[SamAdams76]

That's not true because I actually had this experience last Christmas: During Christmas 2001, I got a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card from a relative and I put it away with the Christmas cards and forgot about it. Last Christmas, as I pulled out the old Christmas cards (I save them so that I know who to send cards back to), the card fell into my lap. So a few days later, I used it and it was still worth $50. This had to be a full year since the relative first bought the card.

[Holly_P]

Then possibly its a regional thing because I had a similar experience to yours with opposite results with Barnes and Noble. After one year it had lost about half it's value.

[Cooter]

Some gift card links:

Gift card rules
For gift cards sold in California, Massachusetts and New Hampshire expiration is prohibited by law.

California Bans Most Service Fees on Gift Certificates
Gift cards, a form of electronic gift certificates, are proliferating. The Wall Street Journal estimated in Feb. 2003 that $36 to $38 billion in gift cards were sold in 2002, and that the amount of money left unused on gift cards is $2 billion a year and growing. Some retailers now impose a monthly service fee on gift cards which are not fully spent after a specified time, such as one or two years.

A new law going into effect January 1, 2004 in California bans nearly all service fees on retailer gift cards and gift certificates. The new law bans service fees, with one limited exception. On a rechargeable card with a balance of $5 or less, the issuer may charge a dormancy fee of $1 per month after 24 months of inactivity. Even a balance inquiry counts as activity that prevents this fee. All other service fees are prohibited.

The new law applies to gift certificates sold on or after January 1, 2004. Under preexisting California law, gift certificates may not expire.