Can't Decide? Buy an eBay Gift Certificate for Any Occasion
Give the gift of shopping in one of the world's largest virtual shopping malls.
There's no denying that eBay is one of the world's largest virtual shopping malls. You can spend days -- weeks even -- browsing through its items in auctions and stores. So how do you keep yourself from getting lost in the book aisle or stuck drooling in the car showroom, when you're simply looking for a gift?
eBay is easy to navigate if you know exactly what you're looking for. You can search for an item in current auctions, on the virtual shelves in virtual stores, or from international sellers. It gets much harder when you have only the glimmer of a gift idea, but no time to scroll through 192 listings for Vince Lombardi memorabilia or five pages of lighthouse décor to find the perfect present.
The Key to the Kingdom
Save yourself a lot of time and buy an eBay gift certificate or gift card. Let the recipient ogle the oddities in the "Everything Else" category, especially all that strange stuff in the aptly named "Weird Stuff" subcategory (heart-shaped potato anyone?). Let them pick their gift from, literally, millions of choices.
You buy eBay gift certificates and gift cards online, or at supermarkets where they're displayed with the rest of the gift cards you buy and activate at the register. If you buy them online, you can choose to have them delivered via email or you can print them out and give them personally. While the store-bought cards have preset amounts, cards purchased online can have any value ranging from $5-$500.
If you opt to purchase the eBay gift card online and have it mailed (not e-mail, but snail mail) to the recipient, there is a $1.95 shipping and handling charge. Or you can personalize the card with a photo or image that you supply and send it along with one of six cards for $4.50, including shipping.
eBay requires that anybody redeeming a gift certificate or card has to have a Paypal account, for what they deem "security reasons." eBay gift cards and certificates are for items whose sellers accept Paypal payment, but that shouldn't be a problem as eBay has recently cracked down on sellers who were accepting cash and personal checks. The result is that most eBay sellers readily accept Paypal, and therefore the eBay gift card.
So the next time you're unsure what to get as a gift, and don't want to give cash, buy an eBay gift card or certificate and watch their eyes light up.