Custom Amazon giftcards now on Facebook

Katie Gatto · November 2, 2010 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/1344

Last second gifts made easy, if you are willing to let everyone know what you spend

Sending gifts can be a hassle, especially if you happen to be the kind of person who always leaves it to the last second, and, let's be honest, we all do that from time to time. We all forget our cousin Stew's birthday or our own anniversary from time to time. Luckily, if you do happen to make that mistake, there is a new way to make it up quickly. You can send an Amazon gift card.

Amazon.com, Inc. announced Tuesday a new feature for sending Amazon gift cards via Facebook. In addition to getting some cash to buy whatever they want, users will also get a cute representation of the gift card on their wall. That way everyone knows how much you gave them. You can give cards up to $5,000, and they can be ordered up to a year in advance. That means if you forgot your anniversary this year, you can save yourself the same pain next year.

For a while, giving will be getting as well. As a promotion for the new program, the first 10,000 customers who give an MP3-themed Amazon.com gift card to five different Facebook friends will get a $5 credit good towards music downloads at Amazon MP3.

This deal could represent a large merger of user groups if Facebook users take to the new option. Facebook has more than 500 million active users and Amazon is often cited as being the world's largest online retailer. The question is, will users like it? While the idea of quick gifts is always a benefit, having everyone know what you choose or can afford to spend isn't always ideal.

Amazon's MP3 library has more then 13 million songs. They also have an array of TV shows and movies available on demand. The only catch is that, unlike in iTunes, a user has to have either a Windows-based PC or TiVo in order to download purchased shows. Otherwise, the user will be stuck with streaming videos on the website. So, really this isn't a great gift if your intended is a Mac user. In that case, you may want to stick with an iTunes gift.

Amazon.com is a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle and launched in July 1995. They are an online retailer that sells both physical items and digital downloads.

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