New Zealanders with Whitcoulls or Borders book tokens should redeem them as soon as possible, Consumer New Zealand says.
This comes the day after the two bookselling chains were put under administration in Australia and New Zealand by Australian parent company REDgroup Retail.
Whitcoulls' website announced yesterday that to redeem a giftcard, a customer needed to spend at least twice the face value of the card, for example, by using a $30 card and $30 cash to buy a $60 book.
No new gift cards would be issued during the voluntary administration, it said.
Consumer NZ deputy chief executive David Knowles said consumers had to make the best out of a bad situation.
"It's far from ideal ... but I guess in a situation where the company is basically one step away from liquidation, possibly, then this is probably better than nothing."
He said it was probably best to redeem the voucher rather than wait to see if the company survived.
Legally, if there was a change of ownership, for instance, the new owners were not obliged to accept the vouchers.
"The best situation at the moment is to take the current deal if you can, because at least you can redeem them."
REDgroup Retail appointed Ferrier Hodgson as voluntary administrators and partner Steve Sherman earlier said in a statement that as far as possible it would be business as usual while an urgent assessment of the business's financial status was conducted and prepared for the first meeting of creditors.
That meeting was expected to take place in the first week of March.
Mr Sherman said that there was "a lot of confusion" about gift cards or vouchers and asked people not to tear them up.
"They may have value in any business that emerges from the administration process," he said.
Those currently holding gift cards or vouchers could redeem them by matching them dollar for dollar with cash, keep them for possible use in any business that possibly emerges from the administration, or make a claim for the face value of the gift card or voucher as an unsecured creditor.
The separately American-owned Borders chain also collapsed this week, but is not linked to the Australasian chain.
