GiftRocket (YC W11) Lets You Send Gifts That Can Be Redeemed At Any Location • Hacker News Board

Re: GiftRocket (YC W11) Lets You Send Gifts That Can Be Redeemed At Any Location

#21

Post by wallabe » Mon, Mar 21, 2011, 6:17 PM UTC

pekinb wrote: post #18

pg wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You always have to pay to send someone money. And a giftcard for a store or restaurant also requires your friend to go there.

Me: "Hey dude, there's this great new Mexican place on your block. Here's $30. Enjoy." = free Me: "Hey dude, check out this website that's going to tell you about this great new Mexican place on your block. Here's $30. Enjoy." = not free

Seems like you're arguing against gift cards in general. $100b worth of gift card spending suggests other people feel differently. Maybe you're not the target market?

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1005802

Re: GiftRocket (YC W11) Lets You Send Gifts That Can Be Redeemed At Any Location

#22

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Mar 21, 2011, 6:18 PM UTC

wallabe wrote: post #10

klochner wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not any more ridiculous than facebook virtual gifts that cost money: "So I can pay facebook $1 to send my friend a virtual beer that he can't drink?" Both are arguably ridiculous to any (hyper)rational person, but people are not rational.

It's no more ridiculous than a normal gift card: "Wait, you paid $25 so I can have $25 that can only be spent in one location?" That's a cost right there...if flexibility had a price I'd bet it'd be >5%.

[deleted]

Re: GiftRocket (YC W11) Lets You Send Gifts That Can Be Redeemed At Any Location

#23

Post by old-gregg » Mon, Mar 21, 2011, 6:19 PM UTC

pekinb wrote: post #2

So I pay a company 5% for the privilege of sending my friend blocks away so I can put money in his paypal account?

But that's the idea of a gift card, isn't it? Otherwise why not just be handing cash out to friends?

If I want you to go cart-racing for your birthday, you're going cart-racing. No excuses. :)

Re: GiftRocket (YC W11) Lets You Send Gifts That Can Be Redeemed At Any Location

#24

Post by Smirnoff » Mon, Mar 21, 2011, 6:20 PM UTC

pg wrote: post #14

Smirnoff wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe paypal doesn't charge you anything when you send your money to your friend on a non-business issue.

That's only true if you pay them out of your Paypal account or linked bank account. If you want to pay with a credit card, you have to pay a fee. https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_display-receiving...

Yes, you are right. It just happened that my bank account is integrated with paypal, so it was always free for me.

Re: GiftRocket (YC W11) Lets You Send Gifts That Can Be Redeemed At Any Location

#25

Post by pekinb » Mon, Mar 21, 2011, 6:24 PM UTC

wallabe wrote: post #21

pekinb wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me: "Hey dude, there's this great new Mexican place on your block. Here's $30. Enjoy." = free Me: "Hey dude, check out this website that's going to tell you about this great new Mexican place on your block. Here's $30. Enjoy." = not free

Seems like you're arguing against gift cards in general. $100b worth of gift card spending suggests other people feel differently. Maybe you're not the target market? http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1005802

$X is worth $X in gift cards. I'm fine with that. I hate the idea of paying this company when they don't add any value.

Re: GiftRocket (YC W11) Lets You Send Gifts That Can Be Redeemed At Any Location

#26

Post by callmeed » Mon, Mar 21, 2011, 6:25 PM UTC

The concept has merit IMO, but I'm not sure about the current implementation. I assume (perhaps wrongly) that they are going to establish relationships with merchants ... or maybe they're building something that FB or Groupon can plugin to their network of merchants.

When I need to send a list-minute gift or a gift to someone out of town, I almost always email an Amazon gift card. And I can't see (yet) why I'd use this instead.

Re: GiftRocket (YC W11) Lets You Send Gifts That Can Be Redeemed At Any Location

#27

Post by zende » Mon, Mar 21, 2011, 6:40 PM UTC

pekinb wrote: post #2

So I pay a company 5% for the privilege of sending my friend blocks away so I can put money in his paypal account?

I've heard similar feedback about gift cards, but I continue to receive gift cards from friends. All things being equal, I'd much rather receive a GiftRocket instead of holding onto and likely losing a $25 physical gift card

Re: GiftRocket (YC W11) Lets You Send Gifts That Can Be Redeemed At Any Location

#28

Post by klochner » Mon, Mar 21, 2011, 6:51 PM UTC

pekinb wrote: post #25

wallabe wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like you're arguing against gift cards in general. $100b worth of gift card spending suggests other people feel differently. Maybe you're not the target market? http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1005802

$X is worth $X in gift cards. I'm fine with that. I hate the idea of paying this company when they don't add any value.

It really depends on whether the cost is worth avoiding the effort to get the gift card and send it to your friend.

I don't see a lot of value add (as a giftcard replacement) for vendors who are already selling gift cards online.

Re: GiftRocket (YC W11) Lets You Send Gifts That Can Be Redeemed At Any Location

#29

Post by kapilkale » Mon, Mar 21, 2011, 7:04 PM UTC

physcab wrote: post #3

Interesting concept. I tend to give a lot of gifts in the form of gift certificates to friends and loved ones, and they tend to be a little bit different from your run of the mill Old Navy card. I go for "experiential" gifts, like short plane tickets if I can afford it, speaker series tickets, theater tickets, etc. From a gift giver perspective, I always screen my gift ideas for things I can physically deliver in per…

We originally built this so we'd be able to send our friends in other cities a gift card to the restaurant or bar where they'd be celebrating their birthday.

Re: GiftRocket (YC W11) Lets You Send Gifts That Can Be Redeemed At Any Location

#30

Post by rjb » Mon, Mar 21, 2011, 7:19 PM UTC

This is literally one of two ideas we have been flipping between.

What we found was that all the current mobile gifting services lacked local businesses, were mostly SMS based and, the surprising problem, were partnering with the merchant. This means they are not "everywhere" nor are they granular - Not personal enough ($25 at Target). We tested a few last year and found that when we went to redeem the gift, either the merchants had no idea what we were talking about, even with phone and print out in hand, or the redemption process was a pain in the ass.

We also found something that surprised us. We assumed people would think it was rather impersonal. However, finding new ways to say "thanks for helping me move", etc., people found to be much more fun and personal - We also implied a level of custom-ability in gifting and had no interest in partnerships, big box or otherwise.

It is fantastic to see someone else taking this on as I personally think there is something huge here. There are so many nuisances to this and it is very interesting to see how each company is tackling them.