Disclosure: This is a guest post is brought to you by the Glitter Network.
My husband and I don’t live near most of our family, so it’s difficult to know what gifts will be most appreciated by our loved ones. Even buying a gift card can be confusing. There are so many options!! In this post, you’ll find a few solutions to the phenomenon known as…..
The Gift Card Conundrum
According to a recent article from Forbes, the prepaid card industry in the U.S. is set to surpass $200 billion this year, or approximately 5% of all retail spending throughout the country. Gift cards are very popular and practical – especially for gift-giving from long distances or for someone you don’t know very well – but there are a few things to consider next time you want to give someone a gift card:
Visa, MasterCard, AMEX
One of the most generic type of gift card is an “open” one, which are generally sold by major credit card providers such as Visa, MasterCard, or American Express. These prepaid cards can be used anywhere – note that some retailers don’t take AMEX, however – thereby allowing the recipient to spend the money in whichever way they please. For the purchaser, there’s usually a $3-5 fee tacked onto the price of the card at checkout, which diminishes the attractiveness of these cards because many other gift cards don’t have this fee applied for the purchaser or recipient. However, these cards are also refundable if stolen and no further fees will be tacked on after purchase.
iTunes vs. Amazon
iTunes is a wildly popular gift card option – less so among younger generations that resort to illegal downloading, but that’s another topic for another day – but oftentimes you could find MP3 songs for lower prices on Amazon than iTunes (e.g., $1.29 on iTunes and $0.99 on Amazon). Amazon also has the benefit of allowing the recipient of the gift card to spend it on anything other than music if they want, but even if they go with music, they have the option between CDs and MP3 downloads, which easily transfer over to iTunes after downloading some basic software.
Credit Card Points
If you’ve racked up a fair amount of credit card points, then consider swapping those for a gift card for a friend or family member’s gift before dropping $20-50 cash on one at a store. Credit card companies with rewards programs generally have a wide range of gift cards available for their card members, so be sure to check this out!
Dining Gift Cards
Instead of giving someone a gift card that’ll allow them to buy material possessions, why not give them a culinary experience instead? Dining gift cards are one of the most popular types of prepaid cards out there, whether you want to buy a $5 fast food stocking stuffer or a $300 gift card to a fancy restaurant for a major client of yours. For more frugal gift-giving ideas, you can create a themed gift basket with related food items – e.g., popcorn and soda and candy for a movie night – with a gift card and entertainment-related coupons from SumoCoupon. There are likely hundreds of ideas on sites such as Pinterest, so find the right gift basket for you and let your creativity run wild!
Gift Card Swap
We’ve been discussing a lot about gift cards from the purchaser’s perspective, but what if you’re the recipient? If you’re unlikely to use a gift card someone has given you, you can either trade or sell it on a site such as CardPool or Gift Card Swapping for almost full retail value.
Which of these tips did you find most valuable?
So many people are buying gift cards now, myself included. They add a personal touch while still allowing the person some freedom to buy what they want. I like to get different ones for different people. Card swapping and buying online are big right now, and often work to everyone’s advantage. You want to think about how reliable the place is both where you are buying and for what card you’re buying….I’ve bought cards before only to have the place close down. Not fun.