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You read it here first, folks: Last week, Sharper Image Corp. unofficially started moving from its current state of Chapter 11 bankruptcy (restructuring) to Chapter 7 bankruptcy (liquidation).

Now, Sharper Image management will tell you differently. The Powers That Be at the nation’s most notorious retailer of Ionic Breeze air purifiers are making halfhearted efforts to keep the company an ongoing concern, and as far as I know no formal dissolution plans have been announced, nor has a petition for liquidation been filed.

So from where springs my certainty of its imminent demise? Why, from an announcement the company made last week, claiming it was going to stick its corporate thumb into the eye of its customers and prospects.

Granted, Sharper Image phrased it somewhat differently. What it actually said was that, as part of its reorganization efforts, it wasn’t obliged to honor outstanding gift cards and certificates – but it would do so if consumers a) redeem them in full during a single visit and b) purchase merchandise that costs double the value of the cards being turned in.

To the Sharper Image’s way of thinking, it’s doing customers a favor. After all, under Chapter 11 reorganization gift cards are effectively wiped off the books, customers be damned.

To my way of thinking, they are turning gift cards into ransom notes. “If you ever want to see the $50 already ponied up, put another $50 into the till of your nearest Sharper Image emporium.”

This attempt to squeeze a few last-gasp bucks out of cardholders comes at the cost of both good will and potentially higher sales than if Sharper Image honored the cards’ original conditions.

First, it’s a retail axiom that gift card redeemers spend above a card’s value. Second, gift cards are one of the cheapest and most effective forms of prospecting. Consumers use them to introduce friends and loved ones to the brand. But if these introductions come with mandatory additional spending obligations, the cards cease being a gift and become a burden.

Sharper Image’s corporate suits may say they were obliged by the bankruptcy court to put these restrictions on the cards. But I wonder how hard their customer relationship strategists argued against it.

Several of Sharper Image’s competitors are offering significant discounts to consumers bearing Sharper Image gift cards. This is rationale enough for going back to the bankruptcy court and asking for new redemption terms, if the original ones were set by the court. Market conditions have changed.

In addition to imposing restrictions on its gift cards, Sharper Image is closing 96 of its 184 retail outlets, meaning that consumers will have fewer redemption locations. (So much for these cards serving as traffic builders among potential customers.) Furthermore, the company isn’t allowing certificates to be redeemed through its Web site, although they can be applied to purchases made via the phone.

But even these call center orders come with a twist. Consumers seeking to redeem cards through phoned-in orders are told to call the company’s customer service number, NOT its traditional ordering department. The company knows cardholders are gonna hit the roof when they hear the restrictions. Sharper Image wants the customer service reps who have the most experience with irate callers on those calls.

I hope those reps are getting combat pay – but under the restructuring conditions, they probably aren’t.

Sharper Image’s gift card rules reflect a strategy for a single quarter. But there is nothing about this that indicates the company is thinking even six months ahead. It certainly doesn’t seem to have considered its reputation.

Hence my original point: The Sharper Image may not be thinking six months down the road because it doesn’t anticipate there being a six months down the road. That’s six, as in one before seven, which looks to be the next Chapter in the Sharper Image story.

To respond to the opinions in this column, please contact richard.levey@penton.com