Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

More than you want to know about gift cards

bam.kalzumeus.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 180 posts

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#121

Post by Cullinet »

agustif wrote: post #96
lostcolony wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife did something amazing this year that I think is relevant here. She had a baby shower to go to. She didn't know what to get the mother to be. So she bought an Amazon gift card. And then she created a wishlist of items she thought the mother might need, doing the research to find reputable brands, unique solutions to problems, "best mom gadgets", etc (such as the pacifier that you can put liquids into; it lets…

Could you share the list>

The next thing is Gift Affiliate Shower Funnel Marketing Cards - the server running on the java card itself in Rust of course

I didn't m to sound facetious but now I'm thinking about the ways of making a SaaS out of this : the incentive for the giver is easy enough ; the card maker gets a cut ; AWS should give you a great deal on hosting..

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#122

Post by JshWright »

lostcolony wrote: post #57
cmckn wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think it is, at least not in my family. Cash is no more of a faux pas than a gift card, at least. I happen to think either is a pretty lame gift. Instead of a gift card to LUSH, for example, just buy me a bath bomb or whatever. Maybe I won’t like the scent you choose, maybe I’ll love it—that’s the nature of receiving a gift. Besides, gift cards are rarely enough to cover an actual purchase with taxes and etc…

My wife did something amazing this year that I think is relevant here. She had a baby shower to go to. She didn't know what to get the mother to be. So she bought an Amazon gift card. And then she created a wishlist of items she thought the mother might need, doing the research to find reputable brands, unique solutions to problems, "best mom gadgets", etc (such as the pacifier that you can put liquids into; it lets…

> it lets you get liquid medicines into the baby, like cough syrup

I realize this was just a casual example, but kids under two generally shouldn't be given any cough or cold meds (there are no over-the-counter cough meds for kids Definitely still useful for other meds though.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#123

Post by flh »

pavon wrote: post #107

Does anyone have an example of what he refers to as an open-loop gift card? Is is the same thing as a prepaid debit card? Are there other types?

Yes a prepaid debit card is a type of open-loop card.

The two main types of open-loop cards in this industry are prepaid gift cards and reloadable prepaid debit cards. You probably see the gift cards all the time if you live in the US, they are often on an endcap near the front of grocery stores and pharmacies. Once the funds have been fully debited from the gift card account the card can't be used again, and these also expire after a few years if they aren't redeemed. Reloadable debit cards are basically a simplified bank account often used by the underbanked or for people who may not want to use a debit card tied to their bank or a credit card for whatever reason.

For the most part folks can use these products to make any purchase that one could make with a normal debit or credit card, but there are some exceptions to that. I think most of the streaming services don't accept them, and probably many other subscription based services that use periodic charges to an account.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#124

Post by makecheck »

Gift cards are the ultimate anti-consumer scam:

- If you buy a gift card that isn’t worth enough for what you actually buy, the store “wins” because you will probably make up the difference with cash and they then sell you something you either would not have bought at all, or bought somewhere else.

- If you buy a gift card that is worth more than whatever you end up buying, the store “wins” again because they have received the full value and you did not.

- If you buy a gift card and by some miracle it is exactly matching the cost of what you buy, the store “wins” yet again because (a) you were still only able to purchase items from that store, and (b) the entire time you were holding the card, it was slowly losing value because only bad things could have happened: the store might have stopped offering what you wanted, the price could have changed, or heck the store could have simply gone out of business. Meanwhile, the store was already paid by you for the card (in yesterday’s dollars) so they could do almost anything with that CASH, including putting it in a saving account, and end up better off than you.

Simply put, it is never, ever, ever to your advantage to have a gift card. Ever!! Cash is better in every possible way.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#125

Post by gunshai »

madcaptenor wrote: post #63
Symbiote wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A gift card is reserved and people feel anticipation of what they could go buy on their next trip. Growing up in England, my aunt occasionally managed this with cash. She would give me Scottish banknotes at Christmas, which look different, but can be spent without much difficulty almost anywhere in Britain. (The aunt lives in England, so acquiring the Scottish banknotes probably took some effort.)

The US equivalent of this, I think, would be giving two-dollar bills. They exist and are legal tender but are rarely seen.

TYL there is a strip club in portland that denomates in two dollar bills. It also happens to be "Vegan"

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#126

Post by wildrhythms »

winternett wrote: post #10

I still don't understand why it faux-pas to just put cash in a nice card... I just do it anyway. It's a more universal gift card without fees and expiration dates... Anyone who tries to put me down for doing so will simply not be receiving a gift from me next year... Screw stressful stores. plastic cards, and standing in line, my method is much more "green"... :P

Even when people ask for specific gifts (think wedding registries... baby shower gift lists...) I still just gift them cash/Venmo with a personal message, usually double or triple whatever the gift ideas recommended. I do not care about the cultural strings attached, because if I was in the situation of asking for gifts- usually caused by a taboo of directly asking for money- I would be thankful for the cash.

I see commenters here on HN talking about how 'thoughtful' a gift card is... no, a gift card is selfishly deciding how someone else should spend money that was supposed to be a gift.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#127

Post by flh »

makecheck wrote: post #124

Gift cards are the ultimate anti-consumer scam: - If you buy a gift card that isn’t worth enough for what you actually buy, the store “wins” because you will probably make up the difference with cash and they then sell you something you either would not have bought at all, or bought somewhere else. - If you buy a gift card that is worth more than whatever you end up buying, the store “wins” again because they have re…

I mostly agree with you, but I don't think most people are buying gift cards for themselves. Why would they when there are activation fees attached to these products? Generally they're given out as kind of a lazy gift among family and friends during the holidays, or somtimes from businesses to their employees. As long as the card is for something mildly useful like Starbucks (Although according to the post this seems to be the one that is actually redeemed the least), or Amazon then I wouldn't be too upset about receiving one. At the end of the day though I'm in the same camp as you when it comes to my own spending. I don't like to give money to anyone for anything less than immediate services rendered.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#128

Post by teeray »

winternett wrote: post #10

I still don't understand why it faux-pas to just put cash in a nice card... I just do it anyway. It's a more universal gift card without fees and expiration dates... Anyone who tries to put me down for doing so will simply not be receiving a gift from me next year... Screw stressful stores. plastic cards, and standing in line, my method is much more "green"... :P

There’s also a meme of envelopes getting raided for the cash within them (“don’t send money through the mail”).

I’ve never actually heard of anyone getting burned by this in modern times though. For sufficiently valuable gift cards (e.g. Amazon), the same hazard exists.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#129

Post by 0des »

makecheck wrote: post #124

Gift cards are the ultimate anti-consumer scam: - If you buy a gift card that isn’t worth enough for what you actually buy, the store “wins” because you will probably make up the difference with cash and they then sell you something you either would not have bought at all, or bought somewhere else. - If you buy a gift card that is worth more than whatever you end up buying, the store “wins” again because they have re…

I'd add one small exception; around here restaurants tend to do sales at certain times where if you buy a 50 dollar gift card, they'll add another 20 dollar gift card free, sometimes it is buy-one-get-one, which you can buy and enjoy like a coupon for taking out your family. For places you go to anyway, this is a great way to save a little.

Re: More than you want to know about gift cards

#130

Post by DarylZero »

throwaway413 wrote: post #41

Idea: “unlocked” public bitcoin wallets with autogenerated key pairs that can be given to someone without them needing a pre-existing wallet. 1) transactions are instant and free, ie giving over physical ownership of a pub/private key pair (this could be done via scan of a QR code) 2) no prior onboarding necessary (avoids the repeated question “do you have this wallet/app?”) Before, if I didn’t have cash, to tip a va…

Vulnerable to double spends.
Post reply on HN