Value-minded golfers rejoice! It just got even easier to get top-brand golf clubs and gear at outstanding values (like up to 80% off) thanks to a new partnership between leading internet golf retailer, 3balls.com and the web’s largest secured gift card exchange, Plastic Jungle.

If you haven’t already heard of 3balls.com, you should know it’s not your standard golf website. It’s more like a golf bargain-hunter’s dream for top-brand clubs, both used and new.

Any given day on 3balls website you’ll find thousands of unique, used clubs trade-ins from pro-shops around the country up for sale alongside manufacturer overstock, closeouts and “open box returns”, all selling at a fraction of their retail cost. (Of course, 3balls also has full selection of the latest “inline” products that just hit the streets, at very competitive prices.)

And now, you can get the clubs you want even more affordably by converting gift cards from dozens of different establishments into PayPal dollars instantly redeemable on 3balls.com. Integrated PayPal Express checkout makes the whole process easy and seamless.

If you’re looking to drive the ticket price down even further, 3balls can help there too, with their online club trade-in program.

All good news for golfers! Take a look at what you could exchange your gift cards for today at 3balls.com:

Top 10 Brands
TaylorMade
Ping
Callaway
Cobra
Titleist
Cleveland
Mizuno
Adams
Nike
Odyssey

Top 10 Product Types
Iron Sets
Drivers
Golf Apparel
Golf Shoes
Golf Bags
Golf Balls
Fairway Woods
Putters
Wedges
Hybrids

Perhaps this will provide you a little early inspiration for Mom (Mother’s Day is coming up May 8th) or Dad (Father’s Day is June 19th)… or maybe this is just the excuse you were looking for to get rid of your old clubs (it’s nearly time for Spring Cleaning after all) and buy some shiny new clubs to up your game.  Tell us what you think!

January 19^th, 2011 In a segment entitled, “Ask the Experts” on the CBS Early Show, consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen was confronted with a question that many are facing in the wake of the December holidays: What can I do with all the gift cards I got for Christmas from stores I don’t shop at?

Susan Koeppen, an "expert" on the CBS Early Show

Ms. Koeppen was equipped with her reply: “You can swap or sell them … and on the website Plastic Jungle.com, you can donate your gift card and get the tax break for it.”

Ms. Koeppen is right. As the web’s largest secured gift card exchange, Plastic Jungle gives consumers the choice and flexibility to convert their gift cards into other forms of spending power, including charitable donations.

Included in the options for Payout Choice on the “Sell” page on Plastic Jungle are Check, Amazon.com Gift Card, PayPal, and Donate to Charity.

Gift Cards for Good: How It Works

Plastic Jungle calls our program which siphons off those possibly uncounted gift dollars to worthy causes “Gift Cards for Good”. It’s as easy as selling or trading unused gift cards for yourself, only in the end, you’ll have a receipt for a tax-deductible donation.

To begin, enter your gift card information in our Sell Your Gift Card form. Select the Donate to Charity offer. You will go through the transaction as if you were selling or trading your card to keep, but before you confirm your transaction, look for the blue and green ribbon to make a donation and select a nonprofit to support. You may donate all or part of your card’s trade-in value.

Print the FREE shipping label, and drop your gift card in the mail. Upon receipt, we will verify your card’s balance and process your donation. You will receive an email receipt for your generous tax-deductible contribution.

Just some of the organizations Plastic Jungle works with include: The American Red Cross, Autism Speaks, DonorsChoose.org, various preschool, Parochial and private high schools and education funds across the country, the Starlight Children’s Foundation and many more.

If you’d like to get your nonprofit organization involved in accepting donations via Plastic Jungle, see below, and don’t hesitate to Contact Us.

PJ for Nonprofits: How to Begin Utilizing Donors’ Gift Cards

For nonprofits interested in fundraising with Plastic Jungle, here’s a simple overview.

Plastic Jungle offers your organization a safe and simple way to turn hidden treasure into unrestricted funding to further your mission.

With Direct Sales, nonprofits collect gift cards from individual and corporate donors, via a gift card donation drive or by asking donors to bring a gift card as the cost of entry to an event. Plastic Jungle provides a prepaid envelope for nonprofits to send the cards in, and after verification, we send you a check (for up to 92% of the value of each card*).

Donors can specify your charity as they cash in gift cards at PlasticJungle.com. These Donations can be all or part of the proceeds from the gift card sale. Plastic Jungle will forward the funds to you, along with a donation report, by the 30th of the following month, and Plastic Jungle provides the donor with a receipt for his tax-deductible gift.

With Implement PJ Payments, you can accept merchant gift cards as a donation payment option from your website and raise funds with this highly incremental source of contributions. Learn more »

If you’re a nonprofit interested in learning more about Gift Cards for Good or PJ for Nonprofits, please contact our Business Development Team.

* Plastic Jungle will purchase eligible cards from your organization at our standard purchase rates, which are available on our website.

Secondary Gift Card Economy Sees Significant Growth in 2010

Plastic Jungle Reports Exponential Surge in Holiday Business and Consumer Trends Toward Electronic Payouts

SAN JOSE, CA–(Marketwire – January 20, 2011) – New data released today reveals that as the gift card economy continues to grow, consumers are increasingly looking to buy and sell previously-issued gift cards. The data, released by Plastic Jungle, the web’s largest secured gift card exchange, shows that consumers are now using secondary gift card marketplaces more than ever to extend their purchasing power and receive extra value at their favorite merchants.

Merchant-issued — or closed loop — gift cards now represent $90 billion of the U.S. economy. An estimated $30 billion in gift cards are unredeemed at any given time. Plastic Jungle helps consumers get the most value out of gift cards by allowing them to sell unredeemed gift cards for up to 92% of the gift card value, buy gift cards at their favorite stores for savings up to 30%, or donate the value of their unused cards to their favorite cause. Plastic Jungle has also enabled users to exchange gift cards for payment value which can be used at the millions of merchants that accept PayPal and for virtual currency which can be used at thousands of online games on social networks, such as Facebook.

During the 2010 calendar year, Plastic Jungle reports that gift card value sold on the website exceeded $10 million, an increase of 5 times over 2009.

“We are pleased to see that users are beginning to fully realize the extra value potential in gift cards,” said Bruce Bower, CEO of Plastic Jungle. “This holiday season was a perfect example of the growing popularity in buying and selling gift cards, and we know we helped Plastic Jungle users stretch their holiday dollars further.” During the 2010 holiday season, Plastic Jungle saw huge upticks in traffic and delivered nearly 6 times the gift card sales volume over the same period in 2009. Additionally, registered users nearly doubled in Q4 2010.

Plastic Jungle’s innovations have also sparked an increased interest in alternative payouts, and especially in electronic payouts. Plastic Jungle’s newly launched PayPal application on the Plastic Jungle website allows customers to sell their gift cards and to have funds quickly transferred into their PayPal account. In the two weeks following the December 23 launch, nearly one third of Plastic Jungle’s payout volume was processed into users’ PayPal accounts.

“Third-party developers like Plastic Jungle have truly harnessed the possibilities for payments innovation, and we’re pleased that PayPal users are responding enthusiastically to the application on the Plastic Jungle website,” said Damon Hougland, PayPal’s senior director of PayPal X. “We look forward to seeing even more PayPal users benefit and recapture the money often left idle in their gift cards.”

During the same two week period following the PayPal application launch, Plastic Jungle users took advantage of additional electronic payout options on the website; the share of Amazon.com Gift Card payout transactions jumped by nearly 30 percent.

For the 2010 calendar year, gift cards for big-box and department stores were the most transacted. Walmart proved to be the most popular card, followed by Home Depot, Target, Macy’s and iTunes. During the 2010 holiday season, Walmart was again the most popular card, followed by Macy’s, Sears, iTunes and Home Depot. Electronic representations of gift cards — or eCodes — represented more than 20 percent of total Plastic Jungle sales during the holiday season.

Plastic Jungle improves efficiency in the merchant issued gift cards market by redistributing gift cards to their highest and best use, taking gift cards from less productive consumers and selling them to a merchant’s most enthusiastic customer set.

Read the press release on Marketwire:  Secondary Gift Card Economy Sees Significant Growth in 2010

About Plastic Jungle
Plastic Jungle (www.plasticjungle.com) is the web’s largest secured gift card exchange, giving consumers the choice and flexibility to convert their gift cards into other forms of spending power — including cash, online balances to use for purchases at the millions of merchants that accept PayPal, Facebook Credits, and more — and to stretch their shopping dollars at their favorite merchants. Plastic Jungle’s patent-pending marketplace and payment applications aim to safely unlock the estimated $30 billion in unredeemed gift cards trapped in the economy for the benefit of consumers and merchants alike. Based in San Jose, California, the company is privately held, with venture backing from Shasta Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Jafco Ventures, First Round Capital, Bay Partners, Harrison Metal and Western Technology Investment.

Wow! Plastic Jungle is experiencing a huge surge in post-holiday gift card exchanges. Clearly our service is becoming the prime choice among gift card exchange sites, and we are truly grateful to you for for that.

As Bruce (our CEO) mentioned in his last post, we’re experiencing a few growing pains.  Please rest assured, our customer service team is working overtime getting gift cards received, verified, and delivered. Above all, you can feel confident that our gift card exchange service is secure, and your transaction is guaranteed.

In case it’s helpful, we thought we’d share an outline of the selling process:

Once you’ve decided to sell your gift card, go to Plastic Jungle’s home page. Then go ahead and click on the “Sell Now” button.

Let’s say you’ve double-checked the balance amount on the card, and you’ve entered the information into the offer calculator. Now, to sell it, you’re offered a few different options for our payout.

1. Amazon.com Gift Card: If you select this option, we pay out 5% more than the Cash/PayPal offer, and we will send you an Amazon.com Gift Card claim code via email within two business days after your gift card arrives at our processing center in CO.

2. Instant Payout via PayPal: For select brands, we offer immediate payout into your PayPal account (and your gift card can have as little as $10 remaining on it).  No need to mail in your gift card.  No waiting for payment.  If your gift card isn’t on this list yet, you can still choose to receive funds into your PayPal account.  We will deposit your payout within two business days after your gift card arrives at our processing center in CO.

3. Cash via Paper Check: If you select this option, we will mail you a check within two business days after your gift card arrives at our processing center in CO.

Once you’ve made your selection, use the free postage label we provide you to mail in your gift card for verification. Remember, we can’t verify your card and send you your payment until we receive it in the mail. Send in that card right away! (Note, as we said above, this does not apply to the Instant Payout option.)

This graphic shows the timing you can expect:

What do I do if something goes wrong?

Yikes! Perhaps you’ve been waiting on your exchange check for seven days…

Well, you’ve got to consider that it takes the post office a few days to get your card to us, and then we take two business days to verify it and process your payout. So once the card leaves your hands, you need to take this time into account.

Still if you’ve got questions, or you’re in doubt, we’re here to help you. Feel free to contact us using our quick online form.

As well, you can consult the Plastic Jungle Guarantee to learn more about the protections we provide.

Perhaps you’ve read the articles: more and more people aren’t bothering to re-gift or even tuck their unwanted gift cards into their wallet this year. They are selling or exchanging them for cash or credits as soon as possible. Why? It’s a good cure for a holiday shopping hangover.

With all the focus on consumer spending this last holiday season, everyone from local TV news (KTRK-TV an ABC affiliate in Houston, TX) to savvy Internet news sites (CNNMoney.com) is reporting on the gift card trend. With so many cards flying around, it could mean that even when people are given a gift card to a store they love, it may very well be that they can’t use it. Let me tell you why:

1)      Fund allocation. Times are tight, and while a $50 gift card for iTunes is much appreciated, the exchange value (especially here on Plastic Jungle) is worth so much more in calm nerves and a paid PG&E bill.

2)      Time allocation. Macaroni Grill might be your family’s favorite restaurant, but getting everyone together to enjoy it is like herding cats. By turning in the card and purchasing a discounted card to the local grocery store, everyone gets the dinner they want at 5 pm, 7 pm and 9 pm, or as they run in and out of the kitchen.

3)      Suffering from Holiday Shopping Hangover. They just purchased the items they were dying to get or couldn’t possibly think of heading to the mall for another four months. Um, yes, it’s true: we tend to shop for ourselves during the holidays. Maybe the necklace they wanted at Macy’s was on fire sale and they couldn’t resist; maybe it was very convenient to get the Kenmore appliance at Sears last month; the Sony laptop and all accessories were begging for purchase at Best Buy while they were at the store picking up Best Buy Gift Cards for all their neighbors. Suddenly, the $100 Macy’s Gift Card looks like it might not see the light of day until another dress situation comes up, and it would be better just to cash it in, load their PayPal account, and pay a bill.

So if you’re on the Plastic Jungle site and wondering, “Who would give up that credit at Victoria’s Secret – especially NOW when they’re having a huge SALE?” (and yes, the sale goes through 11:59 pm EST on January 23, 2011).

Here on Plastic Jungle you can rest assured that your gift card purchase is always safe, and there will be no gift card maintenance fees or expirations dates to worry about.  Further, when you sell or exchange gift cards on Plastic Jungle, it’s a guaranteed transaction with no fees or even shipping to pay.

So pick up that Victoria’s Secret gift card: go ahead and calculate the added savings on top of the up-to-50% off you’ll get at Victoria’s Secret. [At time of writing, Plastic Jungle has a fat selection Victoria’s Secret Gift Cards and eCODES (electronic gift cards) on sale at a 10% discount off face value. When you combine a discounted gift card + Victoria’s Secret sale savings, you could save up to 60% on merchandise today.]

What’s your reason for selling or exchanging your gift cards? We’d love to hear your story.

Finally, the Northeast has begun to dig out from the blizzard that dumped three feet of snow on everything, creating Currier & Ives winter scenes. This is just in time as the holiday season still has one banner event to keep us entranced: the arrival of the New Year, 2011.

Here comes 2011, and media all over the place is buzzing about how much we’ve come to rely on the ease of giving and using gift cards. Apparently, over 41% of consumers use gift cards (according to Internet Retailer). No doubt there’s a good chance you’ve given and received more than one gift card in the past few weeks.

It’s December 29^th. Do you know where your gift cards are?

Is this your house, too?

The infographic points out a few places, but misses the places I’m always finding gift cards: the second old wallet… the “girl’s brunch and shopping” purse… the jacket which should have been advertised as “wool coat with 100 hidden pockets”. So I believe it: The average American household has $300 of unused gift cards hiding around the house.

So now, while you’re developing your list of New Year’s Resolutions, think about that resolution to “save more” and all that unused money. When you do scare up those cards, you might wait and see if you’ll take advantage of them, buy why not swap them out? As the web’s largest secured gift card exchange, Plastic Jungle has made the news a few times recently, including CNNMoney.com and CBS Moneywatch.

In 2011, December’s holiday and vacation bills will show up. And you’ll have all those unused cards in your hands. It might be tempting to wait and see if you’ll use them. Take on that resolution to save more, be more careful with your money, and your time, and then come back to see us at Plastic Jungle.

If life is crazy for you on a regular day, then I’ll bet it’s doubly crazy with holiday madness, when schedules are pushed to the limit. Make no mistake: when you’re in a rush, online holiday shopping is efficient, safe and secure shopping, and with an eCODE from Plastic Jungle, you’ll also save money.

Did you know that gift cards are available in an electronic format? An eCODE is an electronic gift card, aka e-gift cards, e-gift codes, or e-certificate: this is the code you enter at a merchant’s online checkout page as a method of payment. It’s not a “promo” or promotion code that gives you a percentage off, or free shipping: an eCODE is actual tender.

So, when you combine the discounted eCODE with a store’s coupon code or promo code, or even a free shipping offer, you can really stack up the holiday savings.

You can buy a discounted electronic gift card, or eCODE, on Plastic Jungle and have the eCODE ready for payment at the specified merchant in a matter of minutes. When you purchase an eCODE, with the Plastic Jungle discount, the eCODE is sent to the email address you registered with. To gift the eCODE, just forward the Plastic Jungle eCODE to your recipient.

Right now on Plastic Jungle, you’ll find iTunes gift cards available as an eCODE*, so you can buy the gift card for less than face value, and use the full face value for online iTunes purchases right away. Barnes & Noble gift cards are available as an eCODE right now too – for online purchases only.

Inside Scoop:  There will be quite a few Zappos gift cards on PlasticJungle.com starting this weekend!

So instead of running from store to store, checking stock and searching for the best deal, smart holiday shoppers are easily finding their holiday deals online. Plastic Jungle definitely wants you to know that with eCODEs, we’re happy to help you with that.

*Remember, gift card and eCODE offerings on Plastic Jungle change all the time. Check back frequently, or sign up for email notifications, for offers from the store of your choice.

Fox Business News’s Liz Claman wondered: What do you do when you get a gift card you don’t necessarily want?

On her segment “Off the Rack/Off the Hook” Liz took a look at the “Gift Card Fix” offered by Plastic Jungle in light of the endless getting and gifting this holiday season.

Liz quoted the statistic that about 13% of gift cards go unused, leaving people wondering what to do with the card in their wallet.

“If you’re holding on to a gift card you don’t want anymore, Bruce Bower has the ultimate solution.” That would be Bruce Bower, CEO of Plastic Jungle, who had plenty to say about gift card exchange, and finding the right owner for each gift card.

“You’ve created this place, the land for misfit gift cards, haven’t you.” Bruce agreed it was a fitting analogy, in that what Plastic Jungle does is get the right card into the hands of the person who wants it most, in an easy transaction, in a secure environment, with plenty of options.

Bruce went on to explain that Plastic Jungle also offers an Amazon.com Gift Card or Facebook credits in exchange for gift card redemption, or that Plastic Jungle could even make payment into a PayPal account.

“About $30 million in gift cards goes unused each year. Plastic Jungle aims to make gift card exchange services that are quicker, more convenient, more consumer-friendly and provide more choice for a consumer who wants to exchange their card,” said Bruce.

Gift Card Deals from Their Favorite Stores Save You Hassle, Make Teachers Happy

Most schools let out this Friday: scrambling for a gift to get to your child’s teacher in time might be a stress-point. Browsing through Plastic Jungle will get you on your way, and at less than retail price.

Any parent will tell you that finding the right balance between meaningful teacher gifts (something written or created by your child specifically for the teacher) and thoughtful teacher gifts (straight-on cash for poorly paid teachers) is an annual quandary.

Teachers love gift cards – they don’t require watering, or display, or even add empty calories to their diet. Here are some ideas from GiftCardGirlfriend.com.

Plastic Jungle saves parents the hassle of even perusing the gift card mall at the grocery store. Right here is an aggregate of top-brand gift cards that run the gamut from Starbucks to Bath & Body Works to Walmart to Sony Style, and iTunes retail and online stores*. With an eCode, or an online gift card, you can shop as late as Thursday night, and get your teacher’s gift in by Friday. Plus, these are discounted gift cards, sent to you with free shipping, offering a price break without any hassle. (Sometimes, when you get a gift card directly from a retail outlet online, you have to pay for shipping… actually adding cost!)

One idea for presentation is to have your child make a card, and include a slot for the gift card, or a print-out of the code. You could even do a collage with items you have in mind for the teacher, or a list of songs you think the teacher might like to download.

You’ve got to save time. You’ve got to save money. And, you have to say “Thanks so much!” Plastic Jungle offers parents, and anyone gift giving this holiday season, just that.

*Remember, gift card offerings on Plastic Jungle change all the time. Check back frequently, or sign up for email notifications, for offers from the store of your choice.

For those in the know, Plastic Jungle is a prime deal machine for holiday savings.

On this morning’s Today Show, Yahoo!’s Web Life Editor, Heather Cabot, spoke with Today Show personality Natalie Morales for Today’s Tech on Digital Deal Hunting, and of course, Plastic Jungle made news.

“Gift cards: don’t pay full price!” said Heather. When Natalie was in disbelief, Heather Cabot went on: “It’s a new trend. Sites buy gift cards, validate their authenticity, then re-sell the cards at a discount. Plastic Jungle is one.”

She went on to make the point that desirable gift cards sell out on sites like Plastic Jungle fairly quickly, and that there’s a huge advantage to signing up for email alerts for your favorite retailer’s gift card offers. “You can buy a $50 gift card from Macy’s for $44. The one thing about this is that the gift cards run out really quickly. So what you want to do is go to one of these sites and actually sign up for email alerts and put in your wish list. They’ll send you an e-mail when they get those new gift cards in.”

Additional Dealmaking

Heather spoke about making lists, comparison shopping and using coupon aggregators, such as Shopping.Yahoo.com, FatWallet.com, PriceGrabber.com, and RetailMeNot.com.

Another hot savings tip: If you’re looking for a free shipping coupon, go to FreeShippingDay.com to see if your preferred retailer has a free shipping offer on the web. Free Shipping Day 2010 is Friday, December 17, when more than 1,000 participating merchants will offer free shipping with delivery by Christmas Eve in the continental United States, including those with current gift cards on offer from Plastic Jungle, such as Macy’s, Brookstone, Lands’ End, Bath & Body Works, and more.

“Really, the last day you’ll be able to take advantage of free shipping is midnight on December 18^th,” Heather said.

Good to know, and even better to save! Thanks Heather Cabot!