I quit buying gift cards when I read the statistics concerning how many go unused! I bought one for my SIL for his birthday and it costs $3.00 for a service fee. That was my last purchase. I'd rather give him 3 extra dollars. Doesn't seem to make sense.

We give and get gift cards all the time... no fees (in fact, we were PAID for the recent gift card purchases... 2 cents off gasoline - 30 gallon max - for every $50 purchased!) and none go unused.

We are using a $50 Olive Garden card for dinner tonight. Kids are gone for the day and I'm NOT cookin'!

We give and get gift cards as Christmas gifts. We didn't pay extra fees to purchase any of the cards we gave as gifts. We even got money off cards for our next purchase because we bought gift cards! We use them up as soon as we get them. My mom gives them out to the grandkids because her tastes are a lot different then theirs. There is no waiting in return lines now. The kids get what they really want when they go to their favorite store, and don't make gramm feel bad by returning her gift. We love 'em! NancyLouise

Hi again folks,

I didn't suggest that people not use them - just be careful when attending those supposedly big-saving after-Christmas sales.

Be careful also if you received a gift card - check to see whether there's an expiry date.

Don't you just love the idea of a store reaching into your pocket and making some of your dollar bills just go ...

... "Poof!" ...

... and they've disappeared into thin air?

If you don't watch your dollars - nobody else'll watch 'em for ya.

They may pinch 'em, though, when you're not watching.

ole joyful

One year I bought "prepaid" Mastercards as gifts for neices and nephews. Cost face vale of $50 plus $5.95 "service charge". I shouldn't have spent the extra $5.95. Just give them a $50 bill. Then I read that each card, unused, carried a $5 a month service charge, meaning that if it was held for 5 months, the card was worth only $25 to the recipient. What a ripoff. And all because I wanted them to have the "thrill" of having a real Mastercard.

After hearing a lot about this, including your other post on the subject a few months ago, I opted to give our nephews cash this year. They probably enjoy it more since they can spend it *anywhere*

Jannie,

Don'tcha just love that - "If you want to give me $50.00 - I'll charge you $5.95 for the privilege".

And I, the retailer, get the money now - and don't have to part with the merchandise till later. Sounds like a win-win, to me.

Heck - if you want to give me $50.00 - I'll take it at no charge. Glad to do so - any time.

If you want to give me $5.95, I'll send it, later, to whomever you choose.

At no further charge.

None of this $5.00 extra per month baloney!

What do you figure - do they hire folks to stay up late nights, thinking up these money-erasing/whittling schemes ... or do it themselves?

Glad that you decided to simplify the giving system. With no penalty payments along the route.

After all, the recipients can use those dollars in any of 3,000?? stores in the city, rather than just one.

Surely all of these efficiency experts should consider that a good idea, what'cha think?

Hope that you have a really satisfying New Year, everyone.

ole joyful

I bought three sweaters from LLBean catalog and they sent me a $10 gift card for free. I'll be using it myself.

I've tried gift certificates, they certainly have advantages such as time savings and making decisions so much easier.

However, for me they weren't money savers. Not to give and sometimes not to receive either. I tend to buy presents on big discounts, thus the actual amount I spend per person looks rather small on paper, and when given to someone else with the limitation of being able to spend it in just one store, it doesn't actually go that far. For example I can hunt around the stores and buy my sister a really nice jumper for perhaps £12.99, but if I give her a £12.99 gift certificate limited to just one store she won't be able to get a really nice jumper without adding at least another £10 to it. The certificates are often issued only by major retailers and most of them are quite expensive places to shop. The lower range of certificates such as £10 or even £20 will not entirely buy anything in many stores now.

On the receiving end I don't mind certificates as I get to choose for myself, but often they mean going to places I wouldn't normally shop. This can be a positive thing, but other times it reaffirms why I don't shop there. Either I don't like the items or I don't like the prices. Prices shouldn't matter when you have a certificate, but often you have to make up the total price for an item with more money. I've had a few smaller certificates for £5 or £10 for shops, which I've been to only to discover that with the certificate the cost to me of any items I could use/want are only just starting to become average price, and honestly I haven't bought anything at average price for years. I almost never buy outside of sales. I live in a big city and have the internet, every day is sale day somewhere! Why be shopping anywhere else? I feel bad not using a certificate, but when it means I have to shop somewhere I find excessively expensive and I have to find the extra money to afford something, then it seems to be a bad financial choice.

I have savings to build for university, I can't afford bad financial choices. I'll just pass the certificate on to someone else and hope they find a better use for it.