Hacker News Reader

This isn't really a gift certificate to anywhere. It seems more like just paying your friend to go somewhere. They can redeem the gift, then spend the money anywhere.

Also I may be wrong, but 99.9% of physical stores don't accept Paypal, so your friend would already have to have the gift amount in cash or credit/debit.

View on HN

Right. I see that this is a distinction from just sending my friend money via PayPal. However, it (1) requires my friend to have a smartphone and (2) makes them get a PayPal account, which most of my friends have never heard of. Also, the idea of sending a gift card through email seems very tacky to me. But then again, I may not be your target audience.

GiftRocket is a new take on gift cards. Recipients prefer cash to gift cards, but it's tacky to give cash as a gift. We're trying to capture the sentiment of a gift card (I thought of you, I thought you'd enjoy this place) without the restrictiveness of a traditional gift card.

"it's tacky to give cash as a gift."

Ouch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_envelope

Was talking about the US. There are exceptions in the US too (i.e. Bar and Bat Mitzvahs).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com