§ 6-13-12 - Sales of gift certificates.
SECTION 6-13-12
§ 6-13-12 Sales of gift certificates.– "Gift certificate" means a record evidencing a promise, made for monetaryconsideration, by the seller or issuer for the record that goods or serviceswill be provided to the owner of the record to the value shown in the recordand includes, but is not limited to, a record that contains a microprocessorchip, magnetic strip or other means of storage of information that ispre-funded and for which the value is decremented upon each use, a gift card,an electronic gift card, stored-value card or certificate, a store card,prepaid long distance telephone service that is activated by a prepaid cardthat requires dialing an access number or an access code for each call inaddition to dialing the phone number to which the user of the prepaid cardseeks to connect, or a similar record or card. Any person, firm, or corporationthat sells gift certificates for any product or merchandise sold by the person,firm, or corporation, shall be required to record the sales and keep anaccurate and complete record of each gift certificate sold. The record shallinclude the date of sale, the full value of the certificate, the identificationnumber assigned by the retailer to the certificate, and the state in which thesale of the certificate took place. The retailer shall further be required togive to the purchaser of gift certificates exceeding fifty dollars ($50.00) awritten and numbered receipt evidencing the sale of the certificate. It shallbe unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation of any kind to charge anysurcharge or additional monthly or annual service or maintenance fees on giftcertificates or to limit the time for the redemption of a gift certificate orto place an expiration date upon the gift certificate. No gift certificate orany agreement with respect to such gift certificate may contain languagesuggesting that an expiration date may apply to the gift certificate. Anyperson, firm, or corporation that shall violate the provisions of this sectionshall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars ($200). Due tothe unlimited redemption period, the division of taxation shall not escheat thefunds paid for those unredeemed gift certificates. Any unused portion of aredeemed gift certificate shall be afforded to the consumer by reissuing thegift certificate for the unused amount or providing cash where the balance duethe consumer is less than one dollar ($1.00). This section shall not apply tothe following:
(a) Gift certificates that are distributed to a consumerpursuant to an awards, loyalty or promotional program without any money orother thing of value being given in exchange for the gift certificate by theconsumer. Any restrictions or limitations which such gift certificates may besubject to must be disclosed to the consumer, in writing, at the time the giftcertificates are distributed to the consumer.
(b) Prepaid wireless telephone service or prepaid wirelesstelephone card. "Prepaid wireless telephone service" means wireless telephoneservice that is activated in advance by payment for a finite dollar amount ofservice or for a finite set of minutes that terminate either upon use by acustomer and delivery by the wireless provider of an agreed-upon amount ofservice corresponding to the total dollar amount paid in advance or within acertain period of time following the initial purchase or activation, unlessadditional payments are made.
(c) Gift cards or prepaid or store value cards that areissued by state-chartered financial institutions and credit unions or that areissued by third-party issuers usable at multiple, unaffiliated merchants orservice providers, provided that said financial institutions, credit unions orthird-party issuers comply with the guidelines on disclosure and marketing aspublished by the office of the comptroller of the currency.