Daily deals sites face slippery slope

Apr 22, 2012   //   by Chad   //   Latest News  //  No Comments

Thanks to Robert S. Peters of Duff & Phelps for the great article entitled “Daily Deals: The Very Real Risks from Unclaimed Property Laws”.  We completely agree that short expiration periods will lead to many consumer backlashes and hefty lawsuits in the future for Groupon and its competitors.

Here is an excerpt:

Also part of the picture are the unclaimed property and consumer provisions at the state level that govern the types of unclaimed property that are required to be remitted to the state to capture unclaimed coupon and gift card value. With at least 42 states facing budget shortfalls, many are looking for new and expanded definitions of unclaimed property to close these gaps.

New Jersey is among the states that have attempted to expand the definition of unused gift cards/certificates reportable to the state by shortening the unclaimed status timeline to two years from five years. The state also requires that merchants gather contact information from the buyer so that the state can track the cards. These rules were projected to raise an additional $79 million for New Jersey’s coffers in 2011.

Read the entire article here.  Thanks Eric Savitz (@Savitz) for publishing this guest post on your Forbes blog.

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