Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge will only accept gift cards to pay for 50% of purchases

SHOPPERS can continue to use gift vouchers at Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Miss Selfridge – but only to pay for 50% of the purchase.

The high street shops will continue trading after owner Arcadia went into administration.

Shoppers will have to spend their own money to use their gift cards

Shoppers can continue using gift vouchers in store and online from the eight Arcadia brands, which also includes Topman, Burton, Evans, Outfit and Wallis.

But administrators for the retailer, Deloitte, told The Sun vouchers can only be used to pay for up to 50% of a purchase.

That means shoppers will have to spend the same amount as the value of the gift card they want to use.

The administrators also said that new gift vouchers will not be available to buy.

Experts have warned that shoppers who do have vouchers should spend them as soon as they can.

What does it mean when a company goes into administration?

ADMINISTRATION is when all control of a company is passed to an appointed to a licensed insolvency practitioner.

It doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the business.

Instead, administrators will try to help a company find ways to repay debts or solve its cashflow problems.

Administration can last anywhere from a few weeks to up to a year or more.

But if the administration process can’t rescue the company or find a new owner, this can lead to liquidation.

Liquidation is the process of selling all assets and then dissolving the company completely.

While they are currently being accepted this can change at any time.

When a company falls into administration, it’s down to the administrators to decide whether they accept gift cards or not.

Administrators can decide to accept gift cards at the start of the process, but later stop accepting them.

Which? consumer rights expert Adam French said: “We would advise any consumers who have vouchers to think about spending them as soon as they can.”

“If there is something you are planning to buy from Topshop or other affected brands that is worth more than £100, make sure you use a credit card as you’ll be able to make a claim against your credit card company to recover the money if anything goes wrong.”

Debenhams shoppers have also been told to spend any vouchers as soon as possible.

Its 124 stores will close completely and the department store will disappear form the high street after failing to be rescued from administration.

But what does an administration mean for returns and gift cards, and can you still shop there? Here we explain your rights and what happens next for shoppers.

Retailers including Aldo, Debenhams, Jaeger, Oasis, Peacocks and Warehouse have also all collapsed since the pandemic began.

More than 43,000 retail jobs had been axed since the start of coronavirus lockdown as high streets struggled to survive.

Philip Green’s Arcadia empire, including Topshop and Dorothy Perkins, collapses into administration with 13K jobs at risk

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk