Gift cards are electronic money cards that can be used to make purchases anywhere. It’s like a voucher usually issued by a bank or a retailer and can be used as an alternative to cash or debit cards for purchases within a particular store. This, in simpler terms means that if for example, you have ₦10,000 worth of Jumia Gift Card, then you can shop ₦10,000 worth of goods on Jumia. Get it? Good!

Benefits of paying with Gift cards

1. Convenience: Whether you're making payments on a store, or gifting a loved one, using gift cards are more convenient and reliable since it's tied to one brand and no third parties is involved in processing payments.

Instead of shipping heavy gifts to family or friends far away, it is more convenient and less expensive to send them a gift card. With this, they could even pick whatever they want themselves and you do not stress over what they would like or not. You could just get them a gift card of their favorite, loaded with money of course, and send it to wherever they are.

2. Controls spending: Gift cards are great tools for effectively planning your income. Let’s assume you only want to spend ₦50,000 on groceries for a month. You can get a ₦50,000 Shoprite gift card to make that possible. You only have to make up your mind to stick to the plan.

Also, Gift cards help you save on those extra charges you get on debit and credit cards.

3. International payments: Due to banking restrictions and transaction limits, your credit or debit cards are likely to fail while making payment on websites or apps outside your country. However, Gift card is the ultimate solution for that problem.

Since they do not hold any personal information, you can make payments on brands with their gift cards from anywhere and save yourself all that stress.

4. Security: If you want to buy things anonymously, you should try getting any gift card of your choice. Since they are not designated to a checking account or someone’s identity, in particular, it’s a loose end. You pretty much just buy anyone, activate it, and start using. There is no need for so much paperwork, like applying for a regular debit card or bank account.

5. Resell for cash: In most cases, you might buy a gift card and end up not using it. But with a platform like Bingpay with trading fuctionalities, you can get back cash value for your cards.

So, if you've bought gift cards for a brand and changed your mind, you're still assured of getting your cash back almost instantly.

The world is evolving and technology has made almost all aspects of our lives easier, even with gifting, shopping and purchasing services. Click here to learn how to make purchases online with gift cards.