Gift Cards You Loved in August – Guess Who’s #1?

After three consecutive months at spot #4, Target took first place finish in revenue as Plastic Jungle’s best-selling discounted gift card in August 2011.

Before we get to the usual suspects on the list, let’s talk about some honorary mentions.

Pottery Barn had a strong showing at #11 and was THIS CLOSE to making the Top Ten. And if the list were based on quantity instead of revenue, BP & Arco and Shell would have made the cut. (Everyone needs gas, right!?)

Get a Pottery Barn discounted gift card today at 10% off. As of press time, less than 20 cards are available, so stock up now while supplies last.

Gift cards to our gas merchants get snatched up as quickly as the changing fuel prices. While we don’t have any BP & Arco or Shell cards currently in stock, you can always sign up for email notifications and we’ll let you know when more become available.

Here’s the complete list of the top sellers in August 2011:

#1 Target – 3% off!

#2 Home Depot – 7% off!

#3 Lowe’s – 7% off!

#4 Walmart – 2% off!

#5 Best  Buy – 5% off!

#6 Kohl’s – 16% off!

#7 Macy’s – 7% off!

#8 JCPenney – 14% off!

#9 Abercrombie  & Fitch – no cards currently available, but click here to get notified when we more come in stock.

#10 Sears – 8% off!

With the holiday season approaching, it will be interesting to see who stays on the list and who makes their debut. Any predictions for September?

What were we buying in July? Plastic Jungle’s top 10 list is here!

While there weren’t any big retail holidays last month (does National Ice Cream Month count?!), the warm summer weather likely drove shoppers outside, strolling stores and buying items for fun summer activities.

Many of the usual favorite gift cards made their appearance on the top 10 list, including Lowe’s and Home Depot. July was a great time to work on landscaping and outdoor projects, so no doubt our Junglers took advantage of discounted gift cards to these home improvement giants.

It’s no surprise that Walmart and Target made the cut as well, since both super centers offer thousands of products at exceptionally low prices. And as one-stop shops, we can buy everything from camping supplies to pool toys to clothes for the whole family in just one place.

One merchant that made its debut on the list was Abercrombie & Fitch. Known for their casual clothing designed for the modern collegiate lifestyle, students ditched their school books for new cool summer duds.

Here’s the complete list:

#10 Sears – currently offered at 9% off!

#9 Abercrombie & Fitch - currently offered at 9% off!

#8 JC Penney - currently offered at 14% off!

#7 Kohl’s - currently offered at 16% off!

#6 Macy’s - none are available right now, but sign up for our Notification Alert and we’ll let you know when more pop up!

#5 Best Buy – currently offered at 5% off!

#4 Target - currently offered at 3% off!

#3 Walmart - none are available right now, but sign up for our Notification Alert and we’ll let you know when more pop up!

#2 Home Depot – currently offered at 7% off!

#1 Lowe’s – currently offered at 7% off!

Have any unused gift cards you’d like to sell to get one of these favorites instead? Plastic Jungle will buy your unused gift cards for up to 92% of their value!

With summer closing in and fall around the corner, what gift cards are you buying right now? Which of your favorites do you think will make the August list?

Mark your calendars, set your DVR’s and whatever you do, stay out of the water – the 24^th annual Shark Week airs on the Discovery Channel starting July 31 at 9pm e/p.

The week-long series features television programs dedicated solely to the sea’s biggest predators, with shows like 10 Deadliest Sharks, Great White Invasion and Rogue Sharks. In addition to thrilling and chilling, Shark Week was also invented to help the average landlubber have a greater respect for these swimming beasts.

Saturday Night Live cast member Andy Samberg will host the series and has been given the coveted title of the first-ever Chief Shark Officer (CSO). He will film on-air wraps, host a Shark Week special and may even don a wetsuit to go nose-to-nose with the jawesome fish.

More than just killing machines, check out these fin-tastic facts about sharks:

• There are about 350 different types of sharks
• The dwarf shark is as small as your hand, while the whale shark can be as large as a school bus
• Sharks have been around for more the 300 million years
• More people are killed by bee stings than shark attacks
• A Mako shark can swim up to 60 miles per hour
• A shark may go through 1000 sets of teeth in its lifetime
• Big meals can last in a shark’s stomach for 3 months
• A tiger shark can have up to 40 babies at a time
• A shark does not have one bone in its body; its skeleton is made up of cartilage
• Weird stuff has been found inside shark’s bellies, including drums, a six-pound cannonball, the remains of a polar bear, bottles of wine and a complete copy of the New York Times.

Ever wondered what you’d look like as a shark? You can Shark Yourself by uploading a photo and adding shark eyes, mouths, fins and skins. Here’s yours truly. What do YOU look like?

The Discovery Channel Store has great selection of shark merchandise, including this nifty shark hoodie. I bought one for my son and he gets a kick out of folding his arms and giving his friends a friendly chomp. Buy a discounted Discovery Channel Store gift card from Plastic Jungle then get an additional 10% savings when you sign up for The Discovery Channel Store email alerts.

Need an upgraded television to view the action in high-definition or on a bigger screen? Check out Plastic Jungle’s discounted gift cards to Best Buy, Sears and RC Willey.

Does all this talk about sharks make you hungry for seafood? Swim over to Red Lobster, McCormick & Schmick’s and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and don’t forget to pack Plastic Jungle’s discounted gift cards in your life vest.

Buy discounted gift cards from Plastic Jungle and take a bite out of full prices.

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.

Sears is a great gift card to have. The name Sears stands for all things American and solid. If you have a Sears gift card and are wondering how to check the balance, below are all the different ways:

PHONE: 1-888-332-2218

ONLINE: Check Yours Sears Gift Card Balance

IN-STORE: Sears Store Locator

Once you have the balance, you could sell your Sears Gift Card to Plastic Jungle. We are currently paying out at 80%* of the balance, or you could trade your Sears gift card for an Amazon.com Gift Card and get even more!

We don’t currently have any Sears gift cards for sale, but we definitely will soon. Be sure to set your alert on your Plastic Jungle account so that you can be notified when we do.

*Always check current rates on site.