Retailmenot, the largest coupon site in the USA, has acquired the Giftcardzen gift card exchange for $22 million in cash and up to $11 million in deferred payments, the company announced Thursday.
No changes are expected in the daily running of Giftcardzen, and they will continue to operate out of their Arizona headquarters.
This acquisition makes Giftcardzen part of a publicly traded company, adding a level of security in dealing with them. The Cardpool gift card exchange is also part of the publicly traded Blackhawk Network and Saveya might be owned by Blackhawk as well. Giftcardzen is one of four major second-hand gift card exchanges, along with Cardpool, Cashcash, and Saveya, who deal in buying and selling second-hand gift cards from consumers.
Retailmenot already has a small selection of (new) discounted gift cards, and their plan, likely, is to expand that division to include second-hand gift cards as well.
It’s quite possible that purchasing second-hand gift cards will go mainstream if Retailmenot does a good job promoting it. At the moment, it’s still more of a niche market with many people not having heard of the idea at all.
Related: The Complete Guide to Selling your Unwanted Gift Cards for Cash
View Comments (4)
A few notes:
SaveYa is also owned by Blackhawk.
"publicly traded company, adding a level of security in dealing with them" Enron???
True, that giftcards.com acquisition slipped my mind. Let me add that.
Still not positive that they are owned by Blackhawk https://www.doctorofcredit.com/what-happens-when-competing-gift-card-exchanges-are-owned-by-the-same-corporation/
"it’s still more of a nitch market". Niche, please, (couldn't resis)t.
Thanks, let me fix that