One of the most ubiquitous gifts during holidays often come in the form of plastic cards. But these gift cards are broken. According to MSN Money’s Liz Weston, who cites Plastic Jungle, around 7 percent of gift card balances purchased won’t be redeemed this year, which amounts to some “$30 billion in unused gift cards.” So why not give the illusion of a gift card with all the benefits of cash?
Enter GiftRocket, a venture capital-backed online gift card service. Choose from a variety of categories on GiftRocket’s visually-appealing website, and you’ll be greeted with a location-based results page that uses Yelp reviews to suggest gift cards. But here is where traditional plastic differs. When you purchase a GiftRocket certificate, the location selected is only a suggestion, nothing more. The recipient has his or her choice of how to redeem the gift card (online bank transfer, paper check, PayPal or even a traditional plastic card). In essence, GiftRocket provides the gift card aesthetic without limiting the person to only spending that money at one specific location.
Over the holidays, I received a GiftRocket with a suggested restaurant location. After seamlessly and painlessly transferring the money from GiftRocket to my bank account, I took my beau to a different restaurant than the one suggested. GiftRocket is stylized cash, not inflexible plastic. And it has a better chance of being redeemed than a traditional gift card, which research suggests might lack the expiration dates, which may spur people to put off today what they can do tomorrow, even if that something is pleasurable.
As part of a GiftRocket promotion, we’re offering a lucky Dumpling reader a $10 GiftRocket credit to be given away or used on the lucky winner’s own escapades. Just leave a comment here, tweet us @DumplingMag, write on our Facebook wall, or drop us a line at info@dumplingmag.com telling us the best experience you’ve had using a gift card/certificate. We’ll choose a winner February 1 to receive the $10 GiftRocket. Happy rocketing.