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An overview on gift card resellers
Gift cards are big business.
With the total gift card market expected to hit $221 billion by 2024, plenty of enterprises are making the smart choice to get in on the action.
In this guide, we're going to look at some of the advantages of getting involved in the gift card reseller space, tips and tricks to get started, and advice on taking your gift card initiatives to the next level.
What are gift card resellers?
Gift card reselling is pretty self explanatory – a gift card reseller is anyone selling a gift card on behalf of another retailer, service, or business.
Think of a retail store (like Walmart) that may have an entire wall of plastic cards for different brands (like Chipotle, McDonald's, and GameStop). Although the retail store is selling the card, the buyer would actually reclaim the value somewhere else (whether in store or online).
(Of course, an eGift card is a far more effective way to offer customers the value without you needing to buy and store each physical card – but more on that later).
The reseller makes the sale of the gift card – and gets a small piece of the profit for their involvement – while the end user makes the gift card purchase with the actual card issuer.
As a side note: sometimes the term "gift card reseller" includes people looking to sell gift cards online that they don't plan to use, whether via Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or recognized gift card exchange websites. While these services exist, and work fine for individuals with an unwanted card, this isn't an explainer for them.
Instead, this guide is for businesses looking to offer gift cards at scale.
It's for employees who have the ambition to grow their corporate gift card programs and are looking for processes that can support them in the long term.
Benefits of becoming a gift card reseller
Gift card reselling can offer a whole host of advantages for those who get in on the action, including:
1. They’re a way to offer an untapped (and growing) revenue stream
If you aren't already offering gift cards, doing so can be an incredibly simple way to offer customers something extra while adding a new revenue stream for your business.
There are plenty of options for cards to sell - enough to complement almost any product or service you already offer without distracting the buyer or cannibalizing your existing sales.
2. They're the perfect upsell item
Research has shown that gift cards were the second most popular gift category in the 2020 holiday season.
If customers are already making a purchase with you, it's incredibly effective to add a simple "Interested in a gift card?" reminder to your checkout journey.
After all, if they're the kind of person who buys from you, they're likely to know someone else who might too. Buying a gift card at the same time they're buying for themselves saves them worrying about upcoming gift-buying occasions.
3. They're low-overhead
Done right, gift card reselling can be very cost effective.
With eGift cards in particular, there's no need to tie up your capital in buying (and storing) stock, no complicated processes that need unnecessary amounts of attention and no big financial or regulatory hurdles you need to clear.
You simply sign up to a service, and you're on your way.
4. They're logistically simple
Again, done right, gift cards can be incredibly simple to sort. If you stick to an eGift card offering instead of a physical gift card, there's no need to worry about postage, delivery times, etc.
You customers get instant delivery of what they want, and you get the money straight to your account.
Simple.
5. They go well beyond just B2C
Selling gift cards to individuals is an obvious use case, but it can go well beyond that – even into the B2B space.
You might be an HR company wanting to offer customers a way to tap into the value of gift cards as an employee perk.
Or you might be a marketing agency wanting to offer customers a way to effectively use gift cards as part of an incentive marketing solution.
In short, gift cards can be an effective offer – whatever your line of business.
Options for gift card resellers
If you decide to build an entire gift card solution from scratch for yourself, you'll find there's a lot of legwork involved.
It's no easy feat, considering:
- You need to enter into a deal with each gift card company you want to sell, and to negotiate how (and how much) they'll pay you.
- You need the infrastructure to deliver them automatically as an e gift card (or a ton of people working around the clock if you decide to do it manually).
- You need security to process credit card payments while also checking for gift card fraud and other types of scam.
- You need a system to record and track each card sold.
- And you need to do it all without breaking the bank...
Luckily, there's a simpler, more effective way to do all that.
How partnering with a digital gift card provider can benefit your business
If you want to target gift card buyers, instead of doing all that work for yourself, it's far easier to let us do it for you.
At Runa, we make the process of offering gift cards incredibly easy – for you and for your customers.
And as an enterprise-level infrastructure powering thousands of businesses around the world, you know you're in safe hands.
Partner with more than 700 brands instantly
Instead of negotiating with each individual partner and formally getting a license to be a reseller, Runa gives you immediate access to 700 brands from around the world - so you can offer the likes of a Walmart, Uber, DoorDash, Starbucks, Target or Amazon gift card options, and more.
And we're always adding new brands, so you'll have something more to offer to your customers.
You can even offer recipients the option to choose where they want their gift card from for themselves – either from all available brands, or from a pre-approved list.
Simplify the logistics with cutting-edge (and digital-first) tech
Instead of an out-dated plastic gift card that will end up in the trash (whether used or not), a digital-first solution is better for the environment - and the end user.
Because they're sent by email, it's much easier for the buyer to find the gift card number and check the card balance (or remaining balance if they've already used some of it) than if they have a card lying around somewhere.
As for you, you don't have to worry about wrangling with postage - customers receive their digital gift card instantly with no action needed on your part thanks to Runa's robust API.
That means you can just sit back and watch the payments tick in.
Access world-wide customers - in the best way for them
As standard, Runa allows your business to offer gift cards in 64 languages from across 30 countries, and accept payments in 18 currencies.
That means you can become a truly international player overnight, if you want to, without worrying about the logistics.
How's that for scalability?
Get top gift card rates (especially if you're a bulk seller)
When you work with Runa you'll be buying gift cards with the best rates available, helping you to make more from each sale.
Manage the finances more easily
How much you make from each gift card sale depends on the store, the number and value of the cards sold, and a few other variables – but with Runa you can sit back and know that all those details are taken care of.
You can see accurate records to spot trends and big sellers, so you can focus your efforts in the best places, all without needing to micromanage the day-to-day collection.
Unlock enhanced protection – for you and your customers
With Runa, you have extra support in place in case things go wrong:
- There are processes in place if something amiss on the recipient's end - like they give the wrong email.
- There are backups in place if things go wrong on the brand's end - like if they go out of business.
- And there is security in place to actively analyze usage to try and spot an attempted gift card scam or fraud - protecting you and your customers.
And you can even refund unclaimed cards
One of the big problems with gift cards? Unclaimed cards.
In fact, it's estimated that between 10% and 19% of all gift cards go unused.
With Runa, that's not a problem anymore as you can offer simple refunds for any unwanted gift card. That means a better experience for customers, and less waste for everyone.
How to get started with Runa for reselling gift cards
Building a scalable gift card program at your company requires - in turn - a gift card provider that is inherently built for scale.
That's exactly what Runa offers.
You get the infrastructure and security you need to grow your gift card initiatives as big as you can dream - with Runa taking all the heavy lifting off of your shoulders.
Want to learn more about how you can use Runa to resell gift cards?
