For years, it was part of a consumer columnist's job description to warn readers about one of the stranger inventions of modern commerce: the disappearing gift card.
Generous buyers would plunk down their money - $25, $50, maybe $100 of hard-earned cash. Then the recipient, if he or she was just a little bit slow or indecisive, would discover something strange at the store, restaurant, or spa that had issued it: Some of its value had vanished. Maybe even all of it.
Many consumers were livid, and some gift-buyers were, too, though their objections were at war with the convenience of the cards. Despite their flaws, gift cards have been inching fairly steadily toward the $100 billion mark in annual sales.
The good news is that the marketplace and regulators eventually responded. By last year, virtually every major retailer had given up on purchase fees and "dormancy" fees - those annoying charges that dunned you for putting the card into your wallet, purse, or desk drawer and forgetting it was there.
Even American Express lightened up a bit. Its general-purpose gift card - basically a use-anywhere prepaid debit card - still costs $2.95 to $6.95 to purchase, depending on where you buy it and the denomination. But after that, the money is the recipient's to keep and spend, no matter how long it takes.
This year, the big news is on the regulatory front: In August, new rules implementing the Credit Card Act of 2009 finally took effect, imposing some limits on fees that still plague general-purpose cards issued by Visa, MasterCard, and Discover.
Now gift cards can't expire for at least five years from their date of issue. Money-munching dormancy fees can't begin until after at least a year of inactivity on the card. And key fees have to be listed on the packaging - though you can't fully count on that this holiday season, because Congress amended the law to let card issuers sell out old inventories until Jan. 31.
