Plastic JungleBuy, Sell, Exchange Gift Cards

I had the opportunity to attend and present at the Future of Money & Technology Summit today in San Francisco.  There has been a lot of innovation regarding how money moves over the past few years.  Certainly well known is the growth of PayPal.  I used to work there (as well as eBay) and saw first-hand how consumers have learned how they can move money more easily — to an email account or to a debit card or across to a friend’s phone.

Now even more companies are emerging to really change how money moves.  A great overview of this trend was covered in a feature story in Wired magazine a month or so back.  With Intuit’s recent acquisition of Mint and American Express’ acquisition of Revolution Money, there is an increased understanding that consumers are responding to new tools that help them save money and reach their goals.

At Plastic Jungle, we announced a new capability that creates the ability for a consumer to use a retailer’s gift card in another retailer’s online store.  Our Payment Product enables you to use the gift cards you aren’t planning to spend (or just haven’t been spending) and buy something you want.  Have a gift card to a bookstore and want to buy a cell phone instead?  You will be able to trade in your bookstore gift card and use it like a coupon on the website of the cell phone retailer.  Your bookstore gift card then comes in to Plastic Jungle where we then re-sell it to another user.  Therefore, the bookstore owner still gets a user coming to their store.  We just get this money moving again.

This news follows Facebook featuring Plastic Jungle at their f8 conference last week.  Plastic Jungle will be an early way for you to earn Facebook Credits when Facebook launches App2User.

Getting this currently trapped money moving again is something we are excited about.  We, like a few new companies, see the opportunity to help consumers save and buy in new ways.  We’re excited to bring this new service to retailers, social networks and social gaming companies.  It’s all part of the future of money – and our present – at Plastic Jungle.

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