GiftCards.com is an online gift-card retailer based in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The company sells gift cards for thousands of different large corporate retailers and small businesses including Vanillagifts.com,

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Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...

, and others. The company also offers prepaid

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

and MasterCard gift cards. GiftCards.com is considered the largest online gift card retailer and has appeared on the ''Inc.'' 5000 list multiple times (most recently in 2015). The company is currently owned by

Blackhawk Network Holdings Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. is an American privately held company that operates in the prepaid, gift card and payments industries. It sells branded physical and digital gifts, phones, prepaid debit, and incentives cards online and through a ...

after its purchase of the retailer in 2016.

History

In 1999, GiftCards.com was founded by Jason Wolfe in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as DirectCertificate.com. In this early iteration, the company sold paper gift certificates for merchants instead of plastic gift cards. In 2003, Wolfe purchased the GiftCards.com domain name for $40,000. In 2006, Wolfe sold DirectCertificates.com to

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

-based,

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. He purchased the company back in 2007 and eventually rebranded it as GiftCards.com in 2008. By 2009, it had $44 million in sales. The company operates out of a suburban Pittsburgh facility that prints gift cards directly and sends them to clients. In 2010, GiftCards.com had 60 employees and had 100 employees by 2013. By 2014, the company had over $100 million in annual sales with 12 issued patents and 45 pending. It also entered into a partnership with CashStar, allowing them to sell gift cards for over 50 different retailers. In 2015, the company sold its 6 millionth gift card. In 2016,

announced the purchase of GiftCards.com. The purchase was confirmed by GiftCards.com in a press release, announcing the value of the purchase at $120 million.

Products

GiftCards.com offers gift cards from around 500,000 different large and small businesses throughout the United States. Major gift card providers include Best Buy, Sephora,

Yankee Candle The Yankee Candle Company (referred to simply as Yankee Candle) is an American manufacturer and retailer of scented candles, candleholders, accessories, and dinnerware. Its products are sold by thousands of gift shops nationwide, through catal ...

, Amazon.com,

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, Gap,

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, and

Bloomingdale's Bloomingdale's Inc. is an American luxury department store chain; it was founded in New York City by Joseph B. Bloomingdale, Joseph B. and Lyman G. Bloomingdale in 1861. A third brother, Emanuel Watson Bloomingdale, was also involved in the bus ...

among many others. The company also provides Visa and MasterCard gift cards. For an added fee, customers can personalize their gift cards with photos, text, or other graphics. All gift cards are printed at the GiftCards.com facility in suburban Pittsburgh.

Philanthropy

Founder and CEO, Jason Wolfe, established the "You Gift, We Gift" charity in 2013. As part of the initiative, Wolfe and his son drive around the United States in an RV handing out gifts and gift cards to children in need.

References

{{reflist, 2 Retail companies of the United States Companies based in Pittsburgh Retail companies established in 1999 Internet properties established in 1999 1999 establishments in Pennsylvania