Confusing Facebook Gift Card On Sale In US

Facebook have launched a new gift card for users, however upon closer inspection the card is actually incredibly confusing about how it can actually be spent.

Wired.com looked closely at the terms and conditions surrounding the Facebook card and found that it was easy to buy but very difficult too stop.

It is clear to see why Facebook would want to release the card as one of its latest products as it gives the company a chance to gain further revenue form users of the social network while working in partnership with other companies.

The easiest way for Facebook to make money from the card would to be allow holders of the card to be able to spend their credit through the Facebook store but this is where the card becomes very confusing because although you can buy the card through the store you can’t actually spend the credit on the card in the store.

As wired.com noticed: “Your gift recipient ends up with a card stamped “Facebook” that can’t actually be spent on Facebook.”

You can of course spend the gift card at retailers but it is still a confusing process because if you want to spend the money on the card at multiple retailers you need to specify these amounts and allocate the money to each store before you go shopping and you manage all of this through an app but the app cannot be used as a payment system.

Currently the Facebook card is only available to buy in the US and the retailers are Sephora for beauty products, Target for genrel consumer goods, Jamba Juice for smoothie and Olive Garden for Italian food.

The limited number of retailers make the card not exactly very appealing to anyone wanting a gift card to appeal to a wide range of people but it is a start that could potentially be developed.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said:”For the foreseeable future the most important thing for us is to continue building out great consumer experiences around these products.”

So it sounds as if he isn’t overly concerned about the card and how well it works as he is focusing on keeping the revenue growth from Facecbook gifts at a steady level.

If the card is to be rolled out to other countries around the world then it is key that the issues with how a person is able to actually spend the credit on the card are resolved and there would need to be many more retailers on board for it to truly work in the future.