Selling a 3DS, no the 3 does not stand for 3 year old!

[Andara Bledin]

whenever I get one of those cards I try to use it as soon as feasible

It's always best to use any such thing, whether it be a gift card, gift certificate, or rebate, at the earliest possible time.

While store-issued cards and certificates (that are not part of some special promotion) are often held as legally the same thing as cash for the store in question, you can still end up SOL if the store who issued the card has a problem with their system or illegally purges the data. You can't prove that you ever had it, and it's not worth fighting them over it to prove they did something unacceptable.

Bank-issued gift cards, however, such as the prepaid Visa cards, don't have to follow the same rules, so definitely use those pretty much immediately to avoid having them eaten up by fees or expiring entirely.

^-.-^

[Kogarashi]

Yeah, Hubby and I try to use our gift cards as soon as possible too. Our favorites are when relatives give us cards to places like Walmart that we visit frequently. We use the card for our next grocery run and keep a paper account of how much spending money we have from the gift. When we've finally decided what we're treating ourselves to with the gift money, we then just use our credit card and clear out the paper account. That way we don't have a gift card floating around with money on it that we forget about, and we can actually spend the gift money at any store we choose.

It's a bit more difficult with things like Dillards cards (yay wedding gifts), but we still make it a point to hit those stores asap and get the card used before we forget about it.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

What an idiot. Ninendo 3DS =/= for 3 year olds!!! Reading is fundamental!

Something like that is just going to be broken by that same 3-year-old anyway. And then OP will catch all the heat for selling the parent "junk."

[Gizmo]

I have a friend who posted a picture of her 9 month old in front of a my-first-laptop style thing the other day.

[Dreamstalker]

you can still end up SOL if the store who issued the card has a problem with their system or illegally purges the data. You can't prove that you ever had it, and it's not worth fighting them over it to prove they did something unacceptable.

I just lost a $20 reward certificate for Bent Staple. It was issued, I print it out immediately (always do). For various reasons I was unable to redeem it that day and have to wait until the following week. Whoops, apparently it had already been redeemed three states away

I had the printout with my Rewards number (which has my name on it) and I am the only person on the account...regardless, I was not in NY at the time it was used (I had the purchase in question in my account history) and I could prove it. No dice, Corp said tough shit.

No biggie as it was basically free money (albeit free money that we could have bought badly-needed printer ink with), but I'm still wondering how the hell that could have happened. Whoever redeemed it would need not only my card, but also access to my Bent Staple account. Unless somebody in NY looked up the other account by phone number and mistyped it in a way that it just ended up mine...I can't really think of any other way it could have happened.

[fireheart]

I have a friend who posted a picture of her 9 month old in front of a my-first-laptop style thing the other day.

Usually those are designed for kids.

[EricKei]

Unless somebody in NY looked up the other account by phone number and mistyped it in a way that it just ended up mine...I can't really think of any other way it could have happened.

Or they had your phone number (I've almost never been to a "reward card" place that can't just use that) and knew you had an account AND a coupon...but that implies that either their servers or your email have been compromised at some point. >_<

[Dreamstalker]

Very few people have the phone number that's on the account, and the two smaller rewards certs were not used...the stuff purchased was school supplies which I never buy there.

IME, the biggest problem with the way they distribute the certificates is that multiple copies can be printed. If they used a system like some companies use to send coupons where each one can only be accessed once per name/email address...

[Hyndis]

I absolutely cannot stand gift cards. I hate receiving them because I know that almost invariably I will never use it, and so the person essentially just threw their money away, which makes me feel terrible.

This is why when I give a gift, I give cash.

In the greeting card I write something about a universal gift card.

I always get a laugh and positive response from that.

[Kristev]

I love gift cards. As long as they're from a place I frequent.

[HappyFun Ball]

I give gift cards for Christmas, they are always Visa or Mastercard gift cards so they can be used anywhere.

[PepperElf]

SC: NO ONE EVER TOLD ME NO ONE EVER TOLD ME RAWR

They didn't realize you were illiterate ma'am.


cos i know that's what you'd prolly want to say

[Comechatcha]

I love gift cards, provided they're actually for stores I use. The green apron coffee and fabric stores, for example.

This lady, on the other hand, needs a reading lesson. You read the stupid card, and THEN you can complain about not being told something that WASN'T on the card. And even then only to an extent.

[Dreamstalker]

The only gift cards I ever request are Green Apron, GameStore or Michael's and 2 or 3 webstores. Everyone else knows to just give me cash if they can't think of anything

The last few years my grandmother sent cash to me in the mail it wound up missing...then I was called ungrateful for not thanking her (how can I thank you for something I never got and never even knew you sent?).

[Andara Bledin]

Fun fact about California: If you don't want to use a gift card, you can walk in and cash it out.

At least that was how it worked last time I looked it up, anyway.

^-.-^