You have a list of folks you wish to send gifts to. The majority are out of state. Then you will find your immediate siblings. Some you understand well. Others? You merely don’t have a clue in regards to what half them like? So you see giving them a present certificate. After all money doesn’t grow on trees. The fact is with the cost of gas doubling in the last few years, inflation on our heels and the growth in family reunion attendance, offsetting the cost of gift giving by finding low priced items that each body loves is becoming a straight greater challenge then it ever has been. Thus the growing popularity of gift cards.

The National Retail Federation anticipated $17.24 billion worth of holiday sales this past year in gift cards. The reason why gift cards are very frequently bought as opposed to other things are numerous. No body wants to offer a present that is not appreciated. In addition, who wants to burden down an aging relative with having to drive several miles to a shop she nevers shops in order to exchange the gift. buy paypal gift card

Mark Askew, founder of http://prepaid-gift-card.fimark.net says, “Folks once thought that with a present card you couldn’t make a mistake attempting to please. And this seemed logical at the time. Thus as gift cards gained popularity many merchants jumped on the bandwagon. But until recently gift card weren’t all these were considered to be.”

But gets the gift card changed all that much in the last three or more years? Perhaps. Prepaid gift cards issued by VISA and MasterCard provide a way to utilize a gift card anywhere charge cards are accepted. Prepaid debit card issuers and 60 percent of store gift card issuers provide the potential to obtain an alternative card with the residual balance if the original is lost or stolen. But finding a replacement may require the purchase receipt and the card number. Some companies may accept other evidence of purchase. The gift card recipient would have to have every one of these papers to obtain a replacement. No surprise a substantial percentage of gift cards have gone unredeemed. Having said that, when investing in a gift card, look carefully at the pre-purchase disclosures of terms and conditions on the web site and the packaging in the store. If terms are not given or appear too cryptic to be complete don’t buy.

So when a recipient receives a shop issued gift card from a shop they don’t like obviously the card just sits in a cabinet drawer until it’s long past the expiration date? Are merchants pocketing the cash while the gift card purchasers just discard money? That has been after the case. But companies like Sears announced it is eliminating expiration dates from all gift cards issued beginning December 17, 2003. Other card issuers have now been quickly following suit.

As well as less expiration date worries these day there are a handful of companies specialized in redeeming major retail gift cards for recipients of unwanted, unredeemed gift cards. One site, thegiftassistant.com, offers gift card ordering, redemption programs in addition to gift card exchanges. A number of these companies offer services for such card issuers as Best Buy Starbucks and Outback SteakHouse. Still with all the current recent changes and only the recipient losing the impersonal commercial stigma connected with gift cards is a challenge.

Still with all the current work to personalize a present card they still seem to need help stick out in the crowd of greeting cards and gift bags. After all a present card is four times smaller that a simple greeting card and weighs only a few ounces. Does this imply that gifts card don’t have what it will take to stick out among large presents? Some issuers compensate because of this by upping the monetary value of gifts cards. Some cards values far outweigh any large dominating boxed gift. From $200 to $300 or more. With the advent of prepaid debit gift cards from VISA, MasterCard, American Express and DiscoverCard folks can offer a gift card valued at $500 to as much as $3000 dollars depending on the provider. Perhaps big things do come in small packages.