Auburn Mall Doesn’t offer gift cards, but does sell gift certificates at face value. No service fees and the certificates don’t expire.

Home Depot No activation fee; no service fees; no expiration

Maine Mall $1.50 mall gift card activation fee; $3.95 for the mall’s American Express cards. $2 monthly service fee after 12 months;. Cards are valid until 2007, after which reactivation fees could apply.

Marketplace at Augusta No center-wide gift cards available.

Old Navy No activation fee; no service fees; no expiration dates.

Sears No activation fee; no service fees; cards bought after 12/16/03 don’t expire

J.C. Penney No activation fee; as of 4/1/03 no service fees; no expiration

Wal-Mart No activation fee; no service fees; no expiration

FYE No activation fee; after one year $1 monthly fee on balance; no expiration

Bull Moose Music Gift certificates; no expiration

Sources: homedepot.com, sears.com, jcpenney.com, Maine Mall employees, individual store associates
The four Rs’

The Unclaimed Property Office of the state’s Department of Treasury offers this summary to merchants and others on how gift certificates and cards should be handled:

• Redeem – the certificate and make the customer happy.

• Refund – to the consumer the purchase price if they report the card lost or stolen, or request the remaining balance.

• Re-issue – the face value of the gift certificate or card if the consumer reports the card lost or stolen; or

• Report – to the state’s Abandoned Property Division and send in a card’s remaining cash value after three years.

By the numbers
Gift cards

74.3: Percent of consumers who will purchase a gift card during the holiday shopping season, up from 69.9 percent last year.

3.38: Number of gift cards the average person will buy this season.

$108.28: Average value of gift cards purchased by consumers this season.

$17.34 billion: Amount consumers will spend nationally on gift cards this season, up $100 million from 2003.

Source: National Retail Federation

“The valid-through date doesn’t mean that you lose your money. It’s just that the card isn’t any longer valid.”
David Faulkner,

Maine Mall manager
“That money belongs first to the consumer (who bought or received the gift card) and second, if the consumer can’t be found, to the state where the money came from.”
Denise Ducharme,

Maine’s unclaimed funds manager