#these are the massively discounted resells they retail at like 500!!

[shopcat]

one of these is not what i searched for

[gothify1]

Which clothing and accessory resale sites are the best? Which are the easiest to use? And which carry the rarest hidden gems when it comes to online consignment? We’ve outlined all the details below on the buzziest and coolest resale sites of the moment. And beyond the nitty-gritty details, we’ve also included each’s X factor—you know, the special quality that makes it stand above the rest, e.g., a VIP concierge service, a killer return policy, or a stand-alone store that brings the resale experience to life. Read on for the best resale sites you need to know about; then start rethinking how you stock your closet. The site/app: Rebag The gist: While you may be familiar with Rebagg, started in 2015, Rebag is the site’s relaunch with a new name and a refreshed commitment to changing the way people shop for the most valuable items in their closet. “ Our goal is to be the authority on luxury handbags and ensure every bag you own is a bag you love,” founder Charles Gorra tells us. “We want passionate bagaholics to instinctively embrace Rebag’s sustainable cycle of endless luxury.” Hottest brands: Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermès, and Céline are big hits, but brands including Mansur Gavriel and YSL have recently increased in popularity, according to Gorra. Must-know info for sellers: Gorra recommends consulting Rebag’s list of brands before submitting any products to sell. “Our experts will make an offer on your handbag based on the pictures submitted. We recommend taking detailed photos in good lighting so that we can accurately recognize and price the bags. It’s always better to add notes regarding any apparent wear or damage.” Gorra says honesty and transparency go a long way in this process so that the best price can be determined. Once the price offer is communicated to the seller and accepted, the seller can receive payment in less than a day. Must-know info for buyers: Shoppers can expect a range of different discounts, Gorra tells us: “ Most items are at deep discounts, quite often around 40% to 70% off their original retail price.” However, Rebag is not just about finding handbags from decades prior. “Many bags we sell are from the current season at a fraction of the retail price—and look as good as new,” he says. The X factor: Besides becoming a destination to find this season’s It bag for less than retail price, Rebag has streamlined the process of buying and selling gently loved luxury handbags by simplifying the peer-to-peer sale process. Plus, for those in larger cities, the brand also opened new concept stores  so customers can experience the site in an IRL setting. The site/app: The RealReal The gist: W hen it comes to hassle-free consignment stores and flash-sale sites, The RealReal offers the best of both worlds. You can shop or sell preowned clothing, handbags, shoes, and fine jewelry via daily-curated designer sales. The hottest brands: Chanel, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Cartier. Heritage brands or classic timeless pieces like Van Cleef, Cartier, and Chanel flap bags are often in demand, as well as all Hermès handbags (particularly Birkins and Kellys), according to a representative at The RealReal. Must-know info for sellers: The first step is to register online and ship items directly to The RealReal’s headquarters for authentication. All products go through rigorous inspection from brand and category experts, gemologists, and horologists who sign off on products before adding to the site. If you’re not up for shipping your items, there are many offices in the U.S. for dropping off your pieces in person. Must-know info f or buyers: Sign up online for free to begin shopping designer sales right away from products at a range of different discounts. A First Look Membership is $10 per month and gives shoppers access to sales 24 hours in advance. The X factor: Besides a very hands-on and closely monitored process, The RealReal claims to have the “ largest selection of pre-owned authenticated luxury items.” The site: Vestiaire Collective The gist: With fans ranging from editors to It girls, Vestiaire has been a go-to resale destination since its launch in 2009. According to the site, approximately 30,000 new items are added to its offerings every week. The site’s North America’s president, Kari Albert, also tells us the site has become a worldwide destination for buying and selling vintage and designer clothing and accessories. “Women in Charlotte, North Carolina, can shop the closets of women in Milan and Paris!” she explains. “We are truly a global fashion community.” Hottest brands: Chanel, Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Céline, and Gucci. “We can’t stock enough,” says Albert. Must-know info for sellers: According to Albert, selling on the site can be as easy as snapping a few flattering photos of your items. And if you have any trouble figuring out an appropriate price, simply refer to the site’s Resale Calculator . Not in the mood to take photos at all? You can check in with the concierge service to see if you can have your items picked up at your home. Must-know info for buyers: While major name brands are the hottest tickets on the site, Vestiaire has a rich range of offerings, with new products added every day. Albert says that discounts range “from 40% to 70%+ off of the original selling price.” Keep in mind that the hardest-to-find items are an exception: “There are times when rare and special luxury items sell for more than the original selling price. For example, Hermès Birkin bags have increased in value 500% over the past 35 years! ” Plus, for your safety, the site authenticates all of its items and works with handbag, watch, and fine jewelry specialists to ensure everything is legitimate. The X factor: Not only does Vestiaire have some very fashionable fans, but it also counts some of the coolest women in fashion as guest curators. The site/app: Tradesy The gist: Simply sign up with your email, and start browsing Tradesy’s massive offerings that range from Gucci to Zara. Items come listed at up to 90% off retail, and unlike some other resale experiences, returns are accepted and handled by Tradesy, making the process a bit less stressful for shoppers and sellers alike. Hottest brands: Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci, Christian Louboutin, and Tory Burch. Must-know info for sellers: On Tradesy, sellers are able to set their own prices, but it’s essential to be honest and provide at least three images of the product that speaks to its condition. A flat commission fee of $7.50 is applied to every item sold up to $50; after that, a 19.8% commission will be applied. Must-know info for buyers: While buyers will have to decide whether or not to accept a seller’s price, Tradesy tells us that the site does run additional promotions to receive extra discounts off listed items. Furthermore, all products are 100% authenticated, and if the item you purchase isn’t what you expected, you can return it to Tradesy for a refund. The X factor: Tradesy’s offerings include truly rare designer collectibles. The site/app: Poshmark The gist: This site puts the power in the sellers’ hands by allowing them to curate their closet of items they’d like to resell, upload their own photos, set their own prices, and accept their own negotiated offers. Buyers also have endless options when it comes to perusing preloved pieces—both luxury and everyday—though an easy-to-use app. Hottest brands: Nike , Lululemon , Michael Kors , Kate Spade New York , J.Crew, and Tory Burch Must-know info for sellers: Download the app, and start taking your images. Poshmark tells us that a cover image for your product is important for a listing. Also keep in mind that shoppers need to provide a product description for their listing and, in order to promote sales, share their listings with their followers and to the Poshmark community at large. Once a sale is made, Poshmark will send you a prepaid label to easily ship out your item, and payment will be transferred to your account once the purchase is received by a buyer. Must-know info for buyers: Poshmark truly runs the gamut from fast fashion to quality luxury items to sold-out gems that are practically impossible to find elsewhere. And for those who are a fan of the haggle, shoppers can make offers to sellers for a better price. Of course, it’s up to the seller if they want to accept. The X factor: It’s really the social element of Poshmark that sets it apart from other resale sites. “ Poshmark is a social platform by nature, and being successful on the app means being social, too, by engaging with other Poshers through likes, comments, and shares, just like any social network such as Instagram,” the brand told us in a statement. One of the unique ways the site taps into this community is through Posh Parties, which happen regularly and come with a designated theme, such as “Wardrobe Goals Party” or “Best in Jeans Party.” Next, check out the rare designer bags that are selling out on resale websites . Opening Image: Style du Monde This post was published at an earlier date and has since been updated.

[icodogio]

How the VC Cartel is destroying ICOs (Episode 1)

How did we get here?

Remember the time when people did not race each other to  dump tokens first day of listing? Exchanges nowadays look more like a Black Friday Market, everybody ready to kill each other, out of fear getting dump on. Its a phenomena of 2018.

There are many reasons for this behavior in the market. One of them is obviously the crypto recession of over 70% since January, however I would make the argument that there is a deeper roots to this problem. ICOs have outperformed the market by a long shot, most of the now proclaimed shitcoins lost 95% of their value leaving a lot of ICO Investors with heavy bags.

Before pointing fingers at people and call out Bullshit, lets first take a look at what potentially can give ICOs value and what can cause them to dump.

  The three Pillars of ICOs

ICO investing is sadly all about speculation, and there are some indications that investors can use to help them decide between one project and another. Every infuencer has a different weighting system but most if not all follow the same model:

Team Experience in Relative Field

Type of Project (Potential Market Value)

Token Metrics (Company Evaluation)  

  Most investors would argue that the strength of the Team is the best indication of a projects success although I would argue otherwise, but everybody can have their opinions.

The next is the type of project, people kind of realized not to invest in Dapps because its much too early and the potential market size is not that great. So the only projects that still get funding are infrastructure or crosschain projects with large backing of exchanges and famous funds/VCs.

Last but not least the Metrics. Token Metrics are more important than anything else and they are what makes ICOs fundamentally different to traditional stocks. With equity there is a number of shares and you can buy a certain amount for a certain price. To provide additional clairtiy to investors projects that want to sell securities to investors need to publish something called a prospectus. 

A Prospectus is a formal legal document that is required by and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that provides details about an investment offering for sale to the public. The reason that this document is required is because before we had something call the Securities act of 1933 a lot of shady shit was going on. 

Exchanges, large funds abused their power to misguided mom and pa Investors. In easy terms the prospectus is issued to give a degree of transparency in the projects expenses to determine if it is operating efficiently enough for the investor’s taste.

Ok now lets look at how ICOs changed from 2017 and 2018.

  The 4 stages of ICOs

Phase 1:

So back in 2017 a lot of things were different. It was still a great time when you could have breakfast watch some reviews go to the ICON ICO website, whitelist wait for the countdown to end put a few 100 of 1000s bucks inside, no VCs, no pools, no stress. I miss those times. 

There were much fewer investors that cared about ICOs enough to realized the potential of some of these things. Especially large funds and venture capitals did not know about the potential gains of ICOs. There were always a handful of respected VCs in the Blockchain startup space, but the real VCs crave only started in flooding in only around February of 2018. 

ICO investing was fun, if you were good at it you could have become a multi millionaire quite easily, 10x returns were the norm and 100x ROIs happened several time a month. 

Phase 2:

After the start of the downtrend in January, EVERYBODY stared to flood into the ICOs space, people that  missed out on Bashillas 100x projects all had the Gold rush. It became harder and harder to get into good projects and some point it was almost impossible to make it into the public sale of a top 10 ICO. It was emergence of the presale pools. Everybody was high on the gold rush. Millions were lost in scammy pools or just sent to scammers in the telegram channels. It was the wild west of ICOs. ICOs started to decrease their public sale allocation and increased their private sale deals. Together with the pools, venture capitals started to flood ICOs.

I remember reading this early this year which got my super existed:

Today, I want to talk to you about a startling similarity that I’m seeing in the cryptocurrency market and the technology market of 1994 to 1995.

  Now, what was interesting about 1994 to 1995 was that, even though the market was acting as if the opportunity in tech was over—very similar to the way this market is acting right now—what was interesting is that while stocks were going down, private investment and venture capital (VC) dollars were going up and they were going up a lot.

So, between 1994 and 1995, the whole Nasdaq got crushed. Companies like Oracle dropped like 50–60%; it was a blood bath. But you saw this huge increase in VC money coming into the market, like 30%. And $8 billion back in ’95 was a lot of money.

  Generally speaking, VC money is very, very clever money, so normally when you see a market collapse, VCs run for the hills. But just like in ’94 and ’95—when the market did collapse and it was a horrible sell-off—we’re actually seeing VC money increase. So right now, VCs are on track to do 900 deals this year in the space, and last year, they did less than 300.

The pace of deal-making and the pace of money coming into the market is actually increasing, and it’s improving. That is an incredibly bullish sign for the long-term value of the market, because again, once you got through this 1995-kind of debacle, you just had this massive bull market take place.

Ico investing started to become more difficult most project would go below ICO, but if you were good at picking the right ones you still had a decent chance at getting at least 500% returns days after their first exchange listing.

  Phase 3

After a rough year in 2018 most ICO investors lost faith in the system. Its August of 2018, two of the most anticipated ICOs Atonomi and One ledger hit the exchanges and lose 70% of value. The last bit of hope that investors had got destroyed. This was the beginning of phase 3 of ICOs. All ICOs dump hard on exchanges, not even the best projects have any chance of making any returns for their investors, well at least most of the investors. 

ICO investing became pointless. Most investors lost most if not all of their funds. Although investors became more educated and careful in their investment choices the returns were just as bad as getting into a scams. 

  So what the hell is going on? 

Lack of Liquidity:

There are several reasons for this steep decline. One of the leading forces was the lack of liquidity in the market. ICOs did extremely well because there were always traders around that were willing to trade the coin or token post exchange listing. Traders cant be bothered with ICO investing. They prefer to trader the news, new listings and progress. No traders meant no profits. On top of that many investors that used to be traders became ICO investors themselves, increasing the hardcaps and decreasing the buying pressure on the exchanges.

Too many shitty Projects:

In 2017 fewer projects listed on exchanges. There was simple less choice were to put your money into. So more choice with less liquidity is a bad combination. A lot of ICO investors became bag holders of bad projects and left the space.

  Massive Discounts and lack of Transparency:

Now this is the one that everybody wants to hear about. Something interesting happened in 2018. They reduced their public sale allocation and increased their private sale allocation. Many ICOs thought its more beneficial to sell to a few large contributors than to decentralize their funding. Although it does defeated the purpose of building a Decentralized Application and an ICO to that matter, most projects preferred this method of fund raising.  

Venture Capitals flooded the space and started taking over most if not all of the Hardcaps for projects. Leaving retail investors with nothing more than a Airdrop for promotional purposes. The only way retail investors had a chance to get a piece of the cake was by joining a pool and hanging themselves to VC allocations, often sold for large premiums up to 200%. 

VCs realized a lot of profits could be made in reselling allocations without any risks, the pool business was born. Millions were resold, resulting in often 5 intermediaries between the ICO and the investor. It was a mess.  

Venture Capitals have been in the business of making money and a lot of money was to be made in the ICO industry. Many realized that they could demand ridiculous discounts and lockups from projects and they usually would get it. As there are no clear guideline or regulations for ICOs, projects did not have to disclose any information to the public. The VC & Exchange Cartel would then continue to hype the project to investors until the project listing. Once on exchange VC & Funds would dump their tokens that they bought 10 times cheaper than the price on the exchanges on unknowing investors.

This was the beginning of Phase 4:

The Manufactured PUMP & DUMPS, being in the business of raising funds, instead of being in the business of building business.

  Next Episode we will go through some manufactured PUMP & DUMP ICOs in detail, outline some of the “Bad Players” in the space and explain why it was something like this had to happen eventually. 

  If you liked this article please share it on social media or join the discussion on our Telegram channel. 

        The post How the VC Cartel is destroying ICOs (Episode 1) appeared first on ICODOG.

source https://icodog.io/news/how-the-vc-cartel-is-destroying-icos-episode-1/

[sammieongames-blog]

An analysis of the unusual funds raised for the "Upstart" Kickstarter project.

A PR company known as the "Woodshed Agency" recently made a post that crossed my news feed: https://medium.com/@jeff_52578/how-a-failed-kickstarter-campaign-told-the-world-half-the-story-and-painted-us-as-crowdfunding-b0582fd11f93 It tells the story of how a campaign that they helped promote had some suspicious pledges in the final 48 hours. The campaign was the "Upstart" board game, run by a company known as "D-cal." This is D-cal's response: http://d-cal.com/2017/12/20/how-a-pr-agency-stole-our-kickstarter-money/ For reference, here is a link to their campaign page. I'll be referring to it throughout this post. http://kickstarter.com/projects/rdacalos/upstart-the-board-game/ Firstly, it seems like the obvious solution is for D-cal to fulfill their commitment to the backers and provide proof of such to Woodshed. Based on Woodshed's blog post, that seems to be the only thing necessary for them to release the funds. How did I come to hear about this? Well, Woodshed's blog post appeared on my news feed. (Thanks, Google.) I took a look at the Upstart project because the incredible funding in the last 48 hours is, well, incredible. For reference, here's the Kicktraq for Rabbit Island, a game I designed that was successful on Kickstarter. https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/playihg/rabbit-island-explore-build-conquer-0/#chart-daily I'll focus on the last 48 hours. While there's an uptick in pledges in the last 48 hours for *any* project, it's usually by people who have been watching the project, and it's approximately the same amount of pledge value as you'll see in the first 48 hours. Now, I'll take a look at the Kicktraq for the Upstart project: https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/rdacalos/upstart-the-board-game/#chart-daily Immediately something looks fishy. D-cal raised 10x the expected amount in the last 48 hours. While rare, it's certainly not unheard of to get a massive popularity flood by someone notable plugging your project. A call to action can definitely spike a project to success. But that's where things start to break down. To emphasize how unusual this is, here's one more comparison, this time focusing on the number of backers: Rabbit Island had 183 backers in the last 48 hours, raising about $6,700. That's approximately $36 raised per backer. (For reference, Rabbit Island was priced at $36 on the campaign page.) Upstart had 33 backers in the last 48 hours, raising about $19,500. That's approximately $590(!) per backer. (Upstart was priced at $68 on the campaign page.) Okay, so let's take a look at the weirdest-case scenario where those 33 backers all snatched up the 33 largest rewards: 4 backers @ $1,500 = $6,000 3 backers @ $750 = $2,250 9 backers @ $128 = $1,152 11 backers @ $90 = $990 6 backers @ $68 = $408 That equals $10,800. I'm not the best at math, but that doesn't account for the extra $8,700 pledged. That's an unprecedented amount to simply donate to a struggling campaign without anything in return. In D-cal's blog posts, they haven't said anything about that overage being charitable (in fact they're suggested quite the opposite), so let's assume that those who contributed the additional $8,700 did so for additional copies of Upstart -- keep in mind that $8,700 is just the minimum overage possible. Now, let's also assume that, again, weirdest-case scenario, D-cal offered no discount on that overage, retailer or otherwise. $8,700 / $65 = ~134 overage. Add in the 68 copies that would be produced from the actual rewards that the 33 top backers would receive, and that totals 202 copies of Upstart from the top backers' pledges, which is a minimum average of 6 copies. Any bulk discount could easily double this number. Now let's review the lower tier backers: 44 copies @ $68 68 copies @ $53 4 copies @ $40 That's 116 copies of Upstart. In the reward tiers, some rewards come with 1st edition boxes. I'm not including the 1st edition rewards since those are already fulfillable. So, all in all, D-cal has at least 316 deliverable copies going to 183 backers. Keep in mind, 316 is a hard *minimum* quantity -- again, this doesn't even consider discounts. Now, I was not a significant part of running the Rabbit Island Kickstarter, but if I recall correctly, retailers and resellers for Rabbit Island got a discount when ordering more than 5 copies. Considering Upstart cost almost double what Rabbit Island cost on Kickstarter, it's safe to believe that, if the largest contributors of Upstart excpet product, these are some large orders with deep discounts. With those extra copies, it isn't unbelievable that the total to be fulfilled exceeds 500 copies. But, for the sake of this discussion, I'm going to continue to assume no discounts were given. Now, here's where things get even more interesting: D-cal supplied photos of the game materials. And coming from someone in the gaming industry, I am able to see that D-cal is doing the fulfillment (assembly of components) themselves. That's a rough cost-cutting measure, but it also reveals the approximate number of components they've set up for fulfillment. So from here on out, this is me going into a little more obsessive detail than I should, but I love a good mystery, so I'll use clues to assess what we have here. First, let's see what's in the box: https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/014/318/950/ac6d9a2e5179b7ebb518d0396760acf3_original.png?w=680&fit=max&v=1477843348&auto=format&lossless=true&s=5cff7f171593751ccee36fa1c899b7d0 1 upstart game board: I can't see the boards anywhere in the photos, so either they're already in the boxes, or they're in the brown paper-wrapped stacks to the right. Odd that none of them are opened. Of note is that a game board is typically one of the most expensive components of a board game -- it's possible that they haven't arrived yet. That explains why the three copies to the left are still open -- they're awaiting the boards. Inconclusive, but also irrelevant. There are other more interesting sights. Instruction manuals: Looks to be a stack in between the deck sleeves. Deck sleeves: These appear to have come flat, and later assembled by D-cal, then tossed into the box and bag. Cards: I can't see where they're stacked, but I can see that they're fulfilled on the left 3 boxes. Perhaps the stack on top of the action boards is one full set of cards to a game. I don't see the rest of the cards. They could be in the brown paper-wrapped bundles. Character sheets and action boards: Big white piles of paper and card stock. Looks like ~2500 sheets of action boards -- enough for 500 copies. Dice: Missing. Where could they be? The glass frame on the floor by the wall in the empty space between the stacks of orange boxes gives a glimpse of what's behind the camera: nothing notable. Okay, now for the most interesting item of note: the game boxes. Game boxes: There are approximately 100 closed game boxes in the photos, plus an additional three stacked to the left that are open for fulfillment. And that's all. So now that I've assessed the materials, I can start to consider my observations, and there's one striking thing to notice: All the existing components are placed there in their full quantity, except when it comes to the boxes, of which there's only ~103 visible. Also notable is that they were eventually carried to their resting places in stacks of 5 -- this is most observable on the leftmost tall stack, where every 5th box (counting from the bottom) juts out just a bit more. This suggests an intentional counting of boxes -- if they were unloaded directly from shipping boxes without care, they'd be uneven in their jutting. Why does this matter? Because there's room for more boxes in between the tall stacks -- it's unlikely something was moved just to take the pictures. If it were a moved component, it would still be there for the photo shoot. If it were furniture of some sort, it would have been moved earlier to make room for more boxes, suggesting that they didn't need room for any more boxes. Assuming these photos were taken shortly after confirming that D-cal could do fulfillment on the surface to the left, it's reasonable to assume that D-cal counted the exact number of boxes in order to complete fulfillment. Why is that a reasonable assessment? Because I've done fulfillment of this sort for other projects. The first thing we did was count the number of boxes required to meet all orders. Then we began fulfillment. This explains the claimed order of 500 copies of Upstart, the fulfillment of ~103 orders, and the discrepancy of a $19,000 overage. Wow, that got long! So, I could be wrong about everything. And D-cal certainly have the methods to show me I'm wrong. So, these are the questions I want to ask D-cal: 1) Kickstarter allows you to review the names and addresses of those who pledged. Without naming names, do you personally know any of the backers that pledged in the last 48 hours? If so, what is the total dollar amount that you plus acquaintances you know pledged in the final 48 hours? 2) How many copies of Upstart are going to the top 30 backers? (That is, the ones who pledged the most money.) 3) After fulfillment and shipping, how many copies of 2017 Upstart will be left in stock? 4) Which game components are you still waiting to receive, if any?

[ejgiftcards]

5 Totally Simple Ways To Use Gift Cards For Fundraising!

Everybody loves gift cards – and they make a perfect gift for special occasions, birthdays, holidays, graduations, and much more! But gift cards can be used as much more than just presents – they can be used to give back to your community, and fundraise for a worthy cause!

In fact, this is one of the growing reasons that many small businesses are implementing gift card programs – beyond the fact that gift cards are good for business. Gift cards can allow local businesses to provide nonprofits with simple, flexible gifts that can be used for fundraising efforts.

Small business gift cards are good for business, too. When gift cards are sold or given away at special charitable events, it provides small business owners with an opportunity to connect with their community – and potentially convert more paying customers. That means that small businesses can donate gift cards – and increase profits – at the same time! And that’s a win-win.

The person who received the gift card also benefits – because gift cards are flexible, they can choose the products or services they want, allowing them to have more control over their experience, and making gift cards more appealing for fundraising.

There are many ways that gift cards can be used in fundraising efforts – from raffles, to auctions, to contests and competitions, and much more. Nowadays, just about every fundraiser contains some kind of gift card, due to their popularity.

In this article, we’ll take a look at 5 simple ways that gift cards can be used in fundraising efforts. Whether you’re raising money for a charitable organization, a local youth association, a sports team, or any other cause, this article is sure to help you understand the benefits of using gift cards in fundraising efforts.

1. Auction Gift Cards To Raise Funds At Gala Events

Gala events are extremely commonplace in the fundraising world. The idea of the gala is simple – each person makes a charitable contribution for the opportunity to come to the event, eat dinner, meet and greet with other people, and dance the night away. These events allow people to donate to a charity while still having a good time, making them a very popular method of fundraising.

During the dinner, further donations will often be solicited, allowing charities to obtain more high-value donations from their donors. While this can be effective, it sometimes is a little bit off-putting to donors – they already paid, right? Why should they pay again?

Of course, not everyone reacts that way, but that’s one of the reasons that events like silent auctions are becoming very popular at fundraising events. Silent auctions are a great way to get guests to donate more money – but they also receive something in return, making it less off-putting for those who are less amenable to further donation.

Donated gift cards are hot items at silent auctions. Often, part of the silent auction takes place online, before the actual event. During this time, lower-value gift cards like $25 McDonald’s gift cards, iTunes gift cards or Starbucks gift cards are auctioned off. During the event, attention is usually focused on higher-value gift cards donated by local businesses – such as a $150 gift card to a local steakhouse – or very large gift cards in excess of $500.\

People love bidding on gift cards at silent auctions because they can donate to charity – while still getting a clear amount of value. For example, you may have a donor who wouldn’t be willing to donate $150 via check, but would gladly pay $150 for a $125 gift card to Amazon.com. This is because he’s willing to donate a little bit extra and give back to the community –  but still get something in return.

In fact, it’s very common for most gift cards to get sold at a higher-than-face-value price, because people are willing to spend a little bit extra, knowing that their money goes to a good cause. Essentially, this means that charitable organizations profit twice – once when the gift card is donated, and again when it’s sold.

2. Arrange Gift Cards Into Theme Baskets To Sell At Fundraisers, Or Auction Off

Gift cards are great – but a gift card alone may not be enough to get someone to donate to your organization. Because of this, it’s a great idea to combine gift cards with other items, in order to increase the attractiveness of the entire package.

Themed gift baskets are an incredible way to do this – they look awesome on the donation table, and they can be put together quite cost-effectively by shopping at low-cost stores like Dollar stores, or buying used materials from thrift stores.

By using a fun theme, a smart design, and a great selection of items, you can massively boost a gift card’s appeal. Here are a couple examples of what we’re talking about.

Italian Gift Basket – Grab a wicker basket, cover it with a checkerboard-print tablecloth, and fill it up with all kinds of specialty Italian foods! Dried meats like Salami, specialty cheeses, hard-to-find pasta, exquisite olive oil, biscotti, and a gift card to a local Italian eatery will make this basket irresistible to any Italian-lover at your fundraiser.

Pet Gift Basket – Who doesn’t love pampering their pets? Versions of this could be done for both dogs and cats. A dog gift basket may be built around a new doggy bed, piled high with treats, chewable bones, pet toys, and perhaps a gift card to a local dog groomer. 

A cat gift basket could be built around a litterbox (if you’re feeling fun!), and include catnip, scratching posts, brushes, and a gift card to a veterinarian, or a local pet goods store.

Dinner And A Movie Gift Basket – Grab a gift card to a local restaurant, throw in another to your local Cineplex, and toss them into a popcorn bucket alongside some classic theater treats like Junior Mints, Raisinets, and a list of movie showtimes in your area!

The Ultimate Tailgate Gift Basket – Sports fans will love this one. Pick up an inexpensive cooler and fill it up with baseball memorabilia from the local sports team, and a gift card or tickets to the local ballpark. You can also include snacks, beers (if your patrons are over 21), and everything else that a sports fan might need to have an awesome night at the ballpark.

Cooking Class Gift Basket – People love getting things – but more than that, they love doing things. A gift basket built around cooking classes is a great way to appeal to people who love experiencing new things. Grab a nice basket (or a colander, if you’re feeling fun) throw in some clean new dishtowels, measuring cups, stirring spoons, or other kitchen utensils, and a gift card to a local establishment offering cooking classes – or a specialty grocery store, if there are no cooking classes on offer nearby. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you’ve got a gift card, you can build a themed basket around it. Gift card to the local movie rental store? Pack it up with some candy and blankets – it’s home movie night! Got one for a sporting goods store? Stick it in a helmet with some Gatorade, a new football, and a couple sweat towels – the opportunities are totally endless!

3. Raffle Off Your Gift Cards!

Raffles are a fantastic way to raise money for your organization. You’d be surprised how many people are willing to spend a few bucks on raffle tickets – especially if the prizes are great. Even if a person who bought tickets doesn’t win the raffle, they’ll know that their money is going to a good cause, and it’s fun to have the chance to win something great from a raffle!

But a great raffle requires a great prize – people probably aren’t going to line up around the block for a raffle that features a boring or useless prize. That’s why gift cards are such a great prize for a raffle – their inherent flexibility allows raffle winners to choose what they spend them on, increasing the likelihood that you’ll sell more tickets and raise more money.

4. Sell Gift Cards To Raise Funds (If You’re A Small Business)

Many local businesses partner with schools, local charities, and other organizations to share profits – and this is a fantastic way to raise money for a great cause without just giving away your services for free. Usually, this takes the form of a special “event night”, where 10% of sales go towards benefiting a particular organization. While this can be a good way to raise money, it’s often difficult to find a night that works well for everyone.

So, if you’re willing, your small business can take a different path – and use gift cards to raise funds for charities. This allows you to give back to your community in a more long-lasting way. You could donate 10% of all gift cards purchased to an organization for a month or more, allowing you to provide a charity with funding and deepen your connection with your community – without simply giving away your products and services.

If you don’t want to invest in a new gift card system, that’s totally fine! Just keep track of your gift card sales – and donate a set percentage of the proceeds when the promotion is over! It’s just that easy – and you’ll be surprised at how the community engages with your business when you’re giving back.

5. Buy And Resell Gift Cards In Bulk

If you’re looking for a more large-scale way to raise money for an organization, many retailers offer discounted gift cards to charities that can be resold for full face-value, providing a fantastic way for nonprofits to organize fundraising efforts. An example of this would be Kohl’s Cares – eligible schools, nonprofits, and charities can purchase these cards and resell them, and all of the profits go directly to the organization.

Local businesses can also mimic this approach. Instead of donating a set percentage of profits during a set time period – as mentioned in method #4 – you can simply sell a bulk package of gift cards to a nonprofit for, say, 90% of face value. They can then resell these cards at 100% value, and keep the profits for their cause.

This allows businesses to profit from increased traffic and sales, and charitable organizations to profit by reselling gift cards at a higher margin, and using the profits to fund their own programs.

It’s usually a good idea to make this kind of program known well in advance – at a PTA meeting or other fundraising event, and take “pre-orders” for gift cards from interested individuals. If you’re a businessperson selling gift cards at a discounted rate, this will ensure that you don’t overcommit to selling gift cards – and if you’re raising funds, getting pre-orders is a way to make sure that you don’t have a bunch of discount gift cards sitting around and collecting dust.

Follow These Fundraising Methods – And Use The Power Of Gift Cards For Good!

Gift cards are awesome – and these 5 fundraising methods are a great way for you to harness the desirability of gift cards for a good cause. So whether you’re a small nonprofit, a local business owner, or just interested in how gift cards can be used charitably, it’s a great idea to learn about the ways gift cards can be used for good! Next time you’re involved in a fundraiser, suggest one of these ideas – you’re sure to get a great reaction!

And if you have gift cards you don’t need (or your organization bought too many for a fundraiser), don’t worry! You can always sell them on a website like EJ Gift Cards. We offer great rates for hundreds of different gift cards, and we can help you turn your extra gift cards into cash immediately via PayPal.

Using gift cards for charitable causes is a great way to get fantastic results with minimum effort – so check out these simple ways to use gift cards for fundraising, and make a difference in your community!