

GiftRocket (YC W11) Lets You Send Gifts That Can Be Redeemed At Any Location - thankuz
http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/21/giftrocket-lets-you-send-gifts-that-can-be-redeemed-only-at-specific-locations/

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reason
So... a few questions:

1\. What happens if I forget about my GiftRocket? Yes, you could say the same
about gift cards, but those are physical items I can keep in my wallet and
discover months later. If I forget about a GiftRocket, what happens...? Do I
get a notification that it's gone unused after a set period?

2\. Will you notify me upon entering a restaurant that I have a GiftRocket, or
must I remember that I have one?

3\. Are you linking paypal transfers based on location? So I have to be at
said restaurant for me to get my money that my friend gave me? I get it's not
_that_ much different from a gift card, but the actual card itself carries an
inherent value. I will always have it, and it will always be worth a certain
amount given the expiry date has not passed. It seems like my gift is locked
somewhere in your cloud until I have proven to you that I am at a given
location.

4\. Do many people even use paypal to buy food when they're out?

5\. If yes to 4, are the paypal transfers instant? It would seem kind of
bizarre to eat at Bill's Burritos using my credit card, and then redeem my
GiftRocket thinking to myself "It's ok, the cost of this meal will be
compensated to me in a few days' time pending my GiftRocket transfer."

I'm sorry, I just don't see it. I feel like there's a lot being hidden from
the user here. A gift card is something delivered to me by the the gifter --
there's no middle man putting a restriction on when you actually receive your
gift card. And when I lose a gift card, it's money I've lost somewhere in my
nightstand, not money I've left in my gift card broker's pocket.

Maybe I am wrong.

~~~
kapilkale
Hi there

1\. Yes, we remind you.

2\. No. Would be possible with native apps, but we chose to have recipients
click a browser link on their phone for ease of use so they wouldn't have to
download an app / create an account. I agree though, this would be nice.

3a. Yes, we link to location.

3b. You can access your GiftRocket on your phone at any time by clicking the
GiftRocket link, much like you'd look at a gift card in your wallet or purse.

4\. No, not commonly used.

5\. Yes, they're instant.

Hope that helps.

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pekinb
So I pay a company 5% for the privilege of sending my friend blocks away so I
can put money in his paypal account?

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pg
You always have to pay to send someone money. And a giftcard for a store or
restaurant also requires your friend to go there.

~~~
pekinb
Me: "Hey dude, there's this great new Mexican place on your block. Here's $30.
Enjoy." = free

Me: "Hey dude, check out this website that's going to tell you about this
great new Mexican place on your block. Here's $30. Enjoy." = not free

~~~
wallabe
Seems like you're arguing against gift cards in general. $100b worth of gift
card spending suggests other people feel differently. Maybe you're not the
target market?

<http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1005802>

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pekinb
$X is worth $X in gift cards. I'm fine with that. I hate the idea of paying
this company when they don't add any value.

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old-gregg
"Don't add any value"? I thought the idea/value was to give people the option
of sending gift cards for _any_ business. That Mexican restaurant you keep
referring in your examples may not even have a giftcard program.

~~~
pekinb
It wasn't a gift card in my examples. It was cash. Or an American Express
giftcard. Just like you'd be getting with GiftRocket, except GiftRocket wants
a cut.

~~~
pg
_It wasn't a gift card in my examples._

That's what makes it invalid as an example.

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bermanoid
Everyone's ripping into this, and I'll be honest: I just wrote a long rant
about what a terrible idea it is, but I thought about it some more and deleted
it. And as a gift card, I still think I'm correct, this is not a great value
proposition, primarily because _you can't actually use the money (which comes
in via PayPal) to buy stuff wherever you are_. As someone that still remembers
all too well being in college with $3 in my pocket and an overdrawn bank
account, the greatest thing about gift cards was that they let you actually
buy stuff immediately even if you have no money. The Paypal involvement
bollockses that up, and that's not good; it also makes the fact that you're
sent to a physical business kind of annoying, since you can really only use
the money for online stuff unless you transfer it out of Paypal first.

But...

I had similar "who would ever use that?" thoughts about Foursquare when it
launched, and had to revisit my feelings after seeing its success. It turns
out that even if there's little value in the actual _services_ provided,
people really like the types of game mechanics that location-based apps make
possible. This, IMO, is where GiftRocket should be focusing: they really
should be pitching a _game experience_ instead of a mere gift card.

I can easily imagine people setting up scavenger hunts, races, treasure maps,
etc., if the site was set up to make that sort of thing easy and fun. You
could even set up entire Amazing Race-style multi-leg races if it was done
right. There are a _lot_ of possibilities, and I could see the same sorts of
people that get really into Foursquare getting really into this.

Don't get me wrong: I think this is a pivot that may need to be made, it's not
where they are right now. As-is I don't see much emphasis of any game-mechanic
in the marketing (and for that matter, the most likely fun applications, races
and multi-leg treasure hunts, don't seem to be possible to construct), and the
exclusive focus on sending people to businesses may not turn out to be the
best approach unless they can start to sign on businesses to sweeten the deal
(I'm sure they _can_ line up things like 10% off if you redeem a gift card
there or something like that). But even that's a bit of a shift, and it puts
them more in the discount-seeking business than the gift card one.

Or I could just be wrong. This _is_ a YC company, so they're sure as hell
going to get enough eyeballs to battle-test the idea, and maybe the sheer
novelty of it all will lure enough users to make this work even if they just
stick with the current model.

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physcab
Interesting concept. I tend to give a lot of gifts in the form of gift
certificates to friends and loved ones, and they tend to be a little bit
different from your run of the mill Old Navy card. I go for "experiential"
gifts, like short plane tickets if I can afford it, speaker series tickets,
theater tickets, etc.

From a gift giver perspective, I always screen my gift ideas for things I can
physically deliver in person. I want to be able to wrap it up and see the
surprise on their face when they open it. "You got me a _Southwest Airlines_
gift card?? I can go _anywhere_??" If the process is completely electronic, it
turns me off.

How do you plan to handle this? What are the specific use cases?

~~~
kapilkale
We originally built this so we'd be able to send our friends in other cities a
gift card to the restaurant or bar where they'd be celebrating their birthday.

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rjb
This is literally one of two ideas we have been flipping between.

What we found was that all the current mobile gifting services lacked local
businesses, were mostly SMS based and, the surprising problem, were partnering
with the merchant. This means they are not "everywhere" nor are they granular
- Not personal enough ($25 at Target). We tested a few last year and found
that when we went to redeem the gift, either the merchants had no idea what we
were talking about, even with phone and print out in hand, or the redemption
process was a pain in the ass.

We also found something that surprised us. We assumed people would think it
was rather impersonal. However, finding new ways to say "thanks for helping me
move", etc., people found to be much more fun and personal - We also implied a
level of custom-ability in gifting and had no interest in partnerships, big
box or otherwise.

It is fantastic to see someone else taking this on as I personally think there
is something huge here. There are so many nuisances to this and it is very
interesting to see how each company is tackling them.

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djjose
I admit it's an interesting idea at first thought. However, usually gift cards
are perceived as lame gifts by me and my friends/family. The train of thought
usually goes something like "I couldn't think of anything to get you because I
don't really care enough about you to pay attention to the things you might
actually want or need but I'm obligated to get you something soooo here you
go." And in that case I think you're better off just giving an AmEx or Visa
Gift/Check card. Among my circle this is usually acceptable for occurrences
where you're just lost, like giving a gift card at a baby shower since I know
nothing about babies, etc. But, my group could totally be outliers here. I
think the tech is cool and could be interesting for pub crawls or the like
where on each stop you get a discount. Any unclaimed discounts could be
pocketed by the company or the group that setup the crawl. That's very niche
but maybe that can scale to something else.

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callmeed
The concept has merit IMO, but I'm not sure about the current implementation.
I assume (perhaps wrongly) that they are going to establish relationships with
merchants ... or maybe they're building something that FB or Groupon can
plugin to their network of merchants.

When I need to send a list-minute gift or a gift to someone out of town, I
almost always email an Amazon gift card. And I can't see (yet) why I'd use
this instead.

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pekinb
"Of course, the recipient can always opt not to actually use the gifted
money..." That's some A+ writing there, Lou.

~~~
vnorby
I think the idea of NOT letting the recipient opt out of the gifted money is
much better. GiftRocket, get on that!

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wallabe
How many billions do people spend on gift cards each year? Must be a multi-
billion market...and that's constrained by the fact that with normal gift
cards merchants must actually opt-in to start offering gift cards. With this
it seems like they're able to expand the market by offering "gift cards" to
places that haven't opted in or signed up. That's brilliant.

~~~
mahmoudimus
This is essentially the gist. Plus, it's super simple to send a GiftRocket.
It's usually very painful to get a gift-card at stores, like, me physically
being at the location.

This is much more convenient.

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katieben
Oh wow! I've thought of something like this too, and really wanted it for
myself. Very cool, good luck to you! (:

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smogzer
that ! now pair with breakupnotifier ! and create giftonbreakup. It's like URL
programming of life events.

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newchimedes
It's actually quite interesting. I didn't know about these guys, but was
thinking through this idea a few weeks ago. My version was called "Money
Drop". I concluded that technology was cool,but I couldn't think of a
compelling reason to use this application, except for 2 cases. 1) Drug dealers
and 2) Kidnappers.

Say I just kidnapped your dog and I'm holding it ransom. I email you and tell
you to MoneyDrop $100 at the local mall. Once I see the money has been
"dropped" I go there and collect it with my smart phone app. Why would this be
useful? It's harder to figure out who picked it up since you are in a public
space and are just clicking a "pickup" button. Win-win!

