Gift cards are more popular, but there are a few catches 11/26/2008 12:38 AM By SUZANNE R. STONE Staff writer
Gift cards seem like the perfect answer to the age-old question of what to get the person who has everything.
"We do see an increase in gift card sales at the holidays - especially last-minute shoppers escalate gift card sales," said Target Executive Team Manager Christina Fishpaw. "We have three that are trademarked this year, no other retailer can copy them. One has a digital camera in it, one is a holiday jukebox card and one is a little maze with a metal ball in it. We have a lot of fun holiday designs, and we change them out the first of the year."
Target sells gift cards in denominations from $5 to $1,000, and also sells "fast packs" of five cards of $25 each.
The chain's cards have no expiration date or fees and can be used online both at Target's website and at Amazon.com, which powers their site, according to Fishpaw.
But some of those colorful pieces of plastic can contain a catch or two. The demise of large retail chains such as Sharper Image, Circuit City, Linens 'N' Things and others this year caught some shoppers off guard and left gift-card holders with no place to spend them. A little advance research into a store's financial health in newspapers and online sources before investing in a gift card might be wise in light of current economic downturns.
Major credit card issuers such as MasterCard and Visa offer their own gift cards called "open-loop" gift cards, which can be used anywhere those issuers' credit cards are accepted.
But most credit card carrier gift cards come with expiration dates listed in the fine print of the agreement - one year for Visa cards, 24 months for MasterCard - and/or usage fees, such as the $2 surcharge on use of American Express cards.
Gift cards for fuel, groceries or restaurant meals don't have the same romance as a voucher from Bloomingdale's or Tiffany's, but in an economy that not too long ago saw an average $4 per gallon price at the pumps, giving the gift of necessities rather than luxuries might be a strategy to consider this holiday season. According to Deloitte LLP's 2008 Annual Holiday Survey, 17 percent of holidays shoppers plan to purchase gasoline cards as gifts, and 12 percent plan to buy grocery chain cards this year.
Contact Suzanne Stone at sstone@aikenstandard.com.
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