What a great idea! Who hasn't got an unused gift card lying around somewhere!?
Although, it would be awesome if they offered digital delivery of gift cards that can be redeemed online in addition to delivery of physical cards.
CardPool (YC W10) Wants To Buy And Sell Your Unused Gift Cards
21–30 of 50 posts
Re: CardPool (YC W10) Wants To Buy And Sell Your Unused Gift Cards
#22Nice idea! Would be great if you mention that the service is US-only; you are not using a country-specific TLD, so it's not obvious.
Re: CardPool (YC W10) Wants To Buy And Sell Your Unused Gift Cards
#23Am I the only one who saw the title and thought it was a stupid idea... then realized we aren't talking about Hallmark-style Gift Cards?
Re: CardPool (YC W10) Wants To Buy And Sell Your Unused Gift Cards
#24"There have been a number of auction-like marketplaces, such as Plastic Jungle and Rackup, that have popped up to allow users can buy and sell their gift cards to each other..." "...CardPool is entering the space but with a slightly different twist to its model. Card Pool allows users to both buy and sell gift cards." What is the twist?
They set the buy and sell price, so there is no auction component.
Having a disinterested party set the prices seems unlikely to work (sustainably/scale-ably). A bid/ask system (like the stock market) seems like a decent model, although it might be difficult to present in a way that is easy for most users to understand.
Just like in the real markets there would room for a market-maker to make money on the bid-ask spread, while providing liquidity... if the service had an API, this could be a third party, although the more obvious scenario is that CardPool itself would be the market maker.
Re: CardPool (YC W10) Wants To Buy And Sell Your Unused Gift Cards
#25Am I the only one who saw the title and thought it was a stupid idea... then realized we aren't talking about Hallmark-style Gift Cards?
I've only heard those called "greeting cards".
Re: CardPool (YC W10) Wants To Buy And Sell Your Unused Gift Cards
#26Am I the only one who saw the title and thought it was a stupid idea... then realized we aren't talking about Hallmark-style Gift Cards?
I think of the Hallmark things as "greeting cards", not "gift cards".
Re: CardPool (YC W10) Wants To Buy And Sell Your Unused Gift Cards
#27i was a bit skeptical, then i checked my wallet and realized i had 2 gift cards i couldn't really use. i will be mailing those to cardpool tomorrow.
i didn't understand how this worked at first, here's a quick summary:
1) you look up the value of your cards online 2) you mail the cards to them 3) they mail you a check for the value (minus 10%)
Re: CardPool (YC W10) Wants To Buy And Sell Your Unused Gift Cards
#28This is by far one of the best YC ideas I've heard in a long time! If you succeed, you're going to destroy balance sheets, move markets, and hopefully reform the gift card scam forever. But, you probably already know all this.
It's certainly a good idea, but they're not the first to come up with it. Plasticjungle.com seems to have been around since 2006 and looks very similar. A quick Google search for "sell gift cards" reveals several other similar sites as well.
Re: CardPool (YC W10) Wants To Buy And Sell Your Unused Gift Cards
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
They set the buy and sell price, so there is no auction component.
Having a disinterested party set the prices seems unlikely to work (sustainably/scale-ably). A bid/ask system (like the stock market) seems like a decent model, although it might be difficult to present in a way that is easy for most users to understand. Just like in the real markets there would room for a market-maker to make money on the bid-ask spread, while providing liquidity... if the service had an API, this c…
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Re: CardPool (YC W10) Wants To Buy And Sell Your Unused Gift Cards
#30"There have been a number of auction-like marketplaces, such as Plastic Jungle and Rackup, that have popped up to allow users can buy and sell their gift cards to each other..." "...CardPool is entering the space but with a slightly different twist to its model. Card Pool allows users to both buy and sell gift cards." What is the twist?
great question, the techcrunch article needs to be updated. but basically, we strive to have the simplest, most hassle-free solution, at the best prices. all our gift cards have no fees and never expire and we offer a 100-day return policy, something no one else can claim. and since we are a small and lean startup, we can afford to focus purely on the consumer while offering the best prices. all of these features are…
I think you will be genuinely surprised how little customers care about price relative to other things, even in a market where one suspects that price would be the only differentiator. (I mean, come on, if you're shopping around for an N% discount at Best Buy "clearly" you want the best N, right? Three years ago I thought that teachers were "clearly" universally as stingy as their reputation suggested.)
Trying to differentiate yourself primarily on price will give you ulcers because you'll always be one basis point away from losing to the next guy with more stupid money to burn (e.g. a funded competitor who can afford to have their spread go negative to gain market share, because their objective isn't to run profitably but rather to goose metrics then flip), and you'll attract disproportionately pathological customers who will be loyal to you only as long as no one else offers a better deal. Pathological customers will find every possible way to botch the transaction and blame you for it. (I tried using your Apple B's card to buy an iPod and it didn't work!! YOU THIEF!!!)