Anyone get a hard time from member services paying with multiple giftcards...

[Dean]

Disney subcontracts out all the cards and banking. Then sells those cards to Target. The numbers here are made up (they would be confidential anyway).

Disney pays a gift card broker $55 for a face value $50 card - the $5 delta pays for printing the card, and the costs incurred in tracking and redeeming the card - keeping the database of numbers, the accounting, moving all the money around - that sort of thing.

Disney sells that $50 facevalue card to Target for $45. When Target sells it for $50, Target makes a $5 profit. If Target sells the card for $47.50 because of the red card discount, Target makes a $2.50 profit.

Disney has paid $55 for the card, which they sell for $45 and you get $50 of value out of when you use it. So they are out $10 on the equavalent cash transaction, and about $7 on a straight credit card transaction (merchant fees on a regular transaction being something like 3%).

HOWEVER, it can still be a good deal for Disney, they "make" money on these a few ways.

1) Every $50 gift card that isn't redeemed is pure profit for Disney (minus the $5 to cut the card originally or however that accounting is done).

2) If you have a $50 gift card, spend $47 and throw it away because there is "only" $3 left, that $3 is pure profit for Disney

3) They make a little in TVM (either they do or the issuing company does, if the issuing company is getting the money, Disney is paying less for the cards). In other words - you pay $50 for a card for a vacation you'll take in a year. If Disney invests that $50 at 4% interest, they'll make $2 off of you holding the card. Gift cards often sit for months waiting to get used. Sometimes years.

Historically FL required unused gift cards and certs to be reported to the state as unclaimed (that's how it was explained to me years ago), I don't think they have that requirement any longer but I believe some states still do and I'd think the state the card was sold in would be the determining factor.

 

[crisi]

Historically FL required unused gift cards and certs to be reported to the state as unclaimed (that's how it was explained to me years ago), I don't think they have that requirement any longer but I believe some states still do and I'd think the state the card was sold in would be the determining factor.

Its somewhat more complicated than that. There are three possible points - the state that the corporation is in, the state of RESIDENCE for the owner (and since its a gift card, the owner is unclear by definition), and the state of SALE. I'm most familiar with Minnesota, because that is where I live and am most familiar with Best Buys gift cards, because that is what I'm familiar with. In Minnesota, there is no unclaimed property rule. Best Buy does not track theirs individually, so they can't tell where the person who owns them lives, so they are only dealing with unclaimed property where they were sold.

Disney isn't incorporated in Florida - its state of incorporation is Delaware and its main corporate offices are in Burbank. So Florida would have little to do with how they handle gift cards sold or owned anywhere other than Florida.

 

[Dean]

Its somewhat more complicated than that. There are three possible points - the state that the corporation is in, the state of RESIDENCE for the owner (and since its a gift card, the owner is unclear by definition), and the state of SALE. I'm most familiar with Minnesota, because that is where I live and am most familiar with Best Buys gift cards, because that is what I'm familiar with. In Minnesota, there is no unclaimed property rule. Best Buy does not track theirs individually, so they can't tell where the person who owns them lives, so they are only dealing with unclaimed property where they were sold.

Disney isn't incorporated in Florida - its state of incorporation is Delaware and its main corporate offices are in Burbank. So Florida would have little to do with how they handle gift cards sold or owned anywhere other than Florida.

Thanks for the insight

 

[zorro77]

Have not had a problem with the gift cards, but we make a spread sheet and fax into Disney. We have 3 contracts and are using like 50 some cards. Good luck, i have never tried to call in.