How do you feel about gift certificates?

Do you like it when someone gives you spending money toward a store that you (hopefully) shop at, or would you rather receive cash?

I quite like them as gifts of cash are a serious impersonal social faux pas unless it involves an event where the giving of cash is somewhat expected like say a graduation. People that rail against them are typically confused anti-cardites that don't realize getting a gift card to a place you don't shop is the same as getting any other type of gift you don't want. The person buying the card should know where you like to shop and I find that getting guilt free shopping credit is quite a nice thing especially if it's a very particular place that shows the buyer really knows you quite well. If on the other hand you don't know them, they make quite good gifts if you're not a big idiot and just get them credit as someplace anybody can use such as Amazon. It's better than buying them some generic gift everybody knows that nobody wants.

I don't mind if it's for a store that I like.

Extremely limiting and useless in most cases. I don't buy many things and when I do, it's almost never from some store I have a gift card for. And I don't want to buy something that's going to waste space in my room either.

Cash is more flexible, thus more do-able.

I don't mind if it's for a place I actually shop at.Crunchy_Nuts

I'm with the general consensus; I don't mind them if they're for a store that I actually shop at.

Why would you ever limit someone to a single store? Just give the person cash.

Edit: Unless it's a store that I'm constantly at.

I am never going to buy a gift card again and if i can't find a gift for someone their getting cash. Cash is a far better gift than a gift card IMO. Buying a gift card is really just giving the company free money thats all your doing. Even if the person does spend all the money on the gift card the company still would've made money on the interest you just gave them. Not to mention the fact alot of people will have just a few cents or a few dollars left on the card they will never use. Again free money for the company. Or the fact gift cards can get lost or forgot about, and again the company profits.

Another reason why cash is better is because of sales, say you get a Zellers(Canadian retail store) gift card and you go there and you find the thing you want is much more expensive than the same thing at wal-mart, well guess what your out of luck again. This was a true story for me to.

Another reason, say the person you gave a gift card to is broke and needs something really badly, lets say gas, how is a 50 dollar wal-mart card gonna help them get gas, so i bet those people would be wishing they could turn it into cash.

So to me I would prefer just to give someone money so that I know it will get put to use. It's just my opinion though.

I like gift cards for Amazon. For everything else I'd prefer cash

I hate giving them to people, but I love to get them.

I'd rather just get cash but some of my family members like to give those stupid visa gift cards during the holidays. My aunt just did that recently and I wasn't too happy since it's a set back to me buying a ps3 sometime soon. :x

Gift cards make 0 sense. Cash is accepted everywhere. Why pigeonhole the person into a store that may be more expensive?

Hell, get a prepaid visa card if you have to go with a card thing.

Hell, get a prepaid visa card if you have to go with a card thing.

Pixel-Pirate

This is what I prefer.

[QUOTE="Pixel-Pirate"]

Hell, get a prepaid visa card if you have to go with a card thing.

Suzy_Q_Kazoo

This is what I prefer.