Reuters - New ways to use gift cards sprout this holiday
* Moola Street cuts upfront cost of gift cards
* GoalMine to redeem cards for investments
* Plastic Jungle sees triple-digit growth this year
* Over 600 pages of gift cards for sale on eBay
By Alistair Barr
Dec 11 (Reuters) - Retailers are coming up with ways to make the gift card - that staple of holiday giving - more exciting to receive, from including a set of Lego blocks to putting images of popular paintings on the plastic cards.
At the same time, some companies are trying to make the cards even more appealing to give, by addressing the fact that recipients rarely use the entire amount stored on them.
More than 80 percent of shoppers plan to buy gift cards this holiday, up from 77.3 percent last year. They are expected to spend an average of $155.43 on cards, the highest amount since 2007 and up from $145.61 last year, according to the National Retail Federation.
Total spending on gift cards should reach $27.8 billion this holiday. Consulting firm TowerGroup has estimated that about 10 percent of the value of gift cards are not used, which would leave almost $3 billion on the table.
Keeping that unused cash in mind, on Nov. 6 Del Currie and Lou Corbo launched Moola Street to offer a different kind of gift card. The purchaser only has to pay 10 percent of the value of the card upfront, but gets to give a card with 10 times that value as a gift. So, for example, a $100 gift card costs $10 upfront.
If the card is not redeemed after three months, the purchaser does not have to pay any more. The full amount is charged only when the recipient logs on to moolastreet.com and converts the gift into cards from retailers and restaurants including Amazon.com , Target , Macy's and Subway. The recipient can trade the Moola Street card for up to three retailer or restaurant cards.
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