i purchased a gift card from my retailer and doesnt work

nothing microsoft can do, it is up to the seller to activate, if they are unable then they have to refund you.

Thank you for answering my question! I contacted the seller and got a full refund thanks again!

My son received a gift card as a xmas present and tried to redeem it but it says it is not activated, we dont know what retailer sold it so can we redeem it?

No. If it hasn't been activated by the retailer then you cant redeem it. Its basically a useless peice of cardboard and has no value if the retailer doesnt activate it upon purchase.

You would have to find out where it was purchased (hopefully the person who gave it as a gift also gave you a reciept or at least a gift receipt) and have the retailer activate it.

Lot of Visa Gift cards will work with the system, you will just need to register it online using your name and information. once that is done. "most" will work, sometimes however the system will not take it due to a lot of gift cards do not accept online
purchases and what not.

on turn you can always in turn use the gift card to purchase points or membership from a trusted retailer.

Hey there,

Gift cards/codes will not work from other regions. As indicated above, you'll need to contact the retailer from which you purchased the cards from regarding a refund.

Be sure to verify that any codes/cards you purchase are set to be used in the region that you reside in.