Plastic pre-loaded gift cards are big business these days and it seems almost everyone has given or at least received one for a birthday gift!

Have you ever bought a gift card? If you haven’t, what would you spend? Where do you expect to see them in a store? And if you’re a retailer, are you stocking them?

Fill out our fun, quick, anonymous gift card survey and let us know!

Occasionally you’ll receive gift cards to stores that aren’t really your cup of tea - and rarely - they won’t really appeal to anyone else you know either (or you’d just rather pocket the cash).

There are already several marketplaces where you can buy and sell gift cards but CardPool “prices” the buying price and the selling rate based on how popular the gift cards are.

For example, the enormously popular BestBuy gift cards can be sold at 90% of their value and bought for 5% off. But 1800-Flowers gift cards which are possibly less frequently sought (unless it’s say coming up to Mother’s Day), can be acquired for 30% off. 

CardPool allows gift cards to be returned for up to 100 days and it doesn’t sell gift cards with expiration dates or fees.

They even have a wish list that notifies you when gift cards to your favourite store become available.

If you spend more than a few hours a week online, your time could earn you free gift cards that could cover someone’s anniversary, baby, birthday, Christmas, Mother’s Day or housewarming gift.

If you live in Canada, the UK or US (sadly it’s restricted to those three countries so far or I would sign up in a flash), you can sign up for free with Swagbucks.

You earn gift cards - and plenty of other merchandise which could be good to cross off certain gift-giving obligations (such as those endless children’s birthday parties for example!) - simply for surfing the net.

After registering, you install a Swagbucks toolbar at the top of your screen. It will give you results from Google and Ask.com which will periodically allocate you a certain digital dollar value per search. You can also earn SwagBucks by referring friends to join, filling out polls, shopping in the Swagbucks mall and recycling mobile phones.

If you can add a little magic to their birthday, you make your favourite Pisces so much happier.

Pisces are the agony aunts of the zodiac who people come to with their problems, wanting a sympathetic ear, a hug and a little wallow of self-pity. Unlike say, Capricorns or Scorpios who’ll gruffly tell you to snap out of it, Pisces really want to help.

When they’re at their best, they’re selfless, kind, compassionate, sensitive and supportive. To BE at their best, they need support in return, which means remembering their birthday.

You can make their birthday a wonderful one by making an effort. Since Pisces rules the feet, they are especially fond of shoes. Teenage and twenty-something Pisces boys will always appreciate another pair of cool runners. Pisces women usually have an enormous shoe collection so a shoe bag would make a thoughtful modest gift. Splashing out? Give them a gift certificate for beautiful shoes - and you get extra brownie points if they’re for handmade and/or customised shoes.

You can also give them magic! They love tinkly windchimes, terrariums, crystal ornaments that refract the light into a thousand little rainbows and velvet throws which are vaguely Steve-Nicks. Most New Age shops have a “Oh, wow!” item that’s sure to intrigue them.

If they’ve got the right lifestyle, you could melt a Pisces heart by giving them a little puppy or kitten - bonus points if you go out to the local animal shelter to go and save one. If they live in an apartment, you could give them a pair of goldfish and decorate the bowl with a castle, treasure chest, diver and plants. Very calming (that’s why dentists have aquariums in their waiting rooms).

Neptune, which rules Pisces, rules glamour and they can’t have enough of it. Take them away from their ordinary humdrum existence with items which suggest an otherworldly, special glittering place. It could be as fun as a silk palm tree for them to pretend they’re in the tropics or a beautiful artwork which takes their breath away. If they were in a movie, what character would they play? Ask them. If they haven’t had it done yet, treat to them to a feng shui consultation.

Music simply transports them. A guitar could thrill a male Pisces while the girls might be happy to spend hours browsing through CDs thanks to a gift card. Again, you can’t go wrong with an iTunes card.

Most of them just lurrrve getting their fortunes done, too. You could delight them no end by paying for them to enjoy a reading with a clairvoyant, psychic, numerologist, astrologer or tarot card reader. Many Pisces might like a gift voucher to their favourite esoteric bookshop.

Some of them have weak constitutions and like their polar opposites, Virgo, can be inclined to get a little too ill a little too often. Give them a boost with a consultation with a homeopath. If you don’t want to go that far, a massage will do. Flush with cash? Treat them to a swanky health retreat for their birthday.

Those Pisces who are not of a materialistic bent will appreciate you giving money to their favourite charity on their behalf. Make sure you include the receipt in their card.

So many organisations now are trying to “encourage” us to switch from receiving our statements via snail mail to email.

It costs them money, paper and effort and it’s much cheaper, faster and easier for them to press a button to send them.

Some of them are even charging a surcharge if you don’t want them delivered in your inbox.

But Australia’s St George Bank is making it more palatable by offering customers who switch from mailed to emailed statements by 5 March 2010 the chance to win one of 100 x $100 Myer department store gift cards.

Have you been offered anything (other than a $2 fee) to make the switch?

It’s In The Stars is seeking a new couple to Be the Face of LoveStars for 2010: could it be you and your partner?

You could win a $AUD500 gift card to spend at your favourite retailer, or one of 5 x BabyStars boxed gift certificates worth $109 each to redeem for your own BabyStars report or to give your favourite new parent for their new baby or as a unique christening gift.

LoveStars reports make ideal personalised gifts for an anniversary, birthday, engagement, Valentine’s Day or wedding and yes, you will need to have one of your own (or borrow a friend’s LoveStars report) to take part.

Set up your camera timer so you can take a great shot of you and your partner enjoying reading your LoveStars report - maybe you’re wearing your wedding outfit, curled up on the sofa, or in a hammock!

For your chance to win, you’ll need to email at least one shot in low resolution (72dpi) and high resolution (300dpi).

Click here for more details. Competition closes 31 March 2010.

A Canadian domain name company has created a gift card that lets anyone buy their own .tel domain name when they buy a coffee at their favourite Canadian Blenz Coffee franchise.

.Tel names are like “live” digital business cards which direct customers to a person’s or a business’s contact details - such as their phone, mobile, website, email addresses, social media profiles and so on. Optimised for mobile phone content, you can try out mobile campaigns, for example.

An original birthday gift (card) for your favourite business-owner, it’s also a fantastic housewarming gift idea for twentysomethings who are always moving too, as it lets them provide one ongoing point of contact at SamSmith.tel, for example.

As you can probably guess, gift-giving is a pretty big hobby of mine but for some people, it’s not so easy let alone enjoyable!

LeverageCard is a very handy website which combines a few time- and money-saving features to do with gifts.

If you’re likely to forget it’s Aunt Martha’s birthday again, or you’ll be in the doghouse if you overlook your anniversary once more, enter all the key dates in the Calendar section and they’ll remind you when it’s coming up. I estimated a lazy 23 gifts that I have to budget for and remember - you could have many more!

Got a gift card or three lying around in your desk drawer? And lemme guess, you’re one of those people who forget (arghhh! how can anyone forget!?) to use it…Don’t be an ungrateful gift card recipient: Enter the store, value and expiry date in Gift Cards. You can buy, swap or check its balance and in some cases, earn interest!

Belong to a couple of airline and hotel programs? (I have a rapidly dwindling account with United Airlines (mainly because they don’t have a gift program that I can cash them in for) and now concentrate on Velocity which is tied to Virgin Blue, Atlantic and Emirates which offers flights, accommodation AND gifts.

Get all your updates in one place, see how many points you’ve earned (which could pay for an upcoming birthday gift or maybe you could put something away for Christmas?) in Points & Miles.

And finally, based on the gift cards and loyalty programs you belong to, you’ll receive targeted offers in the Offers & Savings section.

Sorted!

A very clever quantity surveyor in Ireland has created a gift card with Mastercard that helps the lucky recipient to pay utility bills which can include gas, electricity, water, garbage removal, phone, mobile and television.

Rory McGuigan had received one pay cutback too many in 2008 when he realised that he didn’t have much cash to pay for Christmas presents - but that he would still have to stump up for utilities.

His Utilize gift card allows the gift-giver to put anything on it between 25 and 250 euros. Corporates such as Dell are using it as incentives. It’s obviously a great gift to give any new couple getting married while parents can ensure that their kids will pay their bills with it rather than trusting them with cash which can all-too-temptingly be spent on partying and clothes.

Thinking of giving money to a charity? You might be better off donating directly.

The sheer cost of administering a gift card program means very few charities produce their own specific gift card. Many of them do have an online facility for you to donate straight to their website and even produce  an electronic receipt and thank you message that you can enclose in your birthday Christmas/ engagement/ wedding card for whomever you’re buying it.

America’s largest non-profit organisation, United Way sells gift cards, while Goodwill has stores across the states, but no national gift card program.

There are four major organisations in the US which let you pick your own charity - Charity Choice, JustGive.org, Network for Good and Tisbest. If you decide to use one of these Big Four, keep in mind that:

* some of your donation gets chipped away in administration and transaction fees

* not all organisations transfer the monies to their charities right away; some pay quarterly

* they don’t last indefinitely: Network for Good’s gift cards expire within 6 months.

* only you, as the gift-card-giver, get the tax break - not the recipient who actually selects the charity

Gift card prices range from $1.49 for Tisbest to $5 for the three others. Charity Choice has 100 charities while Network for Good lists an astonishing 1.8 million charities (who knew there were that many?). Network for Good includes its handling fee within its $5 purchase fee but admin costs range from 3% for card-processing for JustGive to Charity Choice’s $1.85 transaction fee per card, 5% admin fee and 3% credit card transaction fee.