It just seems silly. When Person A buys a gift card, they simply transfer the same dollar amount to Person B, who "buys" items from a store with the pre-paid money. It's the same as if Person A were to actually go to the store and buy something. It's not like a "buy one, get one free" type deal that sucks you into a purchase to get a "free" item, it's a 1:1 money ratio. So what's the catch? Does it bring new customers into the store that might buy things later, or does the company receive a percentage of the profit from a credit card company (like Visa) for the actual swiping/distributing of the cards, or what? Keywords: Shopping