uTarget Jumps On Gift Card Exchange Bandwagon; Offers Customers Less Than Cards Are Worthr

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  With the bulk of the holiday celebrations having come and gone, you might be sitting around the dried-out Christmas tree counting up all those random gift cards you received. While you appreciate the generosity of your friends and family, you just don’t have any desire to make a purchase with said cards. To that end, a number of retailers are willing to offer you a trade; joining the ranks of Walmart, GameStop, and Coinstar this year is Target. 

  The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that Target will offer a year-round gift card trade-in program in about 1,500 stores.

  The program, which started last month, is similar to Walmart’s past initiative in that the company doesn’t offer to pay a customer the full value of the traded card.

  Instead, once the card is brought to the mobile phone counter in the electronics department, an employee of Market Source — wearing a black shirt instead of the traditional Target red — will give customers an offer for a lesser amount based on the resale value of the card.

  For example, the company says, a $100 Walmart gift card can be exchanged for an $85 Target gift card.

  “We know guests sometimes have unwanted or unused gift cards and [we] want to give them a convenient option to put those unused dollars toward shopping at Target,” Kristy Welker, a Target spokeswoman, tells the Star Tribune.

  The retailer declined to provide information on how much it makes through the exchange program, which is slated to run year round.

  Target’s program is a partnership between the retailer, card exchange site Cardpool.com, and other vendors.

  Don’t like the gift card you got for Christmas? Target, other retailers will offer you a trade [Minneapolis Star Tribune]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist