Giftly has evolved gift cards to become more mobile and social. Bentley notes that just as music went from plastic CD's to MP3 files, Giftly takes gift cards and transforms them from plastic cards into digital files you can bring with you wherever you go.
Bentley first got the idea for gift cards a year ago when he wanted to send his parents a gift card to their favorite restaurant in their Vermont hometown, but the restaurant didn't offer gift cards. An idea was born and in September the company began offering Giftly gift cards.
With Giftly, you can give a personal gift and support local businesses at the same time. To give a Giftly gift card, visit giftly.com and enter the location and the type of business, such as restaurant, clothing store, etc. Giftly searches the Yelp! database for the highest rated businesses in the area to offer suggestions.
If you have a friend who is a fan of Indian food and lives in Princeton, N.J., you can go to giftly.com to enter that information and Giftly will suggest the top-ranked Indian restaurants in the Princeton area. When you select one, you see a map showing where the restaurant is located, the contact information and a sample review. The listing also includes a link to the Yelp! site where you can read more reviews.
Giftly suggests a gift amount or you can enter the exact amount you want to give. You can choose up to three locations for one gift card, such as dinner, a movie and a wine bar. You can customize the look of the gift card with a photo and a design.
After you have made your selections, you can choose to notify your friend via e-mail, Facebook and/or regular mail. A fee is charged for Giftly cards: $2 on a $21-40 gift card, $4 on $41-80, $5 on $81-120, and 5 percent on anything over $120. Cards under $20 have no fee.
