Gift Card (gift certificate) is a prepaid card that contains a specific amount of money and that anyone can purchase and use. Usually used like a gift.

There are several types of gift cards that:

• can only be used with a single merchant, such as Amazon
• can be used at any of several stores owned by the same company or the same network of companies
• contain a major credit card company’s logo (e.g., Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover) and can be used at any store that accepts these kind of cards.

Some gift cards are reloadable, meaning that additional funds can be added later. Others are not reloadable, so once the balance is spent, they have no further use. Gift cards usually have a minimum and maximum initial loading amount. A common minimum is $10 and a common maximum is $500.

Ways for using gift cards are vary:

• some gift cards can be used just for full amount of your purchase
• some of them allow to pay just for the part of your purchase (other part can be paid by your credit card)
• you can also use a gift card to make multiple purchases of less than the gift card amount until you use up the balance.

Attention!

• Some types of gift cards have activation fees of $5 or so, you should pay when you buy it.
• Most gift cards can be used both online and in person, but be careful with how to use them.
• Gift cards are functionally equivalent to cash, and if you lose a gift card or have it stolen, you can lose the entire value of the gift card.
• Some gift cards can have validity period for making purchases – all unused amount in the gift card after expired date will be lost.