These are some things to remember when buying a gift card:

• Keep your receipt. Without one, if the gift card is lost, there is no way to trace the purchase and replace it.
• Every retailer has its own policy for its gift cards, so read the fine print. Some charge monthly service fees if the card is not used within six or 12 months, but others do not. Among the retailers that charge monthly service fees: Safeway, J. Crew and Bank of America Visa. Some that don’t: J.C. Penney, Macy’s and PacSun.
• If you buy a gift card issued by a bank, such as the Visa gift card, don’t buy several cards for the same person. If your gift recipient tries to purchase something using more than one card, it may confuse the sales associate or the cash register.
• When buying something that exceeds the value on most bank-issued gift cards, customers must first pay the difference in cash. But stores typically can’t tell you how much money remains on those cards, which are processed by the same credit card authorization systems that approve or reject a purchase without revealing the remaining balance. A $50 gift card, for example, may be rejected as payment for a $50 restaurant bill if the restaurant also seeks authorization for the tip.
• If you have several store cards with small balances, take them to the store and ask an associate to transfer the remaining balances to one card.