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Unclaimed rewards returned to you
Support | 415-386-8600
Unclaimed rewards returned to you
Support | 415-386-8600
Incentive and reward programs can use different pricing, funding, delivery, expiration, cancellation, refund, reporting, reminder, catalog, merchandise, and branding models. This guide identifies questions to ask without assuming that one model or provider practice applies across the industry.
Available reward types may include gift cards, prepaid products, direct payments, merchandise, charitable giving, or optional branded items. Catalog, geographic availability, fees, eligibility, expiration, and tax treatment vary by program and recipient location.
An offer described as having no platform or delivery fee may still involve reward face value, funding timing, subscriptions, service fees, merchant or network economics, shipping, merchandise markup, foreign exchange, taxes, support, replacement, expiration, or contract-dependent unclaimed-value treatment. Compare written terms and total program cost rather than relying on a single price label.
The corporate incentive and reward market includes issuers, merchants, aggregators, platforms, fulfillment providers, and service partners with different responsibilities. Review who holds funds, who issues the reward, when a delivery becomes funded or claimed, what the recipient receives, and which party handles support.
Gift cards, rewards, and incentives may support recognition and appreciation programs, but they do not guarantee engagement, performance, retention, redemption, savings, or ROI. Increased customer value does not automatically create loyalty; treat repeat purchase, retention, advocacy, and profitability as outcomes to measure rather than promises.
Organizations once purchased individual retail gift cards and distributed them manually. Providers developed services for catalog access, funding, recipient delivery, reminders, reporting, support, and reconciliation. Current models vary: direct merchant purchase, issuer or network products, aggregators, managed platforms, merchandise fulfillment, payments, and hybrid services.
Pricing may include face value, discounts or spreads, per-delivery or subscription fees, service packages, shipping, merchandise pricing, foreign exchange, support, or other contract terms. A “no delivery fee” statement does not establish zero total cost, and a fee-based service is not necessarily more or less cost-effective without comparing scope and outcomes.
Distinguish four concepts: an unclaimed delivery that has not yet been accepted; an issued reward that may carry its own legal and issuer terms; a remaining balance after partial use; and accounting or contractual breakage based on amounts expected not to be redeemed. Ownership and treatment of each amount depend on the product, issuer, contract, accounting policy, and applicable law.
Ask for written funding, cancellation, refund, expiration, escheat, replacement, reporting, and unclaimed-value terms. Do not assume a provider keeps every unused amount or that a sponsor automatically receives it back.
Gift-card, prepaid-product, promotional-reward, loyalty, and delivery-claim rules differ by product, issuer, jurisdiction, funding method, and program structure. U.S. federal and state requirements may overlap, and other countries use different rules. Do not rely on a static state list or a universal duration.
A platform claim window can be different from the expiration or validity of an issued card or balance. Confirm current law, issuer terms, disclosures, fees, dormancy or inactivity treatment, escheat obligations, cancellation and refund rights, and what happens before and after claim. Obtain legal and tax advice for the actual program.
Choice may help recipients find an accessible, relevant option, but a broad catalog does not ensure redemption or satisfaction. Too many options can also create decision friction.
Use voluntary preference input and offer choices of comparable value across locations, abilities, beliefs, technologies, and circumstances. Confirm current catalog coverage, currencies, languages, fees, expiration, merchant restrictions, and alternatives. Do not infer sensitive traits from demographic or location data.
Reward products and delivery services use varied terms. Before comparing providers, document the program objective, recipient population, funding flow, claim process, reward issuance, support responsibilities, and total cost.
Do not use a general industry redemption percentage to forecast the program. Build estimates from a relevant baseline, test or holdout where practical, and the actual claim, issuance, redemption, cancellation, refund, and remaining-balance data available for the selected product.
Any return of expired, canceled, or unclaimed value depends on the contract, product, funding status, issuer or supplier terms, applicable law, and timing. It is not automatic.
Determine when the sponsor is charged, whether funds are prefunded, when a recipient claim becomes an issued reward, and which amounts—if any—can be canceled or refunded. Face value, service fees, taxes, shipping, foreign exchange, and issued instruments may follow different rules.
Separate the deadline to claim a delivery from the terms that govern an issued card, code, payment, merchandise credit, or remaining balance. Confirm disclosures and applicable law for every recipient jurisdiction.
Ask which statuses are available—created, funded, sent, delivered, opened, claimed, issued, redeemed, canceled, refunded, expired, or failed—and how each is defined. Reporting depth varies, and redemption data may not be available for every product.
Reconcile sponsor funding, issued value, fees, refunds, and contract-dependent unclaimed amounts. Avoid inferring provider motives from unavailable data.
Reminder features and pricing vary by channel and product. Where reminders are allowed, set a limited cadence based on consent, expiration, time zone, quiet hours, sender identity, delivery status, and opt-out or suppression requirements.
Measure delivery, complaints, support, and claims without promising a particular redemption increase or savings percentage.
Confirm whether authorized administrators can correct contact details, resend notices, revoke an unclaimed delivery, or replace an eligible issued reward. Availability, identity verification, fraud review, fees, timelines, and liability differ by product and status.
Collect only required recipient information, restrict access, log changes, define retention and deletion, and notify recipients of material corrections.
Catalog size, brands, denominations, currencies, languages, merchant coverage, and accessible alternatives change over time. A limited catalog may not fit every recipient, while an extremely broad catalog may increase decision effort.
Review recipient needs and current availability without assuming that catalog design reflects a provider’s motive or that choice guarantees redemption, engagement, or program impact.
Determine whether a recipient can use a reward across multiple purchases, combine it with another payment method, view a balance, or recover small remaining amounts. Merchant, issuer, product, fee, and jurisdiction rules vary.
Do not assume every unused balance transfers to the delivery provider or is automatically lost. Confirm the applicable issuer and contract terms.
Request itemized pricing for reward value, merchandise, shipping, handling, service, support, customization, foreign exchange, taxes, and replacements. Compare market price, award value, recipient out-of-pocket cost, and total sponsor cost.
Ask providers to disclose material conflicts, commissions, rebates, preferred-placement arrangements, or inventory incentives where relevant. Do not assume every recommendation or markup is improper without contract and pricing evidence.
If merchandise costs more than the award value, disclose the recipient’s required contribution, taxes, shipping, returns, warranty, sizing, accessibility, and alternative choices before selection. Do not create unequal recognition through hidden top-up costs.
Showing fully covered options of comparable value can reduce surprises, but it does not guarantee satisfaction, redemption, or a positive experience.
Clearly identify the sponsor, reason for the reward, value and terms, and support contact. Use approved branding and accessible design without obscuring required issuer, provider, legal, or privacy disclosures.
A branded message may help recipients recognize the sender, but it does not guarantee trust, loyalty, retention, performance, or relationship strength.
Evaluate the provider’s financial model, catalog, funding, reporting, reminders, recipient choice, accessibility, support, privacy, security, and brand controls against the actual use case.
Calculate full program cost: reward face value, platform and delivery fees, subscription or service fees, creative, administration, support, merchandise markup, shipping, foreign exchange, fraud controls, taxes, refunds, replacements, expiration, and contract-dependent canceled or unclaimed-value treatment.
Define the intended outcome and guardrails before launch. Use a baseline, holdout, randomized test, or other appropriate comparison; state the attribution window and assumptions; distinguish correlation from causation; and do not claim savings, performance, or ROI from fee structure or redemption alone.
Employee rewards may be taxable compensation requiring payroll treatment. Customer, partner, healthcare, government, procurement, and other regulated-audience gifts may be subject to employer limits, anti-bribery, anti-kickback, tax, disclosure, and industry rules. Research payments must follow approved protocols and consent terms.
Build a project in the campaign builder with approved branding, recipient details, eligibility rules, consent records, and incentive selections. Reward availability, pricing, fees, funding, delivery timing, expiration, cancellations, refunds, replacements, remaining balances, unclaimed-value treatment, and tax obligations depend on program terms, reward type, issuer or supplier, and recipient location.
Project scope, billing, recipient eligibility, funding, and delivery requirements vary.
Confirm current security, privacy, accessibility, payment, tax, payroll, anti-bribery, anti-kickback, procurement, research, and other regulated-audience requirements.
