I used Cardpool once to consolidate many baby shower gift cards into a single one from Amazon. They executed a smart idea very well: the whole process was a breeze and their commission was a small price to pay for having a gift card at a store I actually use.
Congratulations to the team!
It looks like BlackHawk Network is the company behind the gift cards stands that have flourished in grocery stores, so that seems like a great match. The good news is also that it's going to be run as an independent business according to the PR, so the service shouldn't change much for now.
It looks like BlackHawk Network is the company behind the gift cards stands that have flourished in grocery stores
Which I believe is the same company that actually runs and controls the operations for these cards too (I don't have time to check + confirm).
But if that's the case, then I'd be cautious as to whether they've acquired Cardpool to shut it down or at least change it's direction. Blackhawk's customer is the retailer the gift card is for, and they may have views on whether they like people exchanging cards on the secondary market.
If they already control the underlying technology + fulfillment, then they probably could have created CardPool functionality already if they really wanted themselves.
You're right, Blackhawk manages many of the operations related to gift cards.
On the other point, however, I can guarantee that Cardpool is about get a whole lot BIGGER, and won't be shutting down or changing directions anytime soon ;).
Their margin is 7-12%, and they probably spend 5% on processing fees and postage, for a net margin of about 5% which on a volume of $100k/day is roughly $5k or $1.8M. The marketplace is also highly competitive and they probably spend a large amount on ads, but still a nice business.
My guess is the founders have been eating ramen the whole time because of the working capital requirements of this business, so this looks like a well deserved payday.
Does anyone else smell talent acquisition? I've been following them for a while and they seem to never have over 400 cards at any given time. Didn't seem to be too active after all the hype.
Congratulations to the team!
It looks like BlackHawk Network is the company behind the gift cards stands that have flourished in grocery stores, so that seems like a great match. The good news is also that it's going to be run as an independent business according to the PR, so the service shouldn't change much for now.