Research
Which retailers replace a stolen gift card — and which do not
We read the published gift card terms of 28 major US retailers. One protects your balance in advance. Thirteen refuse to replace it. Six publish no policy at all.
The finding: of twenty-eight major US retailers whose published gift card terms we read, only Starbucks offers any protection before a card is stolen. Seven will replace a balance, but only if you still hold the receipt. Thirteen state plainly that a stolen balance is gone. Six publish no policy at all.
Why this matters
Gift card draining works because the card is compromised on the shop rack, before anyone buys it. By the time a balance disappears, the shopper has done nothing wrong — and what happens next depends entirely on terms almost nobody reads before buying.
We read those terms. Below is what each retailer actually commits to, taken from its own published gift card pages. Where a retailer publishes nothing, we record that rather than inferring a policy from what similar shops do.
The comparison
| Retailer | If the card is lost or stolen | What the terms say |
|---|---|---|
| Starbucks | Protected in advance | Register the card and the balance is protected from the moment you report it lost. |
| Bath & Body Works | With card number | Replaced for the value at the time you ask, if you can supply the card number. No receipt required. |
| Target | With receipt | Replaced on production of the original receipt. A partly used card is replaced for its remaining balance. |
| Best Buy | With receipt | Replaced with valid proof of purchase, up to the remaining balance. |
| Macy’s | With receipt | Replaced only with proof of purchase, and only for the balance Macy’s records show. |
| DSW | With receipt | Not replaced without the original sales receipt. |
| Ulta Beauty | With receipt | Not replaced without proof of purchase. Ulta states it is not responsible for unauthorised use. |
| Costco | With receipt | Replaced for the current balance with proof of purchase — alongside a separate line saying Costco is not responsible for lost cards. |
| Barnes & Noble | With receipt | Replaced up to the remaining value, but only with satisfactory proof of purchase and the card number. |
| Sephora | Not replaced | States value will not be replaced if the card is lost, stolen, altered, destroyed or used without authorisation. |
| Nordstrom | Not replaced | States lost or stolen cards will not be replaced and that it is not responsible for them. |
| Kohl’s | Not replaced | States it is unable to replace a Kohl’s Merchandise Credit that is lost or stolen. |
| Walmart | Not replaced | States plainly that it does not replace lost or stolen gift cards. |
| Amazon | Not replaced | States it is not responsible if a gift card is lost, stolen or destroyed. Replacement is offered only for a non-functional card. |
| Walgreens | Not replaced | States it is not responsible for lost, stolen or destroyed cards — yet still runs a form for reporting one. |
| Dick’s Sporting Goods | Not replaced | States lost or stolen cards cannot be replaced, and directs fraud victims to the FTC and state attorneys general. |
| GameStop | Not replaced | Its terms say a card will not be replaced if lost or stolen. Its own FAQ says otherwise — see the note below. |
| Apple | Not replaced | States neither Apple nor the issuer is responsible for lost or stolen cards or use without permission. |
| Nike | Not replaced | States it will not be responsible if a card is lost, stolen, destroyed or used without permission. |
| Lululemon | Not replaced | States it cannot replace lost or stolen cards, and separately that it does not protect your gift card balance. |
| REI | Not replaced | States cards cannot be replaced or refunded if lost or stolen. |
| Petco | Not replaced | States gift cards are like cash and are not replaceable if lost, stolen or destroyed. |
| Old Navy / Gap Inc | Not published | No lost or stolen policy published on its gift card pages. |
| Lowe’s | Not published | No lost or stolen policy published on its gift card balance pages. |
| Home Depot | Not published | No policy published. Its gift card FAQ and fraud-prevention pages load with headings but no content at all. |
| CVS | Not published | No gift card terms document on its own site. Its gift card page restates federal law rather than CVS policy. |
| TJ Maxx | Not published | Nothing on loss or theft across its gift card pages, balance page or full terms of use. |
| Sally Beauty | Not published | No consumer policy published. Its corporate page says only that cards should be treated as cash. |
Four things the table shows
1. Registration is the only real protection, and almost nobody offers it
Starbucks is the outlier. Register a card to your account and the balance is protected from the moment you report it lost. Every other retailer here is reactive at best: you find out the money is gone, then argue about a receipt.
2. The receipt is worth more than most people think
Seven of the twenty-eight — Target, Best Buy, Macy’s, DSW, Ulta, Costco and Barnes & Noble — will replace a balance, but only against proof of purchase. A gift card given as a present almost never comes with a receipt, which means the people least able to prove purchase are exactly the people most likely to be holding a drained card. Bath & Body Works is the quiet exception: it replaces on the card number alone, no receipt asked for.
3. Six major retailers publish nothing at all
Six retailers — Old Navy, Lowe’s, Home Depot, CVS, TJ Maxx and Sally Beauty — publish no lost or stolen policy on their gift card pages at all. That is not the same as refusing: it means you have no way to know what you are entitled to before you buy. Home Depot is the starkest case. It advertises a gift card FAQ and a gift card fraud-prevention guide, and on the day we checked both pages loaded with their headings and no content underneath.
4. Some retailers contradict themselves
GameStop’s formal gift card terms state a card will not be replaced if lost or stolen. Its own FAQ, on the same site, describes exactly how to get one replaced with the original receipt. Walgreens states it is not responsible for lost or stolen cards, then operates a web form for reporting one. If you are relying on either, the binding document is the terms, not the help page.
What to do about it
- Register the card if the retailer allows it. On Starbucks this converts a total loss into a recoverable one.
- Keep the receipt until the balance is spent. For seven of these retailers it is the difference between replacement and nothing.
- Check the card before you buy it — see our guide to how gift card draining works for the four physical signs of tampering.
- Spend promptly. An unused balance is what automated bots scan for.
Method. Each policy was taken from the named retailer’s own published gift card terms, FAQ or customer service pages, read between 20 and 25 September 2026. Third-party gift card sites were not used as sources. Where a retailer publishes no policy we record that rather than inferring one. One retailer, Michaels, is omitted because its gift card FAQ could not be read and we will not publish an unverified cell. Terms change; we re-check them at least twice a year. Corrections: see our contact page.
Reuse. Journalists and researchers are welcome to cite or reproduce this table with attribution to GiftBalanceGuide and a link to this page.