Gift Certificate Hack

 'tis the Season...for gift certificates!  Raise your hand if you've received at least 10 emails in the last week asking you to buy a gift certificate?  All of you?  Yep!  That sounds about right-and, it's only Thursday! :)

...and if, like me, you have received an email asking you to buy a gift certificate, my next question is:  Did you notice if there was an offer associated with that gift certificate?  Typically, I have; I've noticed over the years that it's not uncommon to get Gift Certificate emails that offer me a discount or a bonus gift certificate for a certain amount purchased-and the past few years in particular, *some* of those incentives have become attractive enough for me to not only purchase a few gift certs, but also to actively seek out gift certificates from other companies that I regularly spend money at.

What are some of these incentives?  Well, the two most common that I've seen so far is a straight-up X% discount on the gift certificate purchase, or a bonus offer.  The discount offer is my favorite because it's easiest to understand-simply, purchase $X in GC, but pay $X-Y due to the discount. ..and thusfar, the most common discount I have seen is 20%.  Now, while a 20% discount is barely table stakes for me to even look at a sale these days, I'm seeing this activity for brands (or verticals) that are not typically discounter-Restaurants, in particular.  Bear with me:  I know that yes, restaurants sometimes have Happy Hours or a food special or prix fixe menu offering-all forms of a discount to me...but how many times have you ever seen a restaurant simply have a '20% off the entire menu' sale?  Personally? Never.  But, if you're buying a GC with a 20% discount, that is effectively the discount you're getting!  Not too shabby.  

Unfortunately, the straight X% discount does seem to be the rarity in the GC space these days, and what has replaced it is something that *absolutely* requires attention to the 'fine print':  The Bonus Gift Certificate.  As in, purchase $X in Gift Certificates, and receive a Bonus Gift certificate of $Y value.    Sounds easy enough, right?  But here are some of the 'fine print' things to be aware of:  

• Sometimes, the $Y value works out to just be a 5% discount.  Better than nothing, but just do the math first to make sure you're OK with what you're getting.
• Sometimes, the Bonus Certificate has limitations on the purchase-can only be used with certain items, take out or dine-in only (if for a restaurant), only on transactions above/below a certain amount, can only be used once-and any remaining balance is forfeited, etc...
• Often (and for me, this is the 'big one'), the Bonus Certificate can only be used within a certain timeframe-typically the first quarter of the year (or even just a few weeks in January) in the case of Gift Certificates purchased in December.  I presume this is done in an attempt to incent people to get in an use their GCs quickly and not allow the value to pile up as a liability on the books of the issuing company.  But, unless you are truly a regular visitor of the establishment, this bonus can end up being a waste.

So, I encourage you to try to play the GC game to save $$...but ALWAYS (always!) read the fine print of what you're getting-and in particular, what you're not getting.

As a final word, it's also worth noting that depending on the State the issuing entity is based upon,  how a Gift Certificate can be treated is different.  In some States, GCs are truly treated like cash-and therefore, have no expiration date.  Sometimes, a State will allow an expiration after just a year or twos.  Educate yourself on the law that applies in the State the issuing entity is based upon (usually a quick Google search will suffice).  As a matter of practice, while I do this every time, I also only spend enough that I think would cover me for a year of cost with the issuing entity-just in case the issuing entity goes out of business, tries to change their Ts & Cs on usage-or even tries to invalidate the GC against state law.  

All of that said, this is still a hack worth trying.  Every holiday year (while typically at the end of the year, but really, any 'gift giving' season), I'll typically snag 4-5 GCs that will cover me for the next year!