Each year more than 50 billion dollars of gift cards are bought and gifted to friends, family and business associates. Many agree that these cards are the smartest gift choice because of their flexibility and ease of use, but many go unused. A new Web site, GiftCardsEtc.net, aims to help both buyers and sellers alike with their unique combination of buy/sell features, auctions and fixed price sales.

Tampa, FL (PRWEB) January 18, 2006 -- Each year more than 50 billion dollars of gift cards are bought and gifted to friends, family and business associates. Many agree that these cards are the smartest gift choice because of their flexibility and ease of use, but many go unused. A new Web site, GiftCardsEtc.net, aims to help both buyers and sellers alike with their unique combination of buy/sell features, auctions and fixed price sales.

“It’s almost like printing your own money,” says entrepreneur, Barbara Lavender of Tampa, Florida, and co-founder of GiftCardsEtc.net.

This entrepreneurial woman has launched a website where she buys and sells gift cards, returned merchandise credits and gift certificates. She typically sells them for 85% of their face value giving you an automatic 15% discount when you use them. Certain cards are discounted even more.

Barbara offers this tip to increase the value of your gift card.
Let’s say Macy’s has a sale on an item you want with a 25% discount. You buy a $100.00 gift card for $85.00, a 15% discount. Combine that with the store discount and you have effectively given yourself a 40% discount. A 50% discount plus the card gives you a 65% total discount. You could conceivably purchase a $100.00 dress for $35.00.

Barbara got the idea for her business after reading an article on gift cards in the business section of the newspaper. It cited figures from a National Retail Federation survey stating that gift cards were the third most popular holiday purchase with 74.3% of respondents saying they would buy one or more. “Gift cards solve so many problems,” says Barbara. “They offer flexibility and eliminate worries about size, color, style, and taste.”

Still, there are people who don’t want the cards or won’t use them. This is where GiftCardsEtc.net can help. If you want cash for your gift card, they will buy it for about 70% of its face value and re-sell it to someone else. You can also post your cards for sale on the site for a small fee or swap it with someone else. Some cards lose value over time or have an expiration date. This is a way to get the value from cards you may not use.

Future plans for the site are to have a customer forum where people can post information such as sales at the various retailers in their community as well as tips on shopping and even scam alerts. She also plans to set up an area where you can personalize a gift card and have it mailed to another recipient and a wanted section where you can list the gift cards that you want to buy.

Barbara Lavender is the co-founder and owner of GiftCardsEtc.net. Prior to this venture, she was one of the owners of Gandy QSR, a franchisee of a national food & beverage company. Barbara is a native of Tampa, Florida and graduated from Nassau Community College in Long Island NY.

Contact:

Barbara Lavender, President
GiftCardsEtc.net
P.O. Box 130405
Tampa, Fl. 33681-0405
(813) 253-0243
http://www.Giftcardsetc.net




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