Editing Gift card (section)

==Redemption rate==
{{main | Breakage (accounting)}}
Not all gift cards are redeemed. The card may be lost, there may be time decay expiration and fees or complex rules of redemption, or the recipient may not be interested in the store that accepts the card or be under the false assumption that not using it will save money for the giver. It has been estimated that perhaps 10% of cards are not redeemed, amounting to a gain for retailers of about $8 billion in the United States in 2006.<ref name=lewis/>

In 2012,{{needs update|date=April 2025}} over $100 billion in gift cards were expected to be purchased in the United States, where over 20% of those gift cards expected to go unredeemed or unused. This has amassed a large opportunity in the secondary market, similar to the secondary ticket market in the early 2000s. Some companies have created a business in the secondary gift card market that allows consumers to sell their unused gift cards or to buy discounted gift cards for their favorite brands. This has helped their users recoup their share of some $55 million per day that goes unredeemed in the United States every year.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}