BN2KONA

Hi ~need help sending a birthday gift and house-warming gift to son-in-law, and daughter who is a college student at Univ. of East Anglia...
Are there gift cards that can transfer over...? Costco, Starbucks (they are otherwise not into fast food franchises even if they might be present in the Norwich area) And we'd need to double the US dollars to meet our goals for the pound equivalent? Is this just a bad idea, and maybe I should just go shopping and guess at what they will find useful?
Thanks for any help at all ~ including criticism, sarcasm, and ridicule...just give it to me straight ~ thanks, really.

dmlove

I don't know about particular stores, but you can get Visa giftcards, which they can use anywhere that takes Visa, and I would guess that MasterCard and American Express do the same thing.

taggie

Just send them a money order in pounds sterling. They can use it where they need it. It's highly unlikely that merchant cards, even if it's for a business that exists in the US and the UK, would transfer over currency wise. That would be an accounting nightmare for the business so I doubt you'd be able to wrangle it.

You would have to load the card up with pounds sterling, not just "double the US dollars" to meet "goals for the pound equivalent".

The other option is checking to see if you can buy a gift certificate online from a British retailer, like Marks & Spencer etc. And then have it sent directly to your daughter and SIL.

janisj

The problem w/ the visa gift cards is your kids won't get full value for the $$ you spend. It will cost you to open the acct, cost them a lousy exchange rate, cost them to close it out if they don't use it up exactly to the penny.

An on-line gift cert. from a UK website is probably the best idea. Some British book stores, hotels chains, restaurant chains, other merchants will have that capability.

Or - even better - visit them in Norwich and give them £ cash

thursdaysd

I've bought gift cards on amazon.co.uk (not .com) for relatives in England - even saves Transatlantic postage. There seems to be a difference between the Starbucks Card you can buy in the UK (says you can use it in the US) and the one on the US site (only usable in US and Canada). I'd look at buying it from starbucks.co.uk.

LSky

The gift card from Amazon.uk is a great idea. They could get anything they'd like, not just books.

dmlove

I looked at starbucks uk website before I posted about the visa card, and couldn't find any way to buy one online.

Underhill

See if you can buy book tokens on line from something like W. H. Smith.

BN2KONA

Hi all,
thanks for all the wonderful ideas and suggestions for British companies. That sounds the best...I'd rather research harder and learn more on this side than make them work too hard to use the "gift" there in Norwich. We now have some good ideas for Christmas too!
We are indeed going to visit during Spring Break, and can hardly wait.
Thank you all again ~ as usual, I find the most helpful guidance from a terrific forum!
janet

caroline_edinburgh

I second Janis's idea about shopping online for a British company's gift vouchers. The one that springs to my mind, if they are young & just setting up home, is Habitat - although I'm not sure where their nearest store to Norwich is. Or Ikea.

flanneruk

There IS a Habitat in Norwich, but the nearest IKEA's at least a two hour drive away - almost as long as it takes to get through their checkouts.

If they're setting up home, both M&S and John Lewis have majorish stores in Norwich, and their vouchers can both be bought online and used against online purchases.

Books are trickier. Neither Waterstone's nor Borders sell online vouchers, Smiths vouchers are redeemable only in their shops, where their book selection is dreadful, and Blackwell's don't have a shop in Norwich. So it has to be Amazon: doesn't matter much if it's Amazon US, since they deliver here from their US warehouse as well as from their UK one.

Kavey

Amazon.co.uk is a great idea, above, as it's not just books, films and music but also sells a lot of household appliances and kitchenware.

I'd also consider Debenhams or John Lewis if you think department store vouchers may be more useful - they can buy anything from towels to furniture to kitchenware to household appliances ... there's a huge range.

AAFrequentFlyer

You don't need to open any account to get a pre-paid Visa or MC card. There is a small charge to get it (somewhere around $5-$10) plus whatever you will load up, but then they can use it just like a regular CC. After all, my CCs are not in BP, they are in U$ but I can use it just about everywhere in the world .

That way, you are not limiting the kids to just one store. They can use it for stuff they may need more.

janisj

AA: My point about the visa gift card was they will not get full value for the amount BN2KONA loads on it. $10 goes for opening the card, then they will get a really lousy exchange rate when making purchases, plus a currency conversion fee. Plus if they can't use it to the exact amount, they can't draw off any left over money w/o paying another fee.

So - assuming they do manage to spend the full amount - they will end up w/ about 15% less value than the $$ amount BN2KONA started with.

jsmith

janisj< why would the user of the Visa gift card get any different exchange rate than the user of a Visa CC? It will go thru the same system. The retailer wouldn't know or care if it is pounds, kiwis or loonies

I think AAFrequentflyer is correct.

jsmith

A Visa debit card would be a better comparison.

SiobhanP

I am not aware of the Visa gift card over here it may or may not work. Get her a M&S or UK store voucher or some online type of voucher its much easier and you know she will use it!

jsmith

On their website Visa says their gift cards can be used anywhere Visa cards are accepted.

janisj

I thought visa Gift cards work the same way visa debit cards do. They at least have the same currency conversion issues. The OP would load $$ on it, the dd/s-i-l would spend ££ - the amount deducted from the balance would be in converted $$.

I've had friends who tried to use visa gift cards in local restaurants and had problems. I <i>think</i> NeoPatrick or someone else also posted about having problems using the full amount on a gift card.

jsmith

There is a website:

http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/p...google_prepaid

One thing I noticed is that some of the cards can only be used in the US. If you want one for overseas be sure you get it without that limitation.