10 posts tagged “shopping”

Valentine's Day is only a few short weeks away.  Do you normally buy gifts for your loved ones, children, sisters?  I have purchased an array of gifts for my wife over the years, but I am still not sure what we are going to be doing this year.  I usually cook her dinner, which isn't much different than every night, but make it more special, maybe some candles on the table, definitely flowers, and specifically cook her favorite meal with favorite dessert as well.  But what about for other family members?  Do you feel the need to support a holiday like this?  I feel like it is one of those holidays where you should not feel like you have to spend a ton of money, but apparently I am not in the norm.  The National Retail Federation expects over $17 billion to spent on Valentine's Day this year with the average person spending over $120.00.  Certainly, most gifts cost money, even simple gifts like flowers, candles, dinner.

What about gift cards?  Does anyone give gift cards for Valentine's Day?  It might not sound too romantic, but what if your husband really wants to buy something that you are just not comfortable buying, like stereo equipment or outdoors gear.  Now please don't get me wrong, my wife can pick out my camping gear without a problem and she even goes along with us when we camp, she probably starts a fire better than all of my friends.  I just wanted to clarify.  I don't think a giving a gift card for Valentine's Day is a bad idea at all.

Maybe you just blog here, but if you have other blogs or a Web site you could become a GiftCards.com affiliate.  Becoming an affiliate at GiftCards.com can help you make some money without doing much of anything.  It also does not cost anything to join.  If you think that you could encourage the visitors to your site to purchase Visa brand gift cards with a simple banner link or text link, then I suggest looking into the GiftCards.com affiliate program.  Feel free to comment to this post with any questions you may have and I would be more than happy to speak with you about the details and explain the program in more depth. 

Does anyone else belong to a network on Ning.com?  Ning is a community of communities if you have never visited the site.  There are communities that suit just about anyone.  I encourage everyone to check it out and maybe create a page of their own or if you are ambitious, start your own community.  I am thinking about starting one for GiftCards.com, but having the community be much more broad and talk about corporate rewards and incentive programs.  More and more companies are choosing gift cards to reward their employees around the holidays as well as throughout the year.  More than 25% of the Fortune 1000 choose GiftCards.com to give their employees or clients a gift that is not only appreciated, but can work as a marketing tool for the company as well.  The way it works as a marketing tool is either through a Co-brand card or just putting the company name on the card.  Just wanted to share my thoughts about Ning.com and I will keep you posted when I create a Ning community.      

I want to know if anyone keeps a shopping wish list online for their friends or family to view?  Kaboodle.com has been given rave reviews over the past couple of months and I have been using the Amazon wish list for about a year.  Kaboodle is different because I can go to any site and if I see a product I like I can add it to my wishlist.  When you click "Kaboodle This", whether it is from your task bar or the merchant has a button on their site, you are taken to Kaboodle to verify the item and then you are re-directed back to the site you were on.  This is great for family members and friends because you don't have to find a way to ask what someone wants for their birthday or Christmas.  If you are like me whenever someone asks what I want I either say nothing or whatever.  I like receiving gifts because it shows thought, care, and love, but I never think of what to say when asked the question.  However, I do spend all day on the computer and when I Stumble Upon a site that I like or a product I think I would enjoy I can add it to my list and my family doesn't even have to bother asking me what I want.  Let me know what you think about wish list sites.   

So, where did I leave off.  I went to the morning workshops and thought they were rather informative and provided me with some good tips.  The most beneficial part of the workshops was the discussions that began from them.  I am a rather talkative person and wound up commenting throughout the day.  After the morning workshops was lunch and the keynote speaker.  Both were very disappointing.  I am a vegetarian and had called ahead to specify that I would like a veggie lunch.  Well, I received a veggie lunch, but why is that whenever certain catering groups have to make a vegetarian dish, they try to go way outside the box!  This happens whenever my wife and I go to a conference or somewhere where you have to request a special lunch or dinner.  They served me polenta with a bunch of very poorly cooked veggies and rice that was made with chicken stock.  I like polenta, but it is really only good, when it is great.  I have had great polenta once in my life at a very fancy restaurant years ago.  What is wrong with making a pasta dish or a veggie wrap so I can't see how poorly cooked the veggies are.  Oh well, I will stop ranting about the food because I try hard not to complain because it is my decision to eat differently.  The keynote speaker was not horrible, but left me wishing he gave a better speech. 

On to the rest of the day.  After lunch there was only one workshop to go to and I chose the one about Google Analytics.  I use GA on a daily basis and was hoping I was going to learn a few more tricks.  I enjoyed the speaker and thought she gave a great workshop on GA.  I was able to talk to her for a while after, which provided me with some of the answers I was looking for.  By this time it was almost the end of the day and I went back to the main room to see if I won any prizes.  The only reason I decided to stick around was because I knew I would win.  That sounds odd, but I do have a little bit of ESP.  My mother says that so did my grandmother and it was actually frightening at times.  My wife says the same about me.  I knew I was going to win the certificate for the fish restaurant and figured I would just give it to my mom.  Guess what, I won a 50 dollar certificate to McCormick and Schmicks. 

Overall, I thought it was a great experience and I took away some really good ideas that I have already started implementing.  I think if nothing else you leave a conference with a few new ideas and some good connections, then it was a success.          

   GiftCards.com, LLC has joined forces with MyCoupons®, LLC to share with customers the convenience of shopping online with coupon codes along with great ways to stretch those gift giving dollars when giving or spending a prepaid Visa gift card.  With the continually growing popularity of Internet shopping, especially during the holidays, both MyCoupons.com and GiftCards.com are reaching out to more customers to enlighten them on the benefits of their products and services and how to become the ultimate online shopper. 

    MyCoupons.com offers thousands of highly valuable coupon codes as well as the first ever COUParison shopping engine, which enables customers to find the best deals on products anywhere on Internet.  “Because of the uniqueness of MyCoupons.com, customers have access to better coupon codes than any other source on the Internet.  MyCoupons.com offers great savings at thousands of the Internet’s top stores including DrugStore.com, Shoes.com, and Target.  Shoppers should visit MyCoupons.com first before buying anything online to ensure they are receiving the best possible savings,” commented President of MyCoupons®, LLC Gregory Stoltz. 

   GiftCards.com helps its customers stretch their gift giving or receiving dollars this holiday season with access to coupon codes from MyCoupons.com.  “A great way to get the most out of your Visa gift card from GiftCards.com is by using your gift card online along with some of the best coupon codes on the Internet from MyCoupons.com.  Whether giving or receiving gift cards this year, smart shoppers can maximize their gift by shopping online with MyCoupons.com’s outstanding coupon codes” replied President of GiftCards.com, Jeff Lininger. 

    MyCoupons.com and GiftCards.com turns shoppers into smart shoppers by taking advantage of all the savings and discounts available.  With the help of The World’s First COUParison Shopping™ Engine from MyCoupons.com and Always the Right Gift® from GiftCards.com, you can be one of those smart shoppers. 

I want to let everyone know that we just launched a video submission contest at GiftCards.com.  The contest is "What do you do with your Visa Gift Card?" and you can submit your video to our YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/giftcards.  The video should be around thirty seconds long and we are looking for creativity!!  GiftCards.com will select a winner every week and the winner will receive a $100 Visa gift card, which is good everywhere Visa is accepted in the world.  So please if you are looking to make some money this holiday season instead of spending it all, submit your video for free to the GiftCards.com Video Contest today.    

What a great time Thanksgiving was.  I hope everyone had fun being with family and eating great food like I did.  I even did some holiday shopping.  I am never ahead of the game when it comes to shopping and I have my wife's birthday before Christmas!  I don't wait until the last minute, but it has been quite some time since I took advantage of Black Friday.  This year is proving to be different.  I started shopping on Friday and did find some discounts on items I was looking for.  I also used some coupon codes, thanks MyCoupons.com.  Shopping is even easier with the help of the Internet, but that doesn't mean you have to pay the top price for the items you are looking for.  Internet retailers are all joining in the game when it comes to offering savings and discounts this time of year.  It makes sense for them to, they are receiving far more traffic then they normally do throughout the year and it is beneficial and enticing to their audience of consumers to offer a reason to choose them over another retailer. 
If you are looking for deals, GiftCards.com is still offering a $25 rebate when you purchase over $100 in gift cards and use eBillme when checking out.  If you are on the fence about what to get someone this year and gift cards seem like the best choice, shop at GiftCards.com and save some money for yourself. 

I sent an email this week to the Google Checkout Team.  Actually, I had to email a contact of mine at Google AdWords first to get the correct email address for Google Checkout because they do not like to make their email addresses very accessible.  I don't know if that is a good thing for them or not.  I understand that they would probably be inundated with emails from too many people, but they do employee an awful lot of people.  Anyways, I was able to email the Google Checkout Team and ask if GiftCards.com could add Google Checkout to their ordering process.  I received a reply two days later that said we unfortunately were not allowed to offer this service due to Gooogle's terms and conditions.  I will be honest, I have never been one for rules, but I can appreciate them...I guess.  I quickly emailed the team back quoting the terms and conditions and reiterating that I really want to offer this service.  I will let you know what they say. 

GiftCards.com, LLC is pleased to announce the addition of Jeff Lininger as President.  With the announcement of Lininger, GiftCards.com continues to announce exciting news on a consistent basis. 

Jason Wolfe, CEO of GiftCards.com, LLC commented, “Our key initiatives this year including our fulfillment center build out, our customer service center addition, CardTrack launch, and international expansion meant that the CEO and President roles needed to be split to fully realize our vision for the company.”

Lininger brings over 20 years of extensive knowledge in business and corporate development, strategic planning, product and brand management, operations, marketing, and sales.  He was formerly with Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc., serving as Vice President of Business Development.  His past expertise as an executive, not only with Jackson Hewitt, but also with Reliant Energy and Compaq Computer Corporation(currently HP), will provide GiftCards.com with the continued leadership and knowledge in the rapidly growing prepaid gift card industry.     

With the growth that GiftCards.com is continuing to undergo, the addition of Jeff Lininger as President will serve as a key piece in evolution of the number one Visa gift card provider.