Are in-retailer gift cards any safer to buy than on line gift cards? Hmm. According to the newest Yahoo! poll “three out of 4 vacation shoppers will buy gifts on-line, and most are most likely to acquire from small companies. Shoppers expressed powerful help for e-commerce with modest firms that provide a safe payment program, uncomplicated buyer checkout and free of charge shipping.”

According to Deloitte’s 2006 annual holiday survey (http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov) from the Office of Customer protection in Maryland, 66% of consumers will buy gift cards this holiday season. Wow! That is a enormous quantity and a believed comes to mind. The authenticity of gift cards bought on the internet and offline. Is it secure to obtain from third celebration vendors? How much a lot more secure is a merchant gift card in-retailer on a rack with the card serial quantity exposed?

On line Present Card Authenticity There are a number of present card corporations on-line and an array of new ones ringing up many new products and choices. If joker card balance want merchant cards, you can go directly to the merchant site. If you want applied present cards, third celebration vendors are superior for discounts as properly as selling and trading gift cards. How do you know which vendors are trustworthy? It’s not easy, but doing some research aids. Before you make a buy, get confirmation from the gift card vendor that they verify card authenticity. If the answer is no, move on. It is also just as simple for a thief to post a gift card with cash on it, wait for it to be verified, then invest it although it is on it’s way to the consumer. Having said that, there are used gift card vendors that will return your funds, should such an unfortunate incident materialize.Www.plasticjungle.com is new to the on the internet gift card market. They enable shopping for, promoting and trading for absolutely free. The free is an incentive to make their member base. They also claim that the authenticity of employed present cards is verified ahead of they are placed on the web page and they will take complete responsibility ought to you get an expired card or a single with a zero balance.

In-Store Present Card Security

With simple access to gift cards displayed on shop racks, it is extremely simple for a thief to get a present card serial number for later use such as the case of the Ohio gift card scam where cunning thieves have been going into retail stores, having gift card serial numbers calling to verify card activation and getting gifts on someone else’s dollar. Nice.

Thanks to the above, retailers are altering the way they display present cards. If you are going to obtain a gift card my advice is to ask a retailer manager what their policy is on stolen or lost gift cards and how they can ensure that you will not grow to be a victim of gift card fraud.