Leawood, Kan. – September 26, 2025: As you may recall, in June of 2024 New Jersey amended N.J.S.A. 56:8-110.1 to require retail merchant establishments that sell gift cards (“Retailers”) to post a conspicuous notice warning consumers against gift card fraud. See, New Jersey Introduces Amendment Requiring Retailers to Display a Gift Card Fraud Notice Card Alert, August 9, 2024.
On April 1, 2025, New Jersey legislature approved 2025 NJ Sess. Law Ch. 39 (Senate 3587) that was codified in N.J.S.A. 56:8-110.3 (the “Act”). The Act, among other things, (1) directs the Attorney General’s Division of Consumer Affairs to provide a model notice on its website; (2) directs Retailers on how to display the notice for in-person and online sales; and (3) contains specific requirements on how Retailers are to display and sell gift cards, including packaging requirements. The law defines retail mercantile establishment as “any place of business where merchandise is exposed or offered for sale at retail to members of the consuming public.” N.J.S.A. 56:8-110.1(c). And the gift card that this requirement applies to is a “tangible device, whereon is embedded or encoded in an electronic or other format a value issued in exchange for payment, which promises to provide to the bearer merchandise of equal value to the remaining balance of the device.” Id. Specifically exempt from this definition are stored value reloadable cards. Id.
Originally under the proposed amendment neither the New Jersey Legislature nor the Attorney General had provided either definition or guidance on what constituted a “conspicuous notice.” It was only with the codification of N.J.S.A. 56:8-110.3 that this was provided. Regarding the model notice, the “Consumer Notice,” provided below is the model notice prescribed by the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs in response to N.J.S.A. 56:8-110.3(a). Their website indicates that Retailers selling gift cards in New Jersey must display this Consumer Notice to be compliant. You can view and download a copy of the Consumer Notice here: NJ Notice. You can also find the directive regarding the Consumer Notice here: NJ Directive (it begins with “Effective Oct 1, 2025”)
As to how Retailers are to display the Consumer Notice, the Act states that for in-person sales, “the notice shall be placed at or near the physical location where the gift card is displayed for sale or where the gift card sales transaction takes place,” and for online sales, “the notice shall be displayed on the webpage where the gift card is offered for sale or before the sale is finalized.” N.J.S.A. 56:8-110.3(b)(2) and (3).
The Act provides specific requirements regarding how the gift card must be displayed and packaged. Specifically, it directs that Retailer may not display or sell a gift card unless: “(1) the gift card or its packaging includes in a manner visible to potential purchasers when on display a warning that states ‘Do not sell or purchase if the gift card or its packaging has been broken or indicates tampering’ or that uses substantially similar language; (2) the gift card, if enclosed in packaging, is sealed in a manner that is not easily opened, removed, or replaced without signs of tampering; and (3) regardless of whether the gift card is or is not enclosed in packaging, all visible numbers such as a card number, CVV number, or a PIN number that can be used for balance inquiries or manual entry redemption are either fully concealed or covered, or otherwise made unavailable prior to sale or, only if the gift card is enclosed in packaging that is designed to make the gift card more secure than full concealment or covering otherwise would, are partially concealed or covered.” N.J.S.A. 56:8-110.3(c)(1)-(3).
There are certain exceptions to the above requirement, including but not limited to, if the gift card is a chip-enabled, numberless card that is activated by a consumer after registering the card on the card issuer’s website or the gift card is sold exclusively by a retailer for use only at that retailer’s store and is secured in a physical location that is accessible only by an employee. N.J.S.A. 56:8-110.3(d)(1) and (2). For a full list of the exceptions, see N.J.S.A. 56:8-110.3(d).
The amendment also proscribes activities for third-party gift card resellers that buys or sells a gift card as part of a transaction occurring in the State of New Jersey without authorization from or affiliation with the business entity issuing a gift card. See N.J.S.A. 56:8-110.3(c) and N.J.S.A. 56:8-110.3(e) and (f).
As approved, the effective date of the Act is October 1, 2025. However, the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs recently issued the following alert concerning its enforcement:
To read the full Act, click here: 2025 NJ Sess. Law Ch. 39 (Senate 3587)
For additional information on how to prevent gift card scams you can visit: https://stopgiftcardscams.com/
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