Selling Gift Cards This Holiday Season? The Expiry and Fee Rules in the US, Canada and Australia

For a rental or tour business, the holidays are a second season: a gift card sold in December is cash now for a trip next summer. The catch is that the date you might want to print on it, "valid for one year", is not allowed on a card somebody paid for in most of the US, in Canada's largest provinces or in Australia. Below is what the rules say in each, in plain terms, with the official sources at the end.

This is a summary to help you ask the right questions, not legal advice. Rules change, and your state or province may add its own.

The short version

• United States: the money on a paid gift card cannot expire sooner than five years after it was sold or last loaded. Some states go further: California bans expiry dates on most gift cards.
• Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec: a card with a dollar value cannot expire at all.
• Australia: at least three years, and the expiry date has to be printed on the card.
• Fees: activation, inactivity and balance-check fees are banned or tightly limited almost everywhere.
• Experience vouchers: in some provinces, a voucher for one specific service ("one sunset cruise for two") is treated differently from a dollar-value card.

United States

The federal rule is Regulation E, section 1005.20, which came out of the Credit CARD Act of 2009. For gift certificates and store gift cards:

• Five years. The funds on the card cannot expire earlier than five years after the card was issued or money was last loaded onto it. The plastic itself may carry an earlier date, but only if the card says clearly that the money does not expire with it and that the customer can ask for a replacement.
• Fees only after a year of no use. A dormancy, inactivity or service fee is allowed only after twelve months with no activity, no more than one fee in a calendar month, and only if the fee is disclosed on the card.
• Promotional cards are different. A card you give away (a free $20 card with every $100 card bought, say) is excluded from those limits, as long as it says on the front that it is promotional and shows its own expiry date.

State law can be stricter, and in some states it is. California generally bars both expiry dates and service fees on gift certificates. Since April 1, 2026, a California gift card with less than $15 left on it must be paid out in cash if the holder asks, and the law now names electronic gift cards explicitly. If you sell in other states, check that state's rules too.

Canada

Gift cards are provincial law in Canada, so the answer depends on where you sell. The four largest provinces:

• Ontario. The Consumer Protection Act bans expiry dates on most retail gift cards. Businesses cannot charge activation or dormancy fees, though they may charge to customize a card or replace a lost or stolen one. All restrictions and conditions must be in clear writing. The exceptions are a card for one specific service (Ontario's own example is a spa massage) and cards issued for charity.
• British Columbia. Most gift cards cannot expire or carry fees. A card for a specific good or service can expire, as can one sold for charity or at a discount. Consumer Protection BC puts it this way: a $50 card for a spa cannot expire, a gift certificate for a manicure can.
• Alberta. Expiry dates are not allowed, and any expiry date on or after November 1, 2008 is void. The only fees allowed are a one-time fee at purchase, a replacement fee and a customization fee; inactivity fees are banned. Cards with no cash value are outside the rule, including promotional cards and a card for a specific service with no dollar amount on it.
• Quebec. Since June 30, 2010, merchants may not put an expiry date on a prepaid card that can be used like cash, or set a period after which it stops working. The Office de la protection du consommateur lists cards for specific goods or services as a separate category, so check its guidance before dating one.

Other provinces have their own versions. If you sell into Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick or anywhere else, look up that province's consumer protection office before the season.

Australia

National rules have applied to gift cards sold since November 1, 2019:

• Three years minimum. A gift card must be redeemable for at least three years from the day it was supplied.
• The date goes on the card. The expiry date must be prominently displayed. A card that does not expire must say so, and a card that expires after a set period must show the date it was issued.
• No fees after the sale. Activation, account-keeping, balance enquiry and inactivity fees are banned. A booking fee you charge for every payment method, a currency conversion fee and a fee to reissue a lost or damaged card are allowed.
• Exemptions include reloadable cards, cards given away for promotion, and cards for something that only happens in a set period (the ACCC's example is a performance by a visiting ballet company).

There are penalties for businesses that break these rules.

The exception that matters to experience businesses

Most of the rules above are written about cards with a dollar value: "$100 toward any rental". Several provinces treat a voucher for one specific service differently: Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta allow it to carry an expiry date, and Alberta only when it has no dollar amount on it.

For a tour or rental business that can be useful. "One two-hour pontoon rental for up to eight people" with a date on it is a different product from a $300 card. But the exception is narrow. A voucher for "any tour" or one with a dollar value printed on it is likely to be treated as an ordinary gift card. Australia has no general exception for experiences, only the specific-period one. And in the US, check your state before dating any voucher someone paid for.

A checklist before you sell this season

1. Sell dollar-value cards with no expiry date. It is the one setting that is lawful in every place above.
2. Charge no fees after the sale. Not for activation, not for inactivity, not for checking a balance. The narrow US allowance is not worth the disclosure work.
3. Put the terms in writing, on the card or in the email that delivers it: what it can be used for, that it does not expire, and how to reach you.
4. Date only true experience vouchers, one specific service each, and only where your province or state allows it.
5. Mark promotional cards as promotional, with their own expiry date, on the card itself.
6. Track the balance as money you owe until the card is used. Your accountant will want gift card sales kept apart from rental revenue.

If you sell gift cards with RentalTide

The Validity Period in your gift card settings (Settings, then Features, then Gift cards) decides when the cards you sell expire. It starts at Never Expire, and for accounts in the US, Canada and Australia that is the setting to keep. If you are not selling gift cards yet, this week's tip shows where your account lists it, along with fifteen other things worth doing over the off-season: Your account keeps a to-do list.

Sources

• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Regulation E, 12 CFR 1005.20: Requirements for gift cards and gift certificates, read 2026-11-06
• Morgan Lewis, California Raises Gift Card Cash-Out Threshold to $15 (SB 22, signed October 1, 2025, operative April 1, 2026), read 2026-11-06
• Pillsbury, California SB 22 Becomes Effective, Raising Gift Card Cash-Out Threshold to Under $15, read 2026-11-06
• Government of Ontario, Buying or using gift cards, read 2026-11-06
• Consumer Protection BC, Gift cards, read 2026-11-06
• Government of Alberta, Gift cards, read 2026-11-06
• Office de la protection du consommateur (Quebec), Rules on expiry dates for prepaid cards, read 2026-11-06
• Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Gift cards and discount vouchers, read 2026-11-06