Friday, August 26, 2011

I wish that I knew then, what I know now.....

Today, a random thought popped into my head (One of many. This one just happened to make enough sense that I thought to pursue it). "Why not check out those gift card exchange sites?" They seem legit, and could offer some major savings. I googled (Funny how that word now has a universal meaning for an internet search. Sorry, Yahoo. Unfortunately Yahoo'ed, although fun to say, could have different meanings. I Yahoo'ed it. Does it mean I got super, duper excited and shouted to the roof tops or that I performed an internet search. Next time, make up a word that has absolutely no meaning or connotation-Random thought). Anyways, I googled 'gift card exchange' and came across several websites that offered the service. I went with the Plastic Jungle. Basically, you can buy gift cards at various, mostly random, denominations at a discount. For example, all of the Home Depot cards are sold at an 8% discount. So before even entering Home Depot you have 8% off of your bill. Now, some may think this sounds a little sketchy. Well, this site guarantees all of their gift cards. When 'sellers' send in their gift cards, Plastic Jungle verifies the funds before reimbursing the seller. Sellers can receive cash deposits, Amazon credits, or they can donate all or part of their proceeds to charity. For buyers, the discounts can be as high as 35%. If a merchant is not available, you can set up notifications. Plastic Jungle will alert you when a particular gift card has become available.

Now, I wish I would have thought of this a year and a half ago. I searched for a Michael's gift card. $175 gift card for $143.50. That's an 18% discount. And that would have been on top of the 40% off coupons they run weekly. I have definitely spent that much this year between ribbon, paper, stickers, and other random stuff.

I have yet to try this out, but I am definitely going to give it a whirl. I plan to use it when for home projects, Christmas, showers, and any other defined shopping I might have to do.

No comments:

Post a Comment