Reply #28: I don't get that either. We sell lots of gift certificates [View All]

at our business, especially the kind we can email for you and make it look like you didn't forget somebody until the last minute. :)

We charge the amount of the gift certificate to the buyer's credit card when the web order is processed, generally within twelve hours of receiving the order, and usually much quicker than that.

The funds are credited to us by the credit card company in the next day or so as always.

Seems to me if it's the credit card companies reporting holiday sales, the gift card and gift certificate sales would certainly be reported along with every other credit card charge.

Yes, we welcome people using those because they often do spend more than the gift certificate amount, so we get some additional sales after Christmas. The amounts spent over the face value of the certificate are charged at that time to the customer's credit card.

So if there's any accounting method that separates out gift cards and certificates from other purchases, it sure isn't the credit card companies - - and those are the ones reporting today.

Those funds are taken out of your account immediately and are credited to the store where you bought the card almost as fast.