Gift Giving Guy

My employer gave me an unexpected opportunity to test drive GiftCertificates.com. I was rewarded with the site’s flagship product: a $100 SuperCertificate, which is a universal gift certificate that lets me choose… well, my own gift certificate. I can select from more than 230 merchants, including airlines, hotels, restaurants, online retailers, clothing stores and department stores. While the SuperCertificate itself does not expire, you should check to see if the selected gift card has an expiration date. Also, guard your gift card closely. Neither GiftCertificates.com nor its merchants will replace a gift card if lost or stolen.

Before trying to redeem my SuperCertificate, I browsed through GiftCertificates.com merchants. I needed to choose between a physically delivered gift card or an electronic gift card. While most of the merchants require shipping, I easily made top ten lists for both shipped cards and e-mailed cards.

Favorite shipped gift cards

1. Restoration Hardware
2. Barnes & Noble Booksellers
3. Buca di Beppo Italian restaurant
4. Crate & Barrel
5. Eddie Bauer
6. Borders Books
7. L.L. Bean
8. Men’s Wearhouse
9. Panera Bread
10. Blockbuster Video

Favorite e-mailed gift cards

1. Barnes & Noble Booksellers
2. Overstock.com
3. Eddie Bauer
4. Lands’ End
5. L.L. Bean
6. BedandBreakfast.com
7. Fandango Movies
8. Red Envelope
9. eBags.com
10. Travelocity

I chose the speed of an e-gift card. While Barnes & Noble was my first choice, online gift cards for bn.com were limited to $50, with only one gift card per B&N order. Instead, I selected a $100 e-gift card from Overstock.com, which has no expiration date. Within 15 minutes of placing my order, I received my Overstock.com e-gift card.