Bruce Bower and I met thirty years ago as incoming freshmen at college.  Just writing that sentence is pretty staggering to me, not just given the length of time.  We became fast friends and shared many common interests.  It is still incredible to me that we reconnected again years later over a business idea.

Nearly two years ago, over burgers at The Counter in Palo Alto, Bruce and I got together and agreed to take an active role in building Plastic Jungle (PJ) from where it was to where it could be.  I had joined the Board in June 2008 and had stepped in as CEO that November.  As we were out raising our Series A financing, Tod Francis from Shasta Ventures reintroduced Bruce and me, after we had lost touch through the years of different grad schools, several moves and starting families.

We both knew that there was a market need for a set of solutions that would help both consumers and customers benefit from getting the “trapped money” of unspent gift cards moving again.  In the past two years, we’ve had great success in building a strong foundation for the company and growing rapidly.  In fact, PJ is now growing 10-15% every month with great consumer loyalty.

Today, we announced that Bruce will become the company’s CEO, effective October 1, as I return to the Board, this time as Chairman.  I am very happy that Bruce has stepped into the role of CEO to take Plastic Jungle to new heights.  Bruce’s background has been perfect for PJ and he has a strong combination of vision and tenacity to run the company.

I am excited to go back to a role – in addition to my active Board role at PJ – that is more focused on marketing.  I have a strong passion to help lead a marketing organization again and greatly appreciate the counsel and support from the PJ Board in supporting my decision.  I have greatly enjoyed building the PJ team, forming a great Board and driving our results to date.  I will continue to work with Bruce and the entire PJ team to build our relationships with customers and grow PJ.

Finally, as Bruce and I have been essentially running the company together for the past two years, I know our fellow PJers and customers will not miss a beat.  After all, after thirty years as friends and two years as colleagues, we’re just getting started.

Earlier today, the founders of Mercardi announced the decision to close down their marketplace.  We are completely delighted they have chosen to recommend and endorse Plastic Jungle as the best way for you to buy, sell, exchange, and donate gift cards online going forward.

Welcome Mercardi Buyers and Sellers!

At Plastic Jungle, savvy shoppers find savings on gift cards up to 30% off.  Use discounted gift cards like a coupon and save even more when you shop, dine, travel, and more.

For those who have found themselves with gift cards you cannot use, we’ll offer you top dollar (we pay up to 92% of your gift card’s unspent balance).

The PJ team is here for you!  You will continue to receive excellent service and free shipping when buying and selling gift cards.  And all transactions on PlasticJungle.com are guaranteed.

Please take a moment to learn more about buying gift cards on Plastic Jungle or visit our Seller Learning Center for more information.

If you have any questions about our services, please contact us, and our team will be happy to assist you.

If you have a large quantity of gift cards, please contact volumesellers@plasticjungle.com … we want to make it easy for bulk sellers to liquidate your gift card supply.

Welcome Mercardi Nonprofits!

Plastic Jungle is honored to help you tap into the $30 Billion unredeemed gift card economy.  We have a variety of fundraising solutions to offer donors a whole new way to support your organization, and it’s absolutely free to join our program.  Contact us at fundraising@plasticjungle.com to learn more.

Thank you in advance for your business!

We are so pleased to have been selected as the company to serve you and your ongoing gift card needs.  Please let us know how we can help you make the most of your gift cards, now or in the future.

It’s pretty incredible how quickly Facebook is being woven into pop culture.  As referenced by Betty White during her Saturday Night Live hosting gig (thanks to the Facebook petition to have her do it), even product features on Facebook, such as the “Poke” or “Like” button, have crossed over, too.  One reference is the recent set of Toyota Sienna minivan ads in which the Mom or Dad boasts about their 4-wheeled oasis as “Mommy (or Daddy) Like.”  Certainly the phrase of “Daddy Like” existed before Facebook.  But you’re certainly hearing it a lot more because of Facebook.

Well, here’s something that we at Plastic Jungle “Like:”  As you may have read recently, Facebook recently introduced a new currency called Facebook Credits.  Through this currency, Facebook seeks to make it easier to participate in games on their site (need that certain cow on Farmville, ASAP?) or to purchase products or services.  As part of the Facebook Credits service, Facebook also announced some unique ways to purchase Credits.  We’re very excited that Plastic Jungle is part of Facebook’s solution.  We hope you will take a moment to learn how to turn your gift cards into Facebook Credits or go ahead and trade in your gift cards for Facebook Credits now.

We will continue to introduce new ways for consumers to get more from the gift cards they have and help retailers quickly get card redemption from consumers who are eager to buy from them.  Our launch with Facebook Credits is certainly one we’re excited about.  We hope you “Like” it, too.

See how easy it is to exchange your gift cards into Facebook Credits.

]]> http://www.plasticjungle.com/blog/2010/08/02/facebook-credits-we-like/feed/ 2 http://www.plasticjungle.com/blog/2010/05/24/welcome-gift-card-buy-back-gift-cards-again-and-gift-card-donor-customers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=welcome-gift-card-buy-back-gift-cards-again-and-gift-card-donor-customers http://www.plasticjungle.com/blog/2010/05/24/welcome-gift-card-buy-back-gift-cards-again-and-gift-card-donor-customers/#comments Mon, 24 May 2010 21:04:58 +0000 Gary http://www.plasticjungle.com/blog/?p=1033

The founder of Gift Card Buy Back, Gift Cards Again and Gift Card Donor recently announced the decision to pursue his dreams of working to support nonprofit initiatives. We wish him the best of luck in his new adventures. As the CEO of a company, I can relate to the difficult and important decision of leaving behind a valuable community. Which is why everyone at Plastic Jungle is humbled to be strongly endorsed by the Gift Card Buy Back, Gift Cards Again, and Gift Card Donor team.

Welcome Gift Card Buy Back Customers!

At Plastic Jungle, you will continue to receive excellent service and free shipping. All transactions on PlasticJungle.com are guaranteed, and we offer the best value for your gift cards (we pay up to 92% of your gift card’s unused balance).

Learn more about selling gift cards on Plastic Jungle.

If you have a large quantity of gift cards, please contact customerservice@plasticjungle.com … we want to make it easy for bulk sellers to liquidate your gift card supply.

Welcome Gift Cards Again Customers!

At Plastic Jungle, savvy shoppers find savings on gift cards up to 30% off.  Use discounted gift cards like a coupon and save even more at your favorite restaurants, retailers, and more.  We ship gift cards to you for free, and all transactions are guaranteed!

Learn more about buying gift cards on Plastic Jungle.  If you have any questions about our services, please contact customerservice@plasticjungle.com, and our team will be happy to assist you.

Welcome Gift Card Donor Customers and Nonprofits!

Plastic Jungle offers sellers the opportunity to turn gift cards into a donation for a charity of your choice (check out our nonprofit directory). Give part (or all) of a gift card’s cash-in value to an organization you want to support. A gift card donation can be a great way to contribute to a cause you care about, especially during these tough economic times.

Nonprofits, please contact us to learn more about fundraising on Plastic Jungle.

Thank you in advance for your business!

We feel incredibly lucky to have been selected as the company to serve you and your gift card needs, as they are a top priority for us. Please let us know how we can help you make the most of your gift cards, now or in the future.

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.

As we mentioned in a previous post, the Federal Reserve released new regulations regarding gift cards earlier this week.  In particular, the regulations have received a bit of press as they are more consumer-friendly.  For example, gift card issuers are now limited in their ability to charge non-use fees and the money on the card cannot be recognized as breakage revenue to an issuer until five years have passed.  Breakage, which is the ability for a retailer to recognize revenue years from now from a card not spent, has been challenged from a few directions as consumer-rights advocates and state attorneys general go after the practice.

What’s been less written about is how these changes are good for retailers, too.  We’ve spent a bit of the past year working with retailers on their gift card programs and, contrary to some views, retailers are realizing even more the value of getting dormant gift cards moving again.  The view that retailers cheer for breakage is becoming a dated one.  Retailers more than ever are working to get these cards spent as consumers become more loyal through gift cards and spend more — an average of 72% more according to a Consumer Insights Study by First Data — than the value on the card.  Best Buy’s CEO stated in a recent earnings call that their consumers spend more than 300% than the value of the card.  That “overspend” makes sense when you consider what Best Buy sells (and I have a few flat screens I’ve bought from them to prove it…).

Certainly right now retailers are looking at all marketing levers to goose their sales and gift cards are a great vehicle.  With billions of dollars currently dormant in consumers’ homes in the form of unspent gift cards, anything that taps into this idle gift card economy is a blessing to retailer sales.

So while the sentiment has been that retailers and consumers are not on the same side when it comes to breakage with gift cards, we are seeing the opposite.  Which is why the action being taken by the Fed is both good for the goose and the gander.

A very exciting day for our young company.  We closed our second round of financing, raising $7.4 million in a B round.  The whole “A round, B round” lingo is more of a start-up way of saying that you are graduating through grade school on your way to higher education.

In that vein, we’ve learned a lot about how to grow our marketplace over the past year.  Even more, we have started to work on our next series of products that we think will excite retailers and consumers alike as we tap into the estimated $30 Billion in unspent gift cards.  We think we can make this market much more efficient by getting this trapped money on a mag stripe moving back into the economy.

So, first, a welcome aboard to Redpoint Ventures, who led this round of investment.  And a thanks to Shasta Ventures, First Round Ventures, Bay Partners, Harrison Metal and a set of angel investors who got us to this point.  Even more, thanks to our consumers and to the retailers who have been encouraging, guiding and supporting us.  We’re excited for what’s next.

One thing you can be certain of at our house over the Holidays is cookies.  We have a good friend who hosts a cookie exchange every year and were surprised the first time we went that the only food at the party was cookies.  Lots of them.  I’m not saying I was disappointed; just surprised.  And in the wake of cookies everywhere at the end of December comes the annual resolution I have in early January to lose 10 pounds.   I did pretty good on that resolution for most of 2009, right up until the aforementioned cookie exchange gauntlet.

The other common resolution — along with fewer lbs — is being smarter about how you spend in the New Year.  This is even more true in the last two years.  Of course, we at Plastic Jungle have a way to help with that resolution:  Exchange your gift cards!  The dollars are pretty incredible.  The average household has about $300 in unspent gift cards somewhere in the home (we suspect the sock drawer as it’s often the place where things seem to disappear).

In 2009, we made some great progress in helping people all across the country with this “smarter spending” resolution.  At Plastic Jungle, we grew about 500% last year — when you compare January to December — and our customers really like what we’re doing for them.   As more people realize that they can get cash for their gift cards and save money when they shop with discounted gift cards, we’re finding even better ways to take care of them.  For example, we completely rebuilt our website in October and now have the capability to grow much more quickly and fulfill orders more quickly, too.  This also is creating the ability for us to offer even greater selection and savings, not to mention the most cash for your gift cards.

So, you can save money and calories by skipping past the cookie jar and heading for the sock drawer.  Exchange the gift card you don’t want and get the one you do.  Save money in the process when you go shopping; but be sure to not walk by the cookie stand at the mall.

Each year at this time people take a look back at the gift wrap that flew through the house and, hopefully, get some time to slow down in the wake of the shopping dash.

One of the most common items beneath the gift wrap is a gift card. Being in the gift card business, as we are, it’s a busy time of year.   If you were at our house, my wife likes to hide them in larger boxes and add a lot of filler to the box.  This always gets the nieces and nephews to act a bit more surprised.  My kids are completely wise to it, however, and have already made their spending plans before the gift wrap has hit the floor.

Many people do find, though, that the gift card they received may be to a store that they’re not excited about visiting.  According to a recent survey, about 1 in 3 gift card recipients state that they have a card they don’t intend to use.  I call this trapped money.  It’s on the card waiting to be spent but perhaps not by the person who currently holds it.  Every year, about $8 Billion (yes, with a ‘B’) in gift cards meet this “trapped” fate.

On Plastic Jungle, you can get cash for the card you don’t want.  You may know that already.  What you may not know is that a great way to redeem a gift card is to give it to charity – or you can donate part of its ‘cash in value’ to a nonprofit.

Even more at this time of year, it’s an opportunity to redeem the card to benefit someone who didn’t have as much gift wrap left around the tree – and redeem it in a way that gives a little bit more (in the form of warm fuzzies and a tax deduction).  As long as the remaining balance is greater than $25, you can choose from more than forty charities to support when you sell a card on Plastic Jungle.  Simply go to our ‘Sell Your Gift Cards’ form and look for a blue and green ribbon when you are completing your transaction.

What’s your favorite cause?  We’re adding more and more organizations to Plastic Jungle every month.  If you have one to recommend, please post a comment below or let us know by going here.

One of the things you think about when working at or running a company is what is it that your company does that no one else can do.  This is important for two reasons, I think. First, it provides a reason for a consumer to do business with you.  Second, it also provides a reason for employees to work with you.

So, to the question: Why we’re here. It’s actually pretty simple: We’re here to help people free up money trapped on their gift cards so that they can get cash, save when they shop or donate to a cause.

The gift card industry is pretty interesting, actually. And that’s something I certainly didn’t think I’d be saying a little more than a year and a half ago when I first got involved in Plastic Jungle. Tina Henson, our company Founder, had a friend who had a gift card with a large balance on it and she didn’t want to use it at the store it was for.  What to do?  Well, sell it to someone who wants it and create a market for people who have the same issue.

What’s unique about PJ (as we call it internally) is that we verify every transaction.  So, unlike other places where you might trade gift cards online, we make sure every card is valid before it’s sold and guarantee the transaction when the card is bought.  Trust is key to growing a market and we really like the growing part of running a business.

I used to work at eBay and one of the things we used to say about eBay was that we made inefficient markets efficient.  And that is certainly what we’re doing at PJ.  Every year, more than $80 Billion is spent on gift cards and they are given away about 95% of the time (I’ll explain the other 5% to you over a beer sometime.).  And, not surprisingly, sometimes someone gets a gift card for a store that they’re, for whatever reason, not into very much.  So, that card sits in the proverbial sock drawer and doesn’t get spent.  About 8-10% of cards meet this fate every year.  That adds up.  For retailers, most now realize that it would be a good thing to get more users in the door spending these sock-drawer-trapped gift cards.  That gets back to why we’re here:  Money trapped on a gift card.  Free that money through Plastic Jungle.

So far, we’ve been growing well and as people find out about us they seem to really like what we’re doing.  I certainly have found that once someone understands how much money they have sitting on gift cards in their sock drawer and that they can get cash for or donate that card, that person is thinking that PJ is a good idea, too.

We’re still learning about what our users want and how to make PJ better.  I don’t think that will ever stop.  A great part of growing a company is just learning more every day.  But we will remain focused on why we’re here:  Freeing up money for the benefit of our consumers and retailers.  It’s a simple idea and, from what we see so far, a great one, too.