, and a few cards (including Toys r Us and Xbox) have no expiry date.

Here’s a list of some popular gift cards and, at time of writing, their expiry date.

CARD	Expiry from date of purchase	CARD	Expiry from date of purchase
Accor Hotels Escape	12 months	Jeans West	12 months
AMF Bowling	12 months	Just Jeans	12 months
Barbeques Galore	12 months	Kathmandu	12 months
BCF	12 months	Kmart	24 months
Best Restaurants	12 months	Liquorland	24 months
Big W	12 months	Myer	24 months
BrasNthings	12 months	Officeworks	24 months
City beach	12 months	Peter Alexander	12 months
Coles	24 months	Rebel Sport	12 months
Country Road	12 months	RedBalloon	12 months
David Jones	24 months	Skype	12 months
Dymocks	12 months	Smiggle	12 months
EB Games	12 months	SportsGirl	12 months
Event Movie Card	12 months	SuperCheap Auto	12 months
Facebook Zynga	12 months	Target	24 months
Good Food	12 months	Toys r Us	No expiry
Hoyts Cinema Gift Card	12 months	Village Cinemas Gift Card	12 months
iTunes	12 months	Vintage Cellars	24 months
Jay Jays	12 months	Visa load & Go	Date on card
JBHI-FI	12 months	Woolworths	12 months