Buying guide

Luxury gift cards, store credit, and special orders: the five-year rule, Illinois’s stronger protection, and what the Saks Global bankruptcy showed

Updated October 30, 2026 · Written by the House of Biz & Company Editorial Team · General information, not legal or financial advice

A card from the house that knows your size, a credit slip from a considered return, a deposit on a piece the boutique has to order from Paris: at the top of the market, much of what is bought is first held as a promise. The law puts a floor under some of those promises and almost none under others. Here is how the discerning shopper tells which is which before the holidays, using the regulations themselves and the court record from the largest luxury retail bankruptcy in years.

We don’t sell gift cards or represent any retailer. Only for the Wealthy is a publisher. Nothing here is legal advice, and we earn nothing from any store, brand, or agency named on this page.

Why this matters now

The gifting season is when the most considered purchases are made on paper: a gift card from the store that knows your size, a credit slip from a return, a deposit on a special-order piece the boutique doesn’t carry. Each is a promise from the retailer, and its value depends on the retailer keeping it.

2026 showed how large those promises can be. When Saks Global, then the parent of Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman, filed for Chapter 11 in January, it told the court that about $320 million in its gift cards was outstanding, that it carried about $200 million in liabilities under its refund and exchange program (merchandise credits included), and that it was holding about 2,000 special orders worth about $32.5 million in customer prepayments [6]. The company emerged from bankruptcy on June 26, 2026 [9], renamed Exemplar Luxury Group, with 49 stores: 15 Saks Fifth Avenue, 33 Neiman Marcus, and Bergdorf Goodman [10]. Here is what the law guarantees the holder of a card, a credit, or a deposit, and what that case showed about the moments when the guarantee runs thin.

The federal floor for a store gift card

A card sold for one store or an affiliated group of stores is a “store gift card” under federal Regulation E, which sets these rules [1]:

Five years, at least. The money on the card may not expire sooner than five years after the card was issued or last loaded. The plastic itself may carry an earlier date, but then the card must say so and tell you how to get a replacement [1].
Fees only after a year of silence. A dormancy, inactivity, or service fee is allowed only if the card has had no activity for a full year, no more than one such fee is charged in any calendar month, and the amount and terms are printed on the card itself [1].
Terms fixed at purchase. Fees and expiration terms must be disclosed before you buy, and those terms may not be changed after purchase [1].
Replacement without charge. If the card expires before its funds do, no fee may be charged to replace it or to give you the remaining balance, unless the card was lost or stolen [1].

Know the exclusions. The rule does not cover cards issued under a loyalty, award, or promotional program, cards issued in paper form only, or cards not marketed to the general public [1]. A promotional card earned during an event can expire much sooner. Read its face.

Illinois goes further, and covers store credit

Illinois law is stricter than the federal floor. Since January 1, 2008, a gift certificate sold in Illinois may not carry an expiration date earlier than five years after issue, and may not be subject to any post-purchase fee at all; its face value may not be reduced, and the holder may not be penalized for non-use or late redemption [2].

The detail that matters most to a luxury shopper: the Illinois definition expressly includes “a credit slip issued by a store to a consumer who returns goods,” along with gift cards, electronic gift cards, and store cards [2]. A merchandise credit from returning a coat or a handbag is treated like a gift certificate.

Question	Federal rule (Regulation E)	Illinois (815 ILCS 505/2SS)
Earliest the value can expire	Five years from issue or last load [1]	Five years from issue [2]
Dormancy or service fees	Only after a year of no activity, at most one a month, disclosed on the card [1]	No post-purchase fee on certificates issued on or after Jan. 1, 2008 [2]
Store credit from a return	Not addressed by name [1]	Expressly included [2]
Promotional cards given away free	Excluded [1]	Excluded [2]
Cards usable at many unrelated sellers	Covered as general-use prepaid cards, under parallel rules [1]	Excluded from this section [2]

Neither rule requires a store to cash out a balance. Plan to spend a card, not to redeem it for money.

Treat a gift card like cash, because thieves do

The Federal Trade Commission’s advice is short. Buy cards from stores you know, not from online auction sites, where they may be fake or stolen. Check that the protective stickers are intact and the PIN isn’t showing. Photograph the card and the receipt, because those numbers are what the issuer needs if the card is lost or a fraud must be reported [3].

And the rule that never changes: gift cards are for gifts, not payments. No real business or government agency will tell you to buy a gift card to pay them; anyone who asks for the numbers off the back is running a scam [3]. If it has happened, report it to the card company right away, ask for the money back, and file a report at ReportFraud.ftc.gov [3].

Special orders and deposits: the money most at risk

A special order is the most exclusive purchase a store offers and the least protected. In Saks Global’s description of its own program, customers prepay for merchandise the store doesn’t carry, doesn’t have in stock, or can’t yet order, “typically” paying 100% of the price up front, and whether a special order can be returned is decided case by case [6]. Weeks or months can pass between payment and delivery.

Ordered online, by phone, or by mail? The FTC’s Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule applies. The seller must ship within the time it stated, or within 30 days if it stated none; if it can’t, it must offer you the choice of accepting the delay or cancelling for a prompt refund [5]. A prompt refund generally means within seven working days; where the store itself extended the credit, as on its own store card, within one billing cycle [5]. The FTC says that if the seller doesn’t ship, it owes you a full refund, “not just a gift card or store credit” [4]. An order placed in person at the counter falls outside that rule, so get the terms in writing: the expected date, what happens if the brand can’t deliver, and whether the deposit is refundable.

Pay with a credit card, and watch the calendar. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, a charge for goods not delivered as agreed is a billing error you can dispute in writing within 60 days of the first statement showing it [4]. The FTC warns of the special-order trap: if the agreed delivery date falls more than 60 days after that statement and the piece never arrives, you are likely outside the Act, though some issuers extend the window when a shipment is delayed [4]. Debit cards carry weaker protection for non-delivery [4]. Our guide to credit card dispute rights covers the letter and the deadlines.

When a luxury retailer files for bankruptcy

A Chapter 11 filing does not cancel your card or your order on its own. What happens depends on what the court allows. The Saks Global case is a clear, recent record:

Honoring was allowed, not required. On January 16, 2026, days after the filing, the court authorized, but did not direct, the company to keep honoring its customer programs, including gift cards, refunds and exchanges, special orders, and will-call orders [7].
Fourteen days’ warning. If the company chose to stop accepting gift cards, stop honoring return credits, or stop honoring special-order payments, it had to file a notice with the court at least 14 days beforehand [7].
Closing stores ran on a short clock. Under the court’s store-closing order, closing stores took valid gift cards for only the first 15 days after closing sales began; continuing stores and the Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus websites kept accepting them as usual [8].
No cash, no matter what. The same order says the gift cards are not redeemable for cash at any time, notwithstanding any policy or state law to the contrary [8].
Closing-sale purchases were final. Items bought at a closing sale could not be returned at any location or online. The exception: a defect a lay buyer couldn’t see on inspection could be returned for a full refund within the normal return period [8]. Things bought before the closing sale could still be returned under the policy in effect when they were bought [8].

The lesson for the discerning buyer is timing. When a retailer you hold value with is in the news, spend the card and the credit promptly, check which locations are closing, and don’t buy a closing-sale piece expecting the usual return privileges.

If a deposit is never honored: the consumer priority

The Bankruptcy Code gives individuals a seventh-place priority for money they deposited, before the case began, toward goods or services for personal, family, or household use that were never delivered or provided [11]. That places the claim ahead of ordinary unsecured creditors, up to a dollar cap. The cap is adjusted every three years: for cases filed on or after April 1, 2025 it is $3,800 per individual, up from $3,350 [12]. The statute’s printed text still shows the original figure of $1,800 [11], which is why the adjustment notice is the number to use. Anything above the cap is an ordinary claim, and a five-figure special-order deposit can be mostly exposed. Another reason to pay deposits by credit card and keep them as small as the boutique allows.

A short checklist before you give or prepay

Read the card’s face and terms for any expiration date and fees; under federal rules they can’t change after you buy [1].
Photograph every gift card and its receipt, and keep return credit slips with the original receipt [3].
In Illinois, a store credit from a return gets the same five-year, no-fee protection as a gift card [2].
For a special order, get the delivery date, cancellation terms, and refund terms in writing, and pay by credit card [4][5].
Mark your card statement’s 60-day dispute deadline; if the promised date is later, ask the issuer how it handles delayed shipments [4].
If the retailer files for bankruptcy, spend balances promptly and watch for closing-store notices [7][8].
Never pay anyone with a gift card [3].

Frequently asked questions

Do luxury store gift cards expire?

Under federal Regulation E, the money on a store gift card can’t expire sooner than five years after it was issued or last loaded [1]. In Illinois, a gift certificate or gift card can’t carry an expiration date earlier than five years after issue and can’t be charged any post-purchase fee [2]. Promotional cards given away free are excluded from both rules [1][2].

Is store credit from a return protected in Illinois?

Yes. Illinois’s gift certificate law expressly includes a credit slip a store issues to a consumer who returns goods, so the same five-year and no-fee rules apply [2].

What happens to my gift card if a department store files for bankruptcy?

It depends on what the court allows. In the 2026 Saks Global case the court authorized the company to keep honoring gift cards, required 14 days’ notice before it could stop, and let closing stores accept cards only for the first 15 days of their closing sales [7][8].

Can I get cash for a gift card balance?

Neither the federal rule nor Illinois’s gift certificate section requires a store to pay out a balance in cash [1][2]. In the Saks Global store-closing order the court said the cards were not redeemable for cash at any time [8].