It's interesting (to me, at least) to see the kinds of discounts that folk apply to gift card transactions. It's not unheard of for a colleague to end up with a gift card they can't use, and while there's a real sense in which the card is worth its face value, there's also a sense in which its restricted use makes it worth less than face value. Plus, if you want to spend £x in a shop then you don't normally need to buy a colleague's gift card.

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bombcar 4 hours ago | parent [-]

A gift card is always worth less than cash, how much depends on various factors.

At least 5% (rewards and inconvenience) but closer to 10-15% in my experience.

For a 20% discount on stores I use regularly I’ll get the gift card (usually buy $50 get $10 free).

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Larrikin 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

If you look on the gift card market places, like Raise, you will see many gift cards are well below face value but there are also many that are rarely below 1% value like Amazon and Walmart.

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nlawalker 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

A $X Amazon gift card is more valuable to me than $X in cash. As in, if you gave me a choice between the two, I’d take the gift card.

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pjc50 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Why? Just the online convenience? You can take the cash and exchange it for gift cards at a shop.

	▲	nlawalker an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Yes, the convenience.