Business Opportunities Weblog

September 2, 2008 by Angela Shupe | 1 Comment

If you were to look in your wallet, how many unused gift cards would you find? It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what to do with them or if you like to use them at your favorite stores, Gift Card Rescue.com is determined to help. For those that are interested in getting money for their card can find a 70% return on the face value. On the other hand, those on the market to buy cards can do so at the website and find them for up to 20% less than their value, this also includes free shipping.

What inspired the creation of Gift Card Rescue.com?

The idea for GiftCardRescue.com came from a friend who came to me with a problem – he had a stack of gift cards he did not particularly care for and thought it would be nice if there was a website where he could exchange them for a card of his preference. I looked into the idea and while there were a few sites out there where you could sell gift cards for cash or exchange them with someone; there was no website that guaranteed an exchange. This led me to the idea for Giftcardrescue.com.
Not only can customers sell their gift cards directly to us for cash, but they can also exchange them for a brand new card of the preference, by selecting from a list of over 30 popular gift cards.

What happens to the gift cards that people sell to you?

We sell them on our website at a discount.

How are you able to offer gift cards at a value lower than what they are worth?

The idea is to buy gift cards at a certain percentage of card value (which is now 70% of the card value) and then sell them for 80% to 90% of the card value. Giftcardrescue.com makes money from the spread. In addition, it is a win for customers who buy gift cards from us since they can get them for up to 20% off.

How long has your website been running for, and what are some of the changes you’ve seen as it has grown?

The website was launched in June 2008 and we have been pleased with the positive responsive from customers so far. I think the number one challenge is building trust. Customers have to feel confident and trust that when they send us their gift cards, they will get their money in return. Also, those buying gift cards need to be assured that this is not a scam, and that we are able to offer gift cards at a discount. We have tried to overcome this partly through our blog, Giftcardblogger.com, which helps us interact with customers and potential customers.

How long did it take for you to bring Gift Card Rescue from idea to running business? What was that process like?

I have had this idea since January 2007 but decided to seriously pursue it in August of 2007, so it took about 10 months to bring it to fruition. It has been a challenging but rewarding experience. Setting up an online business brings some unique challenges. Our goal has been to make the shopping experience easy and fun for our customers. To achieve this, we spent quite a bit of time getting feedback on the design and functionality of the website to make sure we accomplish this goal.

Another goal is to earn our customer’s trust from the very moment they hit the website. That is why we have been attentive to how the customer perceives the website. We want them to see the site as simple, professional and credible.

Was there any previous experience you were able to bring with you into this business? How were you able to apply that experience?

Yes, I have experience in search engine optimization techniques through a project that has been dear to me – http://www.aidsandafrica.com which I launched eight years ago to highlight the HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. I have learnt so much from promoting this website and was able to apply lessons learnt to Giftcardrescue.com. As a result, even though Giftcardrescue.com has been up for just over 2 months, search engine ranking for the major keywords we’ve been targeting have been very good so far on the three major search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN).

Why did you decide to become an entrepreneur? Have you always wished to be one?

I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I think it’s my desire to be my own boss that motivates me. At the same time, I wanted to make sure I believed in what I was doing, which is important to me; otherwise, I will not put my best into it. When this idea came along, I knew from the beginning it had legs, and that is why I jumped at the opportunity.

What are your long term goals for Gift Card Rescue? Any plans for growth in the future?

We want to be the best at what we do. And the best way to measure that is if we become the first place people come to sell, exchange or buy discounted gift cards.

In Interviews, Niche, Small Biz, Startup | 1 Comment