Are you a Giftie?

-have you ever bought a gift-card for yourself?

If you have – congratulations! You’re in great company. According to the UK’s main gift card association, people buying gift cards for their own use made up more than 20% of the whole marketplace!

Yes – of the just-under £7 Billion spent on gift cards in 2019, over £1 Billion gift cards were bought for ourselves! https://www.gcva.co.uk/downloads/industry-research-2020/OP_GCVA_Industry-Report_2020_Final-Digital-summary-watermark.pdf

Are we all just spoiling ourselves? Treating ourselves to a gift-card or two as an “impulse purchase”? Hardly. Buying a gift-card (especially through Cardyard.co.uk) can be a very savvy way to shop and save.

Most self-purchases are through brand promotions, or at-work offers, and savings can be considerable.

Possibly the only downside is when you realise that you’ve changed your mind – and even then, www.cardyard.co.uk can come to the rescue.

Then there’s the 1/3 who get free cards…

Remember that £7 Billion total? Well of that, around 1/3 is made up from cards that shoppers get for free, in promotions, or in return for their services like mystery-shopping.

Just don’t get trapped.

Here in the UK we allow around £3 million pounds to slip through our fingers each year from unused gift-cards. It’s easily done – a shop is no longer within reach, or a branch closes, or you just forget the cards. Remember – cards also usually come with an expiry date, and it’s easy to lose track of that.

Top tips:

-Log your gift-cards – Use an app, like a birthday reminder, and put your gift-card purchases into it.

-Make them visible. Tucked away in your purse or wallet a card can just expire away, and your money is joining the £3 million that is wasted every year https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-6424599/How-retailers-rake-300m-gift-cards-dont-giving.html.

-Spend it NOW or sell it NOW. Don’t let the dust settle on your plastic – if you’re not going to spend it in the next month, then sell it on Cardyard

Find out more about your gift card rights on https://www.cardyard.co.uk/terms_and_conditions