AllBusiness.com

Disounted Gift Card Exchange from Card Hub

Finance

I'm a big fan of using discounted gift cards. These are gift cards that you can purchase for less than the face value. For example, you might pay only $15 for a $25 gift card (as I recently did) to a restaurant you frequent. There are discounted gift cards like this offered at a number of different web sites and aggregators. One of these is Card Hub. And, recently, Card Hub started a gift card exchange.

This gift card exchange is actually a pretty cool idea. If you trust Facebook, and your friends (and their friends), you can connect with Facebook to look for deals on gift cards to a variety of stores, from Barnes & Noble to Gastronomy restaurants to Bloomingdale's. Also offered are discounted gift cards from trusted companies that have been screened as legitimate.

If you are into looking for discounted gift cards, and looking for sources that might be more trusted than just buying from an auction, this gift card exchange might be for you. Card Hub does offer some helpful hints to protect yourself during these types of transactions:

  • If meeting an individual seller (especially one you don't really know), try to do so in person, and in a public place.
  • Before handing over payment, call the 1-800 number on the back of the card to verify the amount on the gift card.
  • Don't wire money (or use Western Union) when dealing with strangers.
  • When selling a gift card, request cash.
This is why the gift card exchange is so interesting; it provides you with the opportunity to connect with people you are at least marginally familiar with via Facebook, or get cards from a trusted company. It makes things easy and convenient if you are a frequent buyer of discounted gift cards. As long as you trust Facebook not to violate your privacy, that is.

Profile: Miranda Marquit

Miranda is a financial journalist. Her work has appeared in a number of publications, online and off, and been mentioned by the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, NPR, and Consumerist. Miranda is a contributor to U.S. News & World Report, and writes at the blog Planting Money Seeds. She is also a panelist for the Money Mastermind Show, and the Money Tree Investing Podcast.