If you’re looking for a great way to save on restaurants, spas, personal care, auto maintenance, and more, check out Half Off Deals. This website sells real gift certificates (not coupons) for half their face value.
On the website, you can search for available gift certificates by proximity to a particular zip code, you can browse by city, and you can subscribe to the Certificate Tooter, an email notification service that informs you every Tuesday of new deals available in your area. They also have an iPhone application available for purchase.
I think this would make a great gift idea, so consider buying these for friends and family that live in other areas, too. I (Laura) am considering buying a gift certificate or two to give to my parents for their anniversary in June. They live in Wisconsin, but I can still purchase gift certificates for their area and have them sent to my house. Pretty slick, if you ask me.
Your turn: What gift certificates have you purchased through Half Off Deals?
About Laura Wales
I have bought one to Robert’s in Medina, Kokomo’s at MOA. A few more I can’t remember. They are really good deals and handy to have.
They have a deal for the place where we have bought fireworks the past couple years. Who would have thought when I started following coupon bloggs I’d be able to save on fireworks for the 4th of July!
For anybody who lives in Arizona, you should try a very similar site, Phoenix’s Half Off! The website:
http://phoenixhalfoff1.mediawebconnect.com/
What I like about this website is they have a clearance center for 75% off gift certificates! They also have a better selection of gift certificates than Half Off Deals does for the Phoenix area.
I’ve used quite a few of these and in general I really like them with a few exceptions to be aware of….
-They charge $3.75 per certificate to mail, so its not really a full 50% discount.
-The dates printed on the certificates can sometimes be a year old and I’ve had places try to tell me they are expired, but since there is no expiration date on them, I’ve fought that and won.
-There is no guarantee if they go out of business (Restaurant.com will refund your money)
-They take about a week to get in the mail. I think a few of them now have a print online option, but I haven’t tried that yet!
Karyn, have you talked to customer service about those expired certificates? I have never used Half Off since Phoenix’s Half Off always has better deals, but I believe they would operate the same. I had 1 expired certificate in the past and 1 certificate with a restaurant that went out of business. They refunded my money on the first and offered me an exchange on the second. I think they were pretty reasonable.