Retailers across New Zealand must now honor a minimum three-year expiry period for gift cards under new consumer protection laws that took effect this week.
The change, reported by 1News, aims to prevent businesses from profiting off unused vouchers while giving consumers more time to redeem their purchases.
It's a small but meaningful consumer win in an era where New Zealand's coalition government is typically more business-friendly. Shows some protections still pass despite the administration's general deregulation agenda.
Gift cards have become big business in New Zealand, with millions of dollars worth sold annually for birthdays, holidays, and corporate gifts. But consumer advocates have long complained that short expiry periods — sometimes as brief as six months — effectively allowed retailers to pocket money for goods and services never delivered.
The practice was particularly profitable during the pandemic when lockdowns and restrictions prevented many consumers from using gift cards before they expired. Retailers kept the money while providing nothing in return, a situation consumer groups argued was fundamentally unfair.
Under the new law, gift cards must remain valid for at least three years from the date of purchase, unless specific exceptions apply. The regulation brings New Zealand more in line with international consumer protection standards while still giving retailers flexibility in their gift card programs.
Businesses had lobbied against the change, arguing that extended expiry periods create accounting complications and that consumers should be responsible for using gift cards within reasonable timeframes. But consumer advocates pointed out that gift cards are essentially prepayment for goods or services, and businesses shouldn't be able to keep money simply because customers didn't redeem it fast enough.
The reform represents a rare consumer protection victory in an environment where the coalition government has generally prioritized reducing regulatory burdens on business. The fact it passed suggests even a business-friendly administration recognizes some consumer protections are too popular to ignore.
