
FinTech News
Gift Card Market Launches, Offering “Gift Local” Options
A FinTech is introducing a gift card site specific to small and local businesses.
About Gift Card Market:
Recently, the new site Gift Card Market launched, allowing customers to purchase gift cards for more than 5 million local eateries, spas, and salons. These local gift cards can be purchased and sent to loved ones via text or email.
Helping to power the platform is the technology consulting firm 27Global. Together, the companies say the site is able to provide a seamless experience for customers and businesses alike. Additionally, according to Gift Card Market, they not only have multiple patents pending on this technology but also have future expansions planned — which are aimed at continuing to support small businesses.
What they’re saying:
Explaining the idea and inspiration behind Gift Card Marketplace, founder and CEO Brett Glass said in a statement, “Consumers prefer to send gift cards for the amazing local restaurants that are the fabric of our communities. They want a quick and easy way to deliver these gifts through a text message within an existing thread to their loved ones.” Glasses added,” “This new ‘In the Moment’ gifting capability allows consumers to instantly send a thank you, acknowledge special occasions, or treat a friend while simultaneously driving traffic to local businesses.”
My thoughts:
Personally, I love the idea of discovering local restaurants/retailers and then being able to give loved ones gift cards to those locations. Therefore, I was curious to check out Gift Card Market and see what was available in my area. To my surprise, after typing in my zip code, a full 50 eligible options popped up! However, while this may sound like a good thing, it raised my skepticism instead.
Sure enough, unfortunately, Gift Card Market might not be exactly what it seems. Namely, instead of actually buying gift cards for these specific locations, you’re really purchasing a Mastercard Prepaid Gift Card (as stated in their FAQ section). There are a few huge downsides to this. For one, as you’ll notice when buying these gift cards, there’s a $4.95 convenience fee charged for each card.
Second, it’s easy to foresee confusion at some of these restaurants when customers inform their servers that they’re paying with a gift card that, in reality, should be rung up like a manual credit card. Lastly, because of how these cards work, customers also need to ensure that their balance exceeds their bill total as swiping it for a higher amount will cause it to be declined. In my experience, that decline will also leave a hold on the card that will prevent subsequent immediate charges from going through (even if run for a smaller amount that should be covered).
With all of that said, I suppose there’s still something to the idea of essentially making a dining recommendation to a friend while simultaneously giving them the funds with which to enjoy a meal there. Sadly, though, I’m not sure that the current version of Gift Card Market is the solution.