SHOULD I REDEEM MY GIFT CARD WITH A PURCHASE OR SELL FOR CASH?

SHOULD I REDEEM MY GIFTCARD WITHA PURCHASE OR SELLITFOR CASH?

We all have a common desire and a usual question that often follows when we’re faced with tasks on our jobs, school projects, business decisions from investment to marketing, and sometimes even our health - does it work? What other options do I have? And deciding what to do with gift cardswhether to redeem, them by making a purchase with the issuing retailer or to sell, them on a trusted gift card trading website or app for cash - is not any dierent. Just before we get into which is better let’s have a quick overview of gift cards.

READ MORE: Best Gift Card Trading Platform In Nigeria

WHAT ARE GIFT CARDS?

Otherwise known as a gift certificate - gift token or voucher - is a medium of payment for both products and services. This card is pre-loaded with some amount of money by the issuer (usually a product retailer or service company) and then used by a customer to make purchases from their stores or enjoy a service worth its cash equivalent - in our world where technology and business are finely woven together, it’s really no news to have digital assets like eCodes - rewards redeemed virtually through an online catalog. Well, do we buy gift cards? Yes, and no. A retailer may reward a customer for being loyal or buying a certain amount of product or service and, sometimes a customer may buy a gift card from a retailer they shop with. There are lots of reasons why retailers and customers love gift cards, let’s take a look at few

3 Reasons To Use Gift Cards…

● Convenient and thoughtful; have you ever found yourself wanting to get a present for a loved one that really captures your heart and their preferences but you keep struggling between a lot of options and end up really exhausted? That sounds like everyone doesn’t it? With gift tokens or eCodes, you can easily solve that - knowing what they love, sets you on the right track to buy a gift card from their favorite retailer, pre-load it with some funds and surprise them with a self-designed treat! Now that’s both convenient and thoughtful.

● Keep your customers coming; if you’re a business owner - whether it's a solo gig or you manage something between a medium to large enterprise spanning across a city, cities, or even continents - you might know a thing or two about this and if you don’t, we’re happy to

help. According to the Gift Card Statistics 2020 by Mageplaza global gift card sales are projected to reach $510 by 2025. When you issue a gift card (physical) or an eCode (digital) for your business, you’re sure to increase how much people buy from you and how often they buy. Gift cards are purchased all year round - on regular days, special days like birthdays, anniversary celebrations, promotions, and bustling holiday seasons like Christmas and New Year’s when families come together. This shows that people shop all year round! Now imagine your business having lots more customers, leading to high sales and comebacks, all because you issue gift cards for your business.

● Stay within your budget; It's easy to cut costs when you know your spending is limited. It's okay to be excited about shopping or enjoying the ‘good life’ but when that excitement begins to get a little overboard, it’s a red flag we need to watch out for or, we could never live the ‘good life’ the ‘good way’. Getting a gift card from your retailer helps you put your spending in check. For instance, you want $100 to be the total amount you spend on coee for 2 months - let’s say you get a Starbucks gift card worth $100, if we do the maths, a cup of freshly brewed coee (Grande) costs about $2.10 - you’ll be able to purchase a cup of coee for 48 days i.e for a month and a half. With this, you can confidently plan the days to have coee and days to try something else like a cup of smoothie, milk, fruit juice, or yogurt. Gift cards are a great way to stay within your budget plans for anything you can enjoy. So, if you’re thinking of getting a gift card for yourself, or a loved one, or thinking of starting a line for your business I’ll say… great! Now, it’s okay to have preferences everyone does - opting for a physical card or an eCode.

● Physical Gift Cards; starting out as gift certificates in the 1930s by departmental stores and later moving on to plastic cards, this is of no doubt the most familiar form of gift card. Its first appearance in 1994 was by Neiman Marcus (a luxury department store) but Neiman Marcus did not distribute it to the public. However, Blockbuster, a widely known film company, was the first to publicly make available plastic gift cards. Usually, the code is printed on the card, sometimes in front or behind. It could be a visa card, master card (popularly known as open-loop cards which are not restricted to a retailer and can be used across stores p.s this is dierent from your bank credit or debit card), or a specific retailer like Amazon (known as closed-loop which is restricted to use only in Amazon stores).

● eCodes (E-gift cards); being known as “customer friendly” is a big hit for most businesses today - small, medium, or multi-billion - with people wanting to experience both convenience and value in every service or purchase. Expanding a business today is more than investing in another city or country - might be part of it - but more about using technology to continue to serve customers the way they want. Most businesses today have apps or websites and e-commerce stores serving multiple customers from dierent geographical regions where they might not have a physical store. So how can these customers get access to gift cards? The answer - eCodes. These are digital gift card codes bought online by a customer from an issuing retailer or a trusted gift card trading platform usually delivered via email and can only be used electronically.

Now that you have an idea of what gift cards and eCodes are, the question might be - what would you want to do if you have one? Use it? Gift it? Or

sell it?

While there is the temptation to save up all the gift cards you get for yourself or a loved one, there’s still something you might want to knowCHARGES. Though a gift card can expire - and it does - it also accrues charges for the amount of time left unused, usually called a dormancy fee which can be placed on a card monthly or yearly depending on the type of card and the retailer owns it, as long as it remains unused after a certain period of time before reaching expiration Well, you might say - ‘what if I’ve got it when I need it but I can’t spend all of it?’ So if you can’t save it all up for Christmas or your dad’s birthday because of ‘extra charges’, or spend all the money on it, what happens now that you’ve got it?

THINK ASSET!

Gift cards are not only great tools for cutting costs or gifting but great assets to have. Think of it as money stored up for you somewhere other than your bank account. And like most assets can be sold to gain their equivalent cash value, gift cards can too - sounds good doesn’t it? According to CNBC, $3 billion worth of gift cards go unused each year - that’s quite a figure! Now imagine you lose money just because you don’t claim it.

OR SELL?

We are everyday people like you.

Unic Xchange oers a gliding digital trading experience that is fast and secure with full support from real people 24/7. Selling your gift cards on the Unic Xchange mobile app gives you access to the best rates in the market, ensuring you get the value you deserve

We are seamless.

We generate a Virtual Account Number (VAN) and oer a Mobile Wallet that helps you manage your funds seamlessly. We would love to help you get the value you deserve every time you sell. Join our WhatsApp community support and learn more about our products