Gifts Cards (aka the gift that's really just a substitute for a middle finger)

Where's the 'Good, now I can get something I want, instead of a piece of crap' option?

Seriously. My cousins who got me the Borders gift card would never have thought to buy me that collection of Euripides had they been left to their own devices. I probably would have ended up with a Garfield calendar and Harry Potter jelly beans. Thank God for gift cards.

Also, coffee-shop giftcards are golden because nothing says "I love you" like giving a junkie his fix.

Yeah, I kind of love gift cards. We got a $200 gift card to Whole Foods as a wedding present from a friend and it was one of the best of the bunch.

Coffee shop gift cards are kinda crap when you're low on money and would rather go to fucking Au Bon Pain so you don't starve

My cousins who got me the Borders gift card would never have thought to buy me that collection of Euripides had they been left to their own devices. I probably would have ended up with a Garfield calendar and Harry Potter jelly beans.

gift card vs. amazon wish list

My main work client gave me a $100 Omaha Steaks gift card this year. Has anybody had their stuff? Any good?

Gift cards, to me, are basically signals from your friends that they don't think you can spend your own money wisely. A $200 gift card to Whole Foods is nice, sure, but wouldn't you rather have $200 in cash that you could spend on anything? I suppose giving someone a couple $100 bills isn't so romantic, but neither is a slab of plastic with a magnetic strip on the back. How about giving someone some cash with "Whole Foods" written in Magic Marker across the back?

Plus the whole thing that gift cards are a godsend to big businesses. Every person that forgets they have the gift card, or doesn't spend all of it, or lets it expire - it's all free money.

I see what you're saying but we also got cash from a lot of people and in this instance the WF thing was kind of neat because we wouldn't have spent the money there otherwise but were happy to do so when the opportunity presented itself.

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Me & the man each got $5 Starfux gift cards for Xmas. They had to consolidate them to pay for our $8 worth of coffee, and we ended up getting a gift card that had $38.23 (or such) in change. !!!

The only bad gifts are ones that have no use AND take up space, imho. I mean you could get me an Office Depot card and I'd be happy because at least I wouldn't have to pay for my own pens and printer ink for a little while.

(lol I am a JEW)

No, dude, those are my favorite. Like a grocery gift card is the best, or the pet store (for pet supplies). My Amazon wish list is all like print cartridges and such, things that aren't fun to buy but that I need. I like getting socks and Sharpies as gifts but everyone seems to think because I am "wacky" that I would like things like Planet of the Apes model kits.

The ideal gift card may be to a tire and oil change place! Do they have those? Guys: your ladies would love a free oil change and a full gas tank for Valentine's. That is the best Valentine's gift I have ever heard of.

Yes. At some point I want to have a gift card for every single place I shop so I can enjoy the illusion that I do not have to spend money on anything.

Gift cards have kept me fed the last month or 2 out of work. I got a batch of Coles Myer group ones (which means you can use them at about 6 or so diff dept stores/bottle shops/supermarkets), and instead of using them to buy presents for myself Ive used them to buy groceries, smokes and booze.

Which means I basically had no xmas presents this year but oh well.

This isn't really related to gift cards per se, but I'm psyched because I got an expensive sweater I don't like from Macy's, and now I've received cards for Macy's discounts in the mail. I intend to buy a cheaper sweater and have enough left over for shoe polish, socks, razor blades for my safety razor (which are kind of hard to find now) and whatever else I can squeeze out of it.

Gift cards to cool specialist bookshops and the like are great, because it allows you to spend on something extravagent that you would not normally let yourself blow yr hard earned on.

Yeah whereas cards to say, Freedom are just frustrating because unless someone gves me a $2000 gift card, the hell am I gonna buy from there? A plate?

Hawk em on Ebay, you get like 80% which is almost silly.

business idea: a machine at the malls that takes your card and gives you 50-60% of the value in cash. Work out something with the retailers. This would make you so rich.

Go into the store in question and try to sell them off to the people at the checkout. Like scalping in reverse.

god people are paying 90%!! the chance the card does not exist or end up in your mailbox has to be worth more than 10%

http://cgi.ebay.com/100-BEST-BUY-GIFT-CARD-CERTIFICATE-FREE-SHIPPING_W0QQitemZ290202456843QQihZ019QQcategoryZ31411QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

gift cards for amazon or possible anything online or a store you actually shop at w/o being prompted to are awesome b/c they require minimal effort to use
tho i will admit it took me 10 months to use one i was given in march even tho it was to a big cdn bookstore that is fully online
i ended up getting something kind of crazy/ruling

Haha "free shipping."

xp

yeah I noticed the 'free shipping' (41c obv) adds $2-3 to the bids, ha.

gift cards at different stores go for different prices. some dude recently did a big survey about the proportion of the gift card value that cards from various stores go for on ebay. iirc the most valuable is starbucks, the least valuable is bed bath and beyond

BB&B flat rate $1.00

but yeah either give someone a sentimental gift and risk them valuing it less than what you paid for it, or give them a practical gift of cash and have them think that you couldnt be bothered, not the horrible abyss in between that is gift cards

cash + small meaningful gift = i love you unconditionally

Hahaha yes that is true!

If its a card to somewhere useful you need to buy from anyway, then getting an extra 10-20% because you're buying it at less than face value on ebay has to be a win.

...but I wouldnt trust it mself. They could be expired.

Hi can you email me a photo of yourself holding the card and today's newspaper with "A+++++" written on your forehead in blue ink, thanks.

haha.

I can't remember what HILARIOUS basic cable comedian said this, but it was along the lines of "Great. You've given me an errand for my birthday."

Pretty otm.

i was wrong about bed bath and beyond. the most worthless gift cards are from tiffany, victoria's secret, and abercrombie & fitch, for obvious reasons. full paper here (summary stats on last page)

I know that at Home Depot, Lowe's and Walmart you can get a cash refund on items returned in new condition, regardless of your method of payment or if you even have a receipt. So gift cards to these places are as good as cash if you want to go through that process.

i got a red lobster gift card once (it was a "thank you" add-on for some big retail item i bought, not a true gift from family/friends) and i always wanted to use it to buy like one appetizer and a whole load of booze but i never got around to it

Even the Red Lobster one I could see having fun with - I have certain friends who would probably get a huge kick out of the idea of going to Red Lobster and getting plastered. Victoria's Secret I'd just give to my wife who'd probably save it until she needed bras (because we both have this weird feeling about lingerie like it's for old folks who need to "spice it up".) I guess Tiffany would be the worst one unless it was a shit-ton of money so I could buy my wife a nice gift. Even Abercrombie I guess I could buy some overpriced comfortable boxer shorts.

Ha I had three $5 Chili's cards once and I used them for nothing but booze! One Presidente Margarita and 3 $2 pints of Bud.

i got these gas vouchers with a purchase a couple of years ago and they were quite stupid, you had to get through $100 of gas a month for 3 months to use them up, you couldn't carry any balance over. and i don't drive all that much, certainly never for fun, so there was always heaps of $$ left over. on the last day of each month i would fill up my car then accost strangers in the line and offer to pay for their gas so i could use that month's voucher up. some people were charmed and thrilled but others were suspicious and sullen. the cashier would get emotional about what a good person i was, even though i had just explained that i wasn't, that i just wanted these vouchers to get used up. i suspect she may have watched 'pay it forward' one time too many, also she seemed like she was wearing an invisible santa hat in march.

lol estela is wynona rider in reality bites

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love them but I have two sitting in my wallet that I still hvaen't bothered to use.

fuck companies that don't let you redeem them for online orders!

i have a $175 credit balance on Amazon right now from accumulated gift cards... I never order shit on Amazon is why

omg that woulda been gone in like 5 minutes for me.

mostly heavy metal singer action figures probably

just give people money imho