Gift Cards as Good as Cash

I love gift cards. Some people think they're either border-line tacky or an easy-way-out present. But let's face it: everyone loves them and it's just as good as cash...pending the gift card is for an actual store that you go to.

And that's where CardPool comes in.

For those who just got married or turned a milestone age, people often receive gift cards as the default present. But what do you do when you're stuck with a card for a business you never utilize?

Trash it? No. The value would be wasted. Re-gift? Maybe. But you run the risk of yet another tacky encounter. The solution now is to sell your cards back to CardPool for a profit. Even though this concept is not new, CardPool is different. Auction-like online marketplaces, such as Plastic Jungle, Rackup, and even Ebay, allow members and users to buy and sell gift cards directly to each other.

But CardPool's twist is that the company will buy and sell the cards immediately for you without the hassle of communicating with others. CardPool buys your unwanted gift cards at a smaller value and sells others at various discounted rates.

CardPool prides themselves in their fair pricing model, because they determine the buyback and selling rate by how desirable the card is. For example, a highly desirable Forever 21 gift card would be sold for 90% of the original dollar value. On the other hand, you can purchase a Forever 21 gift card at 5% off the value. For less popular gift cards, discounts can hit up to 30%! As I sit here typing about these gift card discounts, I realized how convenient and beneficial it'd be for people who plan ahead or anticipate purchasing gifts at unlikely places.

In addition to the attractive discount and buyback rates, CardPool allows a 100-day return for cards, which differs with other leading competitors. CardPool also won't sell gift cards that have expiration dates or other initiation fees to be fair. Their main source of revenue comes from the money made off buying and selling cards.

Amazingly, this start-up company has a small staff with the two co-founders running the site. But they are looking to create partnerships with larger corporations, such as Barnes and Noble and Best Buy, to sell gift cards and discounted prices. Who knows? Success could also stem from our APOC class sooner than we know it.

I’m a fan of the site for a few reasons. The plus about CardPool is that it allows returns for cards for up to 100 days, and many of its competitors don;t have an expansive of a return period. Also, CardPool won’t sell gift cards that have expirations or fees. CardPool makes money off the spread between buying and selling cards. The startup is lean, with its two co-founders running the site, keeping overhead low. The company is also looking into forging partnerships with retailers like Barnes and Noble, Best Buy and others to sell their gift cards at discounted prices from CardPool.