Impossible

The holiday season is fast approaching and most of us are now seriously beginning to think about the gifts that we need to purchase for family and friends. Most often that is a simple enough process because we know what they have, what they want or what they need.
I think we all know someone though that it always seems impossible to buy for. If they want or need something they just go and buy it. When you ask them what they want for Christmas (or their birthday) they are at a loss for words.
This is where online gift cards can come to the rescue. Giving that hard to shop for person a gift card might seem a little tacky at first but think of this before you shake your head no. How many times have you bought this person a gift only to discover later that they had returned your gift and bought something else with the money? Which is tackier, them returning your well thought out gift or you simply getting them a gift card so they can buy whatever it is they want?
And, if you like the idea of these gift cards, you can always buy one for yourself. Use it the same as a pre-paid credit card and shop safely online for yourself. No need to worry about giving out your credit card information online, as the gift card will have a specific value and no more.
Check out the cards that are available and the stores that you can use them in. Give that impossible person a gift they will truly enjoy getting!

Gift Cards

It isn't my usual thing here on this blog to complain about a company. In fact I like online businesses and have no qualms at all of promoting such things. But, not this time!
A couple months back I purchased a Visa gift card for myself from a company called VanillaVisa. Seemed like a good way to grab a few bucks on a credit card and shop online.
First I tried to use the card on Avon.com. I wanted to buy something for my wife but I couldn't. Avon apparently has decided for some reason not to allow users to purchase items with gift cards. WTH?? Okay, that's not VanillaVisa's fault. It did take VanillaVisa one week to give me back my money though so that stunk.
This time I tried to buy something for my computer from an online company called Surplus Computers. The transaction did NOT go through because of the gift card company! Since it is a gift card they have no address or name or anything like that so when I made the purchase using this information so that the company could send me the item they refused the purchase.
Basically I have a gift card with $20 that I cannot seem to use online. Guess I will send my daughter with it to the local store and she can buy some candy or potato chips or something.
I will never buy another one of these gift cards. Not much sense to buying something I cannot use! Might as well take twenty five dollars and toss it into the wind :(