yeah, giftcards do suck, especially if you constantly get them to the capitalist superstore target.

Gift cards do suck. Makes you wonder why not just give you the money in the first place....

Smartest thing these companies ever did! Say you got a $10.00 gift card. You go and use it. The item is $9.95. There is 5 cents left over. Are you going to run back later to use that 5 cents? Probably not. Now, multiply that 5 cents over 10,000 people=$500.00 of free money:o. Mind you some people leave more than 5 cents on the card....I have;). Great 'free money' scheme to date!!!

I know it doesn't seem very personal to give out gift cards but that is what I have ended up mostly doing for xmas gifts the last few years. 90% of the gifts I give are for my parents and they really don't need anything.

They enjoy getting gift cards and gift certificates so that's what I do. All I do is to make sure I know where they'd like to go. Then I get all my xmas shopping done in just a few hours, which takes place about 3 days b4 xmas. :up:

Oh, FYI, I take each card and put them in a separate box, stuffed with wadded newspaper and wrap them up with xmas wrapping paper. For me, I think it makes the holiday of giving a little more personal while taking up some space under the tree. :)

Subman: Just let those people know, who give you cards, where you do your shopping. It might help avoid your annoying issue. :yep: :lol:

I don't like to give them to people who live nearby. But my dad lives in the U.S. and knowing he is always up to a home renovation project, I got him a card for Home Depot. I didn't have to pay any extra shipping to just stick it in the envelope.

The issue for me is the dollar amount. With physical gifts, you take the tag off and the price is somewhat of a mystery. With the card, you can't help but feel that you're only worth as much as the card is for.

YES! My family did this for me last X-Mas. They ganged together and got me a card to put towards a new camera. It was in an ENORMOUS box, about the size of a washing machine. They also put pop bottles filled with water inside the box. I never guessed in a million years what it really was.

According to Best Buy's website their cards don't expire, http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....ry&id=cat09000. (you can also check you balance here too)

Although if you have any other cards from different companies you might want to check your local laws regarding this, some states have passed laws making this illegal.

Have you thought of selling them? Possibly for less than what they are worth. I know you won't get the full amount but at least you would get cash.

That is the problem. I am hard to shop for and I know I am hard to shop for. No one is going to be able to buy a gift card at my favorite place to place to buy stereo equipment for example. Another example is what I do buy, it is very targetted and specific - People go to the store and pick up a GeForce 8800 GTX for example. Me, I'll search until I find a specific manufacturer (Only place most times to find what I am looking for is online), and then I am not done because I have to modify it in a specific way such as buy specific cooling for it, or I may be looking for a speicific power requirement. It is an impossible thing to shop for me like that. That is why I probably get the cards.

Speaking about shopping - any of you Europeans may be able to answer this - I am trying to find a Loewe Aconda CRT. Anyone know where to find one? Finding German TV's - espeically tube based TV's (LCD and Plasma just have too poor picture quality for my tastes) is exceedingly difficult. I've been to the best Audio Video places I can find as still have come up short. I'm about to give up and I am willing to import it.

-S

First rule of male survival.

Don't buy your girlfriend a blouse.
You might find yourself being celibate.
for an indefinite period.

Thanks for the info! It is good to hear they don't expire.

I have thought of selling them, but I hate the idea of selling them for less than they are worth. Especially when I can get their full value back out at some point. I think as software becomes available, I'll use it for that. Might take me a while htough - and the gift idea also works!

-S

no problem, there are some good games that are comming out soon, along with the direct x 10 graphic cards...

Gift Cards are a huge scam.

80% of all Gift Cards given go unredeemed. It's like free money for the store.

Prepaid phone cards are another scam, because, again, like 80% of them are lost before the minutes used up, so the actual per minute price is much higher than that stated on the card.

Just found out that Nordstrom is reporting over 24% of them go unclaimed. So, even though it is not 80%, it is still an abnormally high number!

-S