An Important Reminder About Book Sense Gift Certificates

Booksellers should no longer be selling Book Sense gift certificates; they should, however, continue to redeem valid certificates sold before June 1, 2005.

In October 2004, the American Booksellers Association announced that it was discontinuing the Book Sense Gift Certificate Program and that by December 31, 2004, it would stop selling paper certificates to bookstores. By June 1, 2005, stores were required to stop selling Book Sense gift certificates.

As an incentive for stores to return unsold certificates, ABA had also announced that it would pay 10 cents for each unsold Book Sense paper gift certificate returned to ABA via a traceable manner (e.g., UPS) by June 15, 2005. However, the association has now extended the deadline for reimbursement for unsold certificates until the end of this year. Certificates should be sent to the attention of Peter Reynolds at ABA, 200 White Plains Rd., Tarrytown, NY 10591. The minimum reimbursement amount for this buy-back is $5, regardless of the number of certificates returned.

Book Sense will continue to provide reimbursement for all valid Book Sense gift certificates in accordance with established reimbursement guidelines for as long as necessary. In keeping with the wording on the certificate, "Redeemable at any store with Book Sense nationwide," all bookstores with Book Sense should continue to accept valid Book Sense gift certificates even if they have never sold one. (Reimbursement instructions are online at www.bookweb.org/read/7618.)

Questions about the Book Sense Gift Certificate and Gift Card programs should be addressed to ABA Marketing Director Jill Perlstein at [email protected] or (800) 637-0037, ext. 6642.