Gift cards have been the most requested holiday gift for nine years in a row, according to the National Retail Federation – it’s estimated that $26 billion will be spent on them from November 1 through December 31 of this year alone. But gift-givers don’t always give the card that recipients want most. But rather than sitting unspent, cards can actually be resold on gift-card exchange websites including CardHub, Raise, Gift Card Granny and Cardpool. These sites allow consumers to buy and sell gift cards to one another, often while taking a commission of the sale in the process.
The underbelly of e-commerce is a booming business in which little known companies collect, process and often resell piles of unwanted gifts, flawed merchandise and other items that shoppers simply regretted buying. This holiday season, goods with an original retail value of $19.4 billion, nearly one-quarter of e-commerce sales, are expected to be returned, according to Shorr Packaging.
Tiny island nations like St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica and Granada have struggled since the financial crisis to attract money for new construction projects to boost tourism. One way they have found to sweeten the deal, selling citizenship as a part of a package.
Much more is highlighted in A Look Around the Nation and the World.
