Every year the gift card industry on average grows 10% and in 2012 alone offered more than $110 billion in sales. While the intentions of gift giving cards are of the best, inevitably some get lost, thrown away, or purely unused, so much so that 20% of gift cards are unused every year. That’s approximately $22 billion in 2012 gone to waste if not more. In an effort to make the gift card category more efficient George Bousis founded Raise.com as a consumer driven marketplace where members can sell unwanted gift cards for cash, resulting in a wide selection of discount gift card inventory for buyers.
Photo Credit: SimonQ
Raise provides an easy and secure way to sell physical gift cards with a $20 minimum balance, electronic gift cards with a $10 minimum balance. Start by completing a listing form, set the price you think is best and post it on the Raise marketplace for potential buyers. Once it sells you send the card to the buyer and choose a payment opportunity via PayPal or by check (and bulk gift card sellers can opt into ACH direct deposit), with Raise taking a piece of the proceeds to list.
Those looking to attain gift cards at value, they’re categorized by price, brand, or value. At any given time you can spot card savings from 5% to 20% off and sometimes more if you’re lucky. With every transaction, members selling can increase their purchase power or maximize their earning potential on the Raise gift card marketplace. Armed with brand partnerships and leading brand strategists, Raise is working to provide transaction data that will help businesses gain better insight into the fast-changing secondary gift card market. By increasing consumer savings and reinforcing the relationship between brands and their customers, Raise can begin to innovate the incentive marketing industry.