What is the difference between Gift Cards, VIP Cards, Membership/ID Cards and Benefit/Fundrasing Cards?
Gift Card is a plastic gift card is generally used by various shopping, dining, and entertainment establishments and used like a debit card to charge for the specific service they provide. The card in most cases has replaced the “gift certificate” since they have more perceived value to an establishment and have more “staying power” than a gift certificate which is usually printed on paper. They provide excellent advertisement since the cards are custom made for each particular business. Also, issuers profit from gift cards since they are prepaid by the customer in various values or denominations and therefore provide a “float” between the time of purchase and the time of actual use. A gift card is a closed loop card since they can only be used at the establishment who issued it as opposed to a bank card.
