Everyone loves receiving and giving gift cards for special occasions. They reduce the stress of care, if the recipient will like the jeans or shirt you bought them. They eliminate the fake smile and "I can always use a new pair of jeans" routine of the person getting the gift. However, beware of the dangers and hidden costs, and using your gift card.
Consumer Benefits
Consumer Benefits
...Consumer Bugs
Consumer Bugs
...Many general-purpose cards come loaded with fees. According to the lowdown on gift cards article on Bankrate.com, a gift-card programs will be issued another card if the card has expired. These replacement card will cost you from $ 5.95 to $ 10. If the on-line or via phone card will be charged $ 4.95 to $ 8.95 shipping and handling fee and $ 3.95 for a $ 11.95 service. Some gift cards will charge you a monthly maintenance fee, if you still have a balance on your credit card after six months or a year. If you still have the balance after this time, $ 2 to $ 3 monthly fee kicks in
...If the gift card is lost or stolen, good luck! Some retailers will not replace the missing gift cards. Other retailers such as Bloomingdales and Macy are peaceful, and will issue you a new card, if you can provide a certificate showing your latest purchase. Some general purpose cards will cancel the missing card and will reissue a new one for $ 5.95 at $ 10 fees.
...So make sure you keep your card in a safe place to use it before it expires and buy it directly from the vendor, and you'll avoid most of these benefits.
...So make sure you keep your card in a safe place to use it before it expires and buy it directly from the vendor, and you'll avoid most of these benefits.
......Another reason retailers love gift cards to consumers will pay less attention to sales and they tend to spend more than they are on the card. Retailers noted that consumers will spend the entire amount on the card and a small fee of $ 2 or $ 3 left on it. Chances are, customers will never use the card again and it works on the retailer's advantage.
an advantage to retailers is, rather than just a vacation, and then rush to prepare for returning home, they actually get twice the noise. As consumers give gift cards as holiday presents, gift card holder usually will not rush straight to the center after the holidays to spend their cards. This results in a major cut-down in the back of the goods.
There are several disadvantages for retailers. Gift cards can cost the retailer 50 cents to $ 3 per card, depending on how many are ordered. There are also costs of $ 50,000. Cost of implementation to cover all the start up fees associated with the production and tracking of gift cards.
gift card exchange
Recently, Internet companies have created a website allowing people to sell or exchange unwanted gift cards. EBay got involved in this idea, and now has more than 7,500 gift cards listed for sale or auction. This may be a good idea if you receive a gift card for a particular store and you do not like anything in that store. You can share these cards on this site for other cards or even cash. Places like SwapAGift.com and CardAvenue.com are good sites that offer this service. At CardAvenue.com, you can even buy gift cards at discounted rates. For example, you may be able to buy a $ 25 card office depot for $ 17;. This is another way to save
Copyright 2006 Debt Management Credit Counseling Corp
