Common Mistakes When Using Gift Cards to Save Money
00:00:00.000 | What are some of the mistakes people make trying to save money using gift cards?
00:00:04.260 | And how can we help people avoid those mistakes?
00:00:06.700 | I would say if you're not getting like a major purchase, like an appliance,
00:00:10.460 | you should also consider that if you put it on a credit card,
00:00:13.660 | your card may or may not have some kind of extended warranty protection.
00:00:17.000 | So you need to weigh the value of the discount
00:00:19.300 | that you're getting on the gift cards versus what you might be giving up
00:00:22.700 | if you value that warranty or if you value those other things.
00:00:25.700 | Another thing that that is a tradeoff is if you're buying these gift cards
00:00:29.300 | to make a purchase that you might return.
00:00:31.300 | So clothing comes to mind.
00:00:32.600 | It can be very annoying if you go back and return those.
00:00:34.940 | They're not going to give you cash for your return.
00:00:37.200 | Generally, they're going to give you gift cards.
00:00:39.200 | If you're the type of person who buys everything in three sizes
00:00:42.800 | and you have it shipped to your house and you try it on
00:00:44.940 | and you send back the ones you don't want, then gift cards could be a bigger mess
00:00:48.160 | than it's worth, because you're going to end up with a bunch of gift cards
00:00:50.740 | and weird denominations, and you may lose them over the course of like
00:00:54.240 | however long until you shop at that store again.
00:00:56.300 | There are definitely tradeoffs.
00:00:57.500 | And you should make sure that the the value that you're getting
00:01:00.940 | from the discount is worth those tradeoffs.