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Coupons generally satisfy many of the definitional requirements of a gift certificate. Typically, they are redeemable at a single or affiliated merchant, are not reloadable, and are purchased on a prepaid basis.
However, coupons may not meet the requirement that they be issued in a "specified amount. While couponing for a specific experience may appear as a reasonable strategy to avoid the application of federal and state gift certificate laws, in reality this may be difficult to implement since some state laws governing the issuance of coupons may require that the coupon have a stated cash value. In that case, the coupon will trigger the "specified amount" requirement and be subject to federal and state law expiration date limitations.
It may be possible to issue coupons with a stated cash value and a short-term expiration date if structured to take advantage of the promotional certificate exclusion. Generally, if the coupon is structured in this way, the purchase value i. In order to fall within this exclusion, the coupon must be specifically structured and contain certain disclosures.
Courts have yet to decide whether coupons are gift certificates under federal or state laws, or whether they qualify for the promotional certificate exclusion. However, given the pending lawsuits in various jurisdictions, it is likely that one or more courts will address these issues in the near future. Until then, franchise systems offering coupons including through daily deal offerers like Groupon and LivingSocial should understand the potential application of federal and state laws and structure their coupon programs to minimize the risk of violating these laws.
Maureen E. She practices primarily in the area of domestic and international franchising, licensing, and distribution transactions. Contact her at or maureen.
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