Vouchers from 2023 expire on 31 December — Hamburg app developer wants to rescue the money in the drawer
40 percent of Germans have let a voucher expire at least once. Anyone who bought or was given a voucher in 2023 generally has to redeem it by 31 December 2026. Hamburg developer Oleksii Zeleniuk has built Gutscheinify, an app that reminds users in good time.
Read the full press release
Hamburg — There is cash lying in many drawers. According to a YouGov survey for Statista from December 2024, 40 percent of Germans have let a voucher expire at least once: 28 percent once, and 12 percent even more than once. Among 18- to 24-year-olds the figure is 52 percent.
Often the reason is simply forgetting. In an INNOFACT survey commissioned by the broadcaster WDR (n = 1,047), around 21 percent said they had not even known that they had the voucher. Around 40 percent said they had not yet had time to redeem it.
The clock is ticking: vouchers from 2023 become time-barred on 31 Dec 2026
Unless a shorter, valid deadline is printed on it, a voucher is subject to the standard three-year limitation period under § 195 BGB (German Civil Code). The period only starts at the end of the year in which the voucher was bought. A voucher from 2023 must therefore be redeemed by 31 December 2026 at the latest.
Shorter deadlines are not automatically valid: the Higher Regional Court of Munich (OLG München) ruled that a validity of only one year for an online shop’s gift vouchers unreasonably disadvantaged customers (judgments of 17 January 2008, case no. 29 U 3193/07, and of 14 April 2011, case no. 29 U 4761/10). And even if a printed deadline has passed, consumers can often still claim the cash value within the three years, according to the German consumer advice centre (Verbraucherzentrale), minus the retailer’s lost profit.
Forgetting is part of the calculation
The experience provider Jochen Schweizer mydays shows how important unredeemed vouchers can be for providers. The company confirmed to WirtschaftsWoche that expiring vouchers are factored into its financing strategy (WirtschaftsWoche, 14 July 2024).
Separately, in December 2024 the Munich I public prosecutor’s office and the Munich Local Court imposed fines totalling 3.9 million euros, including 2.59 million euros against Jochen Schweizer GmbH and 1.3 million euros against mydays GmbH. The reason was the sale of vouchers without the required licence from BaFin (the German financial supervisory authority), in breach of the German Payment Services Supervision Act (Zahlungsdiensteaufsichtsgesetz, ZAG).
The solution: all vouchers and loyalty cards in one app
This is where Gutscheinify comes in. With the app by Hamburg developer Oleksii Zeleniuk, vouchers can be captured by photo, by email forwarding or by hand. The code, value and expiry date are detected, and the app sends a reminder in good time before expiry. Loyalty cards such as Payback, Lidl Plus, dm, Rewe or Rossmann can also be stored and shown full-screen at the checkout, even offline.
“I had received a voucher worth around 150 euros by email. When I wanted to redeem it, I could no longer find it in my inbox,” says Zeleniuk. “Vouchers and loyalty cards are scattered across apps, emails, paper and key rings. Gutscheinify brings everything together in one place.”
The app is free for up to 10 vouchers and 10 loyalty cards. Gutscheinify Pro (€2.99 per month or €19.99 per year) offers an unlimited number of entries and automatic email import. The data is stored on servers in the EU and the app is GDPR-compliant; user data is not sold and there is no third-party advertising.
Gutscheinify is available for iOS and Android. Download and demo: gutscheinify.de
Key facts
- 40% of Germans have let a voucher expire at least once: 28% once, 12% more than once (YouGov/Statista, Dec 2024)
- 52% is the figure among 18- to 24-year-olds (YouGov/Statista, Dec 2024)
- Around 21% no longer knew that they had the voucher (INNOFACT for WDR, n = 1,047)
- 31 Dec 2026: vouchers from 2023 become time-barred unless a shorter, valid deadline applies (§ 195 BGB, Verbraucherzentrale)
- €3.9 million in fines against ProSiebenSat.1, Jochen Schweizer and mydays for selling vouchers without a BaFin licence (Munich public prosecutor’s office / Local Court, Dec 2024)
- USD 18.01 billion volume of the German gift card market in 2025 (Research & Markets, Germany Gift Card Databook Q1 2026)
Sources
- YouGov/Statista, Dec 2024, via ZDFheute (in German): https://www.zdfheute.de/ratgeber/weihnachten-geschenk-gutschein-gueltigkeit-gesetz-100.html
- INNOFACT survey commissioned by WDR (n = 1,047) (in German): https://www.marktforschung.de/marktforschung/a/geschenk-gutscheine-landen-oft-in-der-schublade/
- Verbraucherzentrale (German consumer advice centre) on validity, deadlines and the OLG München judgments (in German): https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/vertraege-reklamation/kundenrechte/gutscheine-als-geschenk-so-lange-sind-sie-gueltig-13861
- OLG München (Higher Regional Court of Munich), judgments of 17 January 2008 (29 U 3193/07) and 14 April 2011 (29 U 4761/10)
- WirtschaftsWoche, Leonard Frick, 14 July 2024 (in German): https://www.wiwo.de/unternehmen/dienstleister/jochen-schweizer-mydays-das-steckt-hinter-dem-geschaeft-mit-erlebnisgutscheinen/29892850.html
- ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, statement of 2 December 2024 on the fines
- Research & Markets, Germany Gift Card Databook Q1 2026
