Gift Cards are now one of the most common methods to show the affection one has for his or her loved ones, or for the people he really cares. After all, no one ever gifts a person who is of little or no value to them. Therefore, if you are one of the many people who receive lots of gifts, you must consider yourself lucky.
But, with the advancement of technology, and a often a large geographical distance between the sender and the recipient of the gifts, there has been a drastic increase in the usage and purchase of gift cards, which allow the recipient to get some products of his or her need which is equivalent to your gift.
This is somewhat different to the traditional gifts that we have been giving and receiving over the years in the pre internet era.
If there is a growing business of gift cards, there is also a high risk of getting cheated in the name of gift cards, as it happens in all businesses. Therefore, it is important for any sane person to look before making a leap and this article will be if a great help to such people.
So, before you go out and get a gift card for your near and dear ones, you should know about the following things which have been discussed in this article.
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When to Look Out For Promotional Gift Cards and When to Let Them Go
Most of the business companies which offer gift cards always roll out some offers for the promotion of their brands. This promotional offer might get you a gift card for a little lower price, but there is a hidden intention behind these offers which most of the people don’t get.
These cards are rarely valid for a long period of time, hence they have to be redeemed or used within a short duration of time, which is certainly not an impressive deal. This way, the person you are sending a gift card may get annoyed, and this won’t be very impressive again.
So, before jumping on the first promotional offer that you get, you should always wait and analyse what you want and what are you actually taking to reap the best benefits of your gift card.
Choose between Open Loop and Closed Loop Cards
This is an important choice that will help you to get better deals in future, or in case you are sending the gift card to someone else, it is best to use a closed loop card for their favourite brand. Closed loop gift cards are the ones which have a closed circuit of operation.
They can be redeemed only at the parent brand or at one of the sister brands of the company. However, these cards come a little cheaper because even the business owners know that once you buy a gift card, the money is with them. Therefore, if you do not switch brands too frequently, it is a good idea to go for the closed loop gift cards.
But the open loop gift cards are slightly expensive and are merchant based. These cards can be redeemed at any point whenever the merchant is used by a brand for payment. A great example of such a card is Visa card.
Watch Out for Deals and Discounts
Who does not love getting discounts on his purchase? If you are getting a discount on purchase of a gift card some days later, but the same discount is absent at present, then it is always a nice idea to wait. By doing this, you can save a lot of money over a period of time.
Most of the times when these discounts are available is when there is some festival season or when there is some event of the company going on. You can easily find them on sites like FreeHoy, PointsPrizes & many more.Therefore; one should never miss such opportunities as they can prove out to be great deals at any point of time.
Watch Out for the Fraudsters
Fraud is something that no one loves when it happens with them. And any sane person would avoid any deal which is even minutely suspicious. Not only can you lose your hard earned money due to such frauds, you can also get tricked into legal consequences.
Therefore, it is always a nice idea to stay away from such deals. Identification of fraud deals is very simple. You should confirm a deal with the original company or brand if it looks too good to be true.
Most of the times, such frauds occur on website based gift cards, so always use the official sources for buying a gift card, with or without any offers and stay away from fraudsters in the industry.
Bigger is Better
What if you buy a gift card today and after a month, the brand or the company issuing the gift card ceases to exist ? Or what if the merchant you can use to redeem you gift card goes offline and you can no longer access its services ?
These things are also getting common day by day, which is almost equivalent to a fraud. But to save the money from going wasted, you should always look at the past history of the brand. An intelligence information isn’t required but a basic background check is more than sufficient to make the purchase safe.
Therefore, the bigger brand you try to get a gift card of, the better are the chances to get the real benefits. It is not that newer brands are completely frauds and are looking forward to grab your money, but you should not be careless while buying a gift card.
Conclusion
These were the five things to know before buying a gift card which will help you to make a more efficient purchase of gift cards, whether electronic or plastic cards. Be attentive and act smart while buying gift cards and your money will remain safe.