Put clear rules around your gift cards

General website terms usually do not say enough about how a gift card works in practice. Customers often want to know where the card can be redeemed, whether it expires, whether it can be used on sale items, what happens if it is lost, and whether part-use balances remain available. If those points are unclear, customer complaints can follow quickly. A separate gift card document lets you set out the rules for that specific offer rather than trying to squeeze them into broader ecommerce terms that cover many other issues.

The document commonly covers how the card is purchased, when it becomes active, where it can be redeemed, whether it can be used online, in store, or both, and any product or promotional exclusions. It may also deal with expiry wording, partial redemption, balance checks, replacement of lost or stolen cards, refunds, and whether cards can be reloaded or transferred. If your business offers digital codes, app-based cards, or membership-linked credits, the terms may need extra wording to reflect how those systems work for customers.

We usually need to know how the gift card is sold, how customers receive it, where it can be redeemed, and whether it applies to all products or only certain categories. It also helps to understand whether the card is physical, digital, app-based, or linked to an account, and whether you run promotions, bonus credits, or expiry-based campaigns. Those operational details matter because the legal wording should match the customer journey. A retailer with in-store cards may need different clauses from a subscription business offering digital credit.

It can be, especially if the template does not reflect the way your checkout, redemption, or customer support process actually works. A generic form may leave gaps around expiry treatment, split payments, excluded products, promotional cards, or how balances are handled after part use. It may also use wording that is too broad or not suited to New Zealand consumer-facing sales. Tailored terms are useful when your gift cards operate across multiple channels or sit alongside memberships, subscriptions, or app features rather than a simple one-off retail sale.

The timing depends on how settled your gift card offer is and whether you already have draft wording in place. If the offer is straightforward, the work is usually relatively contained. If you have multiple redemption channels, promotional variants, or linked membership features, the drafting may take longer because the terms need to match those mechanics. After you instruct us, we will gather the key details of the offer, prepare the draft or review comments, and flag any points where a commercial decision is needed before the wording is finalised.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Gift Card Terms And Conditions service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.