http://brookstone.com/

Should have an image at the top/left.

The only thing I use gift cards for is getting gas from Sam’s Club (they don’t accept cash). Currently, I have yet to start a job, and haven’t had a job since August ’06 or so. All I have is $20 allowance each week.

Well, I’ve recently gotten my license, and I’m rather stubborn about paying for my own gas when I can (I’ve been selling my possessions on craigslist. Gets me cash and gets rid of the useless crap taking up space around the house). The only thing, though, is that Sam’s won’t let me pay for gas with cash. However, they will accept WalMart gift cards.

So, I go over to WalMart, I hand them the cash and tell them I want X amount put on this ugly little gift card. I take the gift card over to Sam’s Club, fill my tank with gas, and drive away happy.

To be honest, though, I hate gift cards. I’d much rather have the money as money. I can stick it in the bank then, and be able to pay to transfer a couple of domains to my favoured host, instead of having to look around at a jewlery store, trying to figure out what is the least repulsive item I can buy (gaudy seems to be “in” this decade [[shudders]]).

[...] of GetRichSlowly points out another reason to be wary of gift cards. If you have some Sharper Image gift cards – congratulations! They’re [...]

I’ve found some pretty good deals with the Kroger card too. And as they will *not* honor their card prices if you don’t actually *have* the card, it helps to have it.

Some people get really paranoid about privacy issues with store cards. My philosophy is, “So give them a fake name and/or address when you sign up.” They’ll never again in their lives ask you for ID if you pay with cash and use their discount card. The only time this works against you is if they have a program where they send you coupons in postal mail. Otherwise it really doesn’t matter.

[...] news is that they’re not accepting their own gift cards anymore. JD at Get Rich Slowly thinks this is a big reason to be wary of gift cards. You paid them money to buy their special money (card) but the special money no longer [...]

This means that you could file a claim in the Sharper Image case and get up to $25 for your $25 gift card. This is actually a heck of a lot better than redeeming your $25 gift card for 1/10 of an Ionic Breeze, IMHO.

If you go to the Web site of Sharper Image’s claims administrator, kccllc.net/sharperimage, you can read the pleading filed with respect to gift cards. (It is the motion to continue customer programs.) Sharper Image does NOT request authority to continue to honor gift cards, but acknowledges that gift card holders may be entitled to priority treatment of their claims down the road.

Again, what this means is that gift card holders will likely receive some payment on their claims, and quite possibly 100 cents on the dollar. This is very different than all the buzz going around about gift cards becoming “worthless” in a bankruptcy.

[...] Get Rich Slowly: Another Reason to be wary of Gift Cards. [...]

[...] cards are worthless after stores go belly up (bastards… get in line to get your money [...]

If you gave it away as a gift, it may be disappointing that the person never got to use it, but how is that unique to gift cards? Plenty of gifts go unused.

And if you got one and didn’t use it, have you really lost that much? Yes, you lost the opportunity to use it and so if you wanted to replace the card you would be out the replacement cost. But as bummed as you might be, wouldn’t you just say, oh well, it was a gift. Besides, bankruptcies usually don’t happen overnight. In the grand scheme, it’s a small sliver of cards that will get caught in any sort of received-it-just-before-a-card-freeze trap. Most cards go unused because people are lazy or they don’t really want anything from the store that the card relates to.

My gift cards given and received are usually from corporate juggernauts that aren’t going anywhere anytime soon like Barnes & Noble and Target.

If I ever receive them from local businesses, I usually try to cash them in right away just for this very reason.

And rebates suck. I never consider them in my purchase. It is beneficial to the rebate company to honor as few as possible. Why go through all that hassle?

A while ago, I read this in TIME magazine:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1713478,00.html

Scroll down a little bit to where it talks about Economy and you’ll see a point there that is essentially the opposite of what you’re saying.

Which one is the truth? And how could two such conflicting views be given equal air time if one’s true and the other’s not?

I think rebates and store cards are a rip-off, though. I used my CVS extra care card once with a CVS coupon I had “earned”, to buy CVS brand mouthwash that was on sale for half price, and it was still more expensive then buying the local grocery store brand.

Lisa

I do wish people would feel more comfortable giving money. Perhaps it’s a cultural thing.

I had no idea that if the company filed for reorg. that the gift card would lose its value. Good information to know.

Unfortunately, after 6 attempts to get it activated, being pushed from help person to help person, we finally gave up. Felt an awful lot like a really good unethical way to keep my realtor’s $100 bucks.

The way I look at rebates is this: I’ll buy an item if it’s a good deal at the listed price. If it has a rebate, then fine. I’ll apply for it. But I don’t include it in my purchase decision. In this way, if the rebate processes correctly, it’s like bonus money. If I don’t look at rebates this way, it’s like money lost when I purchase something and the rebate never comes.

@JenK
Ugh. Did you see my guest post at Ramit’s site yesterday? I own stock in The Sharper Image, a foolish foolish thing that I’ll write about here at GRS when the dust has settled…

Not to mention that the stock is likely worthless. The SEC has info on corporate bankruptcy’s effects on stockholders and bondholders at: http://www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/bankrupt.htm

One quote:
Although a company may emerge from bankruptcy as a viable entity, generally, the creditors and the bondholders become the new owners of the shares. In most instances, the company’s plan of reorganization will cancel the existing equity shares. This happens in bankruptcy cases because secured and unsecured creditors are paid from the company’s assets before common stockholders. And in situations where shareholders do participate in the plan, their shares are usually subject to substantial dilution.

My big beef comes from rebates (legalized money laundering as I like to call them). You purchase something for full price. If you are diligent about mailing in the rebate and completing the information correctly, you can be forced to wait 2 – 8 months for your rebate. Not to mention if you do apply for a rebate and the company goes out of business before they fulfill the rebates (This happened to me with a software purchase a few years ago).

If you get something for free as a result of a rebate, (IE: free movies with the purchase of a HD DVD player) then it is not too bad, but when you are paying full price up front for items expecting a rebate check in the mail it is no fun wondering if and when you will be paid.

To make this rebate situation worse, you could be forced to use a gift card or visa debt card to redeem your rebate (Major cell phone company did this to me recently).

I don’t think rebates should be legal because companies are taking money from consumers, investing it how they want, and paying the consumer back, if and when they want.

You might ask, “do you still purchase items with rebates?” Yes, unfortunately I do, but I know the risks involved and most of the time it turns out ok. I just don’t like how shady the rebate business practices can be.

Hope to hear J.D.’s take some day on rebates.

I thought it was terribly tacky. When you buy a business, since it is established, the assumption is that you get the clientele along with it. I mean, that’s the beauty of buying a business that is already established.

So to say that you aren’t going to honor gift cards issued under the previous business name is kind of like a slap in the face to your existing – probably loyal – customers.

I didn’t have a gas card there or anything, but as a result of those little signs, I make it a point to NOT buy gas there. I mean, who wants to do business with people like that?