

GiftRocket's new design has launched - sahillavingia
http://mikekus.com/archive/giftrocket-has-launched/

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biot

      > GiftRocket uses my location to check I’m actually at the pub and
      > when my location is confirmed I get my gift. The GiftRocket
      > amount is transferred into my Paypal account and I pay as normal.
    

So it's essentially a money transfer between two people but GiftRocket takes
their vig and the recipient needs to be at a certain location (or fake the
location) to receive the transfer. Depending on the percentage, this could be
abused to launder money through the pretense of a gift purchase.

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kapilkale
We're a payments company in disguise.

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pitdesi
I like that... Can you elaborate, or is it hush-hush?

Also, what happens when the other person doesn't redeem? (I tried to send
myself the free $5 but found the process cumbersome so I didn't redeem). There
will be a lot of breakage on this product, which is potentially great for you
in the short run but bad in the long run.

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nbaum5
What specifically was cumbersome?

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samtp
This isn't really a gift certificate to anywhere. It seems more like just
paying your friend to go somewhere. They can redeem the gift, then spend the
money anywhere.

Also I may be wrong, but 99.9% of physical stores don't accept Paypal, so your
friend would already have to have the gift amount in cash or credit/debit.

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nbaum5
GiftRocket is a new take on gift cards. Recipients prefer cash to gift cards,
but it's tacky to give cash as a gift. We're trying to capture the sentiment
of a gift card (I thought of you, I thought you'd enjoy this place) without
the restrictiveness of a traditional gift card.

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jamesteow
"it's tacky to give cash as a gift."

Ouch.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_envelope>

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nbaum5
Was talking about the US. There are exceptions in the US too (i.e. Bar and Bat
Mitzvahs).

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dools
When I purchase the gift card, presumably I'm purchasing via PayPal. The
recipient then receives the money via PayPal.

So like - I could just give my friend some money via PayPal and say "hey dude,
have a night out on me".

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div
Really like the look and feel of the site, but as someone who dislikes gift
cards in the first place, it seems like GiftRocket just makes the idea more
cumbersome.

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ErikRogneby
One of the nice things about gift cards is their atomic portability. I don't
see that here. If someone gives me a starbucks card I can re-gift it to a
homeless guy on the street. Also how would "any business" work if that
business has no physical location?

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pbreit
Almost identical to Giftly including the chutes and ladders diagram:
<http://begiftly.com/what-is-giftly>

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nbaum5
We launched well before Giftly. Regarding the how it works page, that's sheer
coincidence. Our designer had finished his mocks before Giftly launched.

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emrosenf
Incredible work Mike!

