About the KB

How the knowledge base is compiled.

A short page on how the balance guide, the usage guide, and the FAQ are put together, where the numbers come from, when the pages are refreshed, and the three things we deliberately do not do.

Updated 12 August 2026 Non-commercial

§1 · Sources

Three inputs, no shortcuts

Every entry can be traced back to one of three inputs. Where a claim cannot be traced to any of them, it does not go in.

Input

What we take from it

What we don't

Consumer-protection rules

Expiration floors, disclosure requirements, fee limits — described in general terms.

Case interpretations. Anything requiring a lawyer to summarise for a specific case.

Consumer-authority reports

Recurring fraud patterns, procedural notes, aggregate reporting language.

Individual case files. Named-issuer allegations.

Public retailer documentation

Common checkout behaviour, split-payment field naming, activation workflow.

Retailer-specific promotions. Screenshots reproduced without permission.

§2 · Refresh cadence

Every page carries an “updated” date at the top

When the date moves, the page has been re-read line by line — not merely re-published.

Monthly

The homepage, the balance guide, and the FAQ are reviewed for drift.

Quarterly

The usage guide and the online walkthrough are re-read section by section.

On change

Any material regulatory update triggers a refresh independent of the calendar.

Yearly

The legal pages are re-read end-to-end and re-dated.

§3 · What we don't do

Three deliberate refusals

Reader asks us to open a dispute for them.

We decline, and point at the issuer's fraud desk or the relevant consumer-protection authority. We're a knowledge base; the dispute path is the reader's.

A vendor offers to sponsor a section.

We decline. No advertising, no affiliate revenue, no vendor-supplied content. Naming a retailer requires accuracy, not payment.

A reader sends a card number.

We do not store it. We do not use it. The reply asks the reader to delete their copy and to talk to the issuer directly.

§4 · Reader

Who this is written for

Adults buying, receiving, or spending gift cards. Educators and community programs also use these pages as a starting point for consumer-literacy work.

No prior knowledge is assumed. If a technical term appears, the plain sentence comes first and the technical phrasing follows in parentheses.

The tone target is “a friend who happens to have read the fine print already” — not a lecture, not a marketing page, not a lawyer's letter.

Editorial illustration of three people reviewing gift card information

§5 · Funding

How this site is funded

Short answer: display advertising and paid sponsorship. Long answer below.

Revenue source

How it appears on the site

Editorial impact

Display advertising

Ad slots at the top of the homepage and the top of long-form pages, always labelled Advertisement.

No influence on which topics we cover or how they are written.

Paid sponsorship

Occasional sponsored strips, always labelled Sponsored with the sponsor name visible.

Sponsors do not preview or edit editorial content. Anything sponsored is opt-in for the reader.

Direct sales, affiliate links, referral fees

None. We do not sell gift cards and do not link to third-party sellers with tracking codes.

Not applicable.

If you would like to advertise on the site, write to [email protected]. If you spot a sponsored strip that is not clearly labelled, treat it as a bug and let us know.

Ready for the reference itself?

Two pages hold most of it: the balance guide and the usage guide.

Open the usage guide