GIFT LIST SERVICES - A COMPARISON OF FEATURES AND DRAWBACKS
When deciding on which Gift List company to use, there are some important factors you should take
into consideration.
Is the gift list service a money contribution type or an actual purchase type?
What’s the difference? Well, the traditional department stores like John Lewis and Debenhams are the
“actual purchase” type. Another words, when you add an item to your list and one of your guests buys
that item, that item has indeed been physically bought and neither you nor your guest can change
your mind about it. With the specialist gift list services like The Bottom Drawer, the list is a “money
contribution” type which means your guests make a contribution towards your selected gifts but the
gifts aren’t actually bought until after your list closes. This gives you the flexibility to change your mind.
This is worth bearing in mind because if you have your list at a department store you may well end up
with odd dinner plates or glasses from a larger set which you then either stick away unused in a
cupboard because you don’t have the full set, or you end up having to pay out yourself to complete
the set. If you use a more flexible gift list service for those items you can decide when your list closes
whether to buy the complete set or use the money received to buy alternative items you can afford
instead.
Am I limited to the items that store sells?
With the traditional lists at department stores like John Lewis yes you are limited to just the items they
sell. You might think this isn’t a problem as they offer so many items after all. But, remember it also
means you are limited to the price they charge for those items – which could be a very expensive
mistake to make.
At flexible gift list companies such as The Bottom Drawer you are able to add any item, from any store
to your list. The gift list company simply collects your guests contributions for you which you are then
able to spend at any store you wish. To show how much difference this could make, here’s an
example with data taken on the 15 February 2007 from John Lewis, an independent store and The
Bottom Drawer. Say you really wanted your guests to contribute towards a new LCD TV. At John
Lewis you would have had a reasonable choice though at the independent store if you wanted one
over 20” you would have had a choice of just 1, the Panasonic TX23LXD60. At The Bottom Drawer
you could choose from every TV available on the market. But let's stick with the Panasonic to give a
fair comparison. At the independent store the price was £795 for this TV, if you had your list at John
Lewis and selected this TV you would have had to pay £745. However, if you held your list at The
Bottom Drawer you could choose from the best price available, which a Kelkoo search showed to be
£494! So going with an independent store or John Lewis could mean you pay more than £250 over
the odds!
It is only at the specialist gift list companies where you can really have a unique gift list. For example,
how about a garden makeover paid for by your guests? At The Bottom Drawer this becomes a reality
as they can arrange for a local landscaper to produce a quote for you which then forms the basis for
your gift list so each square metre of patio can be one gift, each plant another gift and so on! They
can also arrange similar services for a new kitchen or bathroom or your dream honeymoon! Other
unusual gifts couples have recently obtained through The Bottom Drawer’s wedding gift list service
include a hottub, a piano and a horse box trailer!
Get a garden makeover with a gift list at The Bottom Drawer!
What if I want gifts from more than one store?
Traditionally, you may want some lower priced gifts from Argos to go with some more exclusive
gifts from John Lewis. In the past you would need to set-up two separate gift lists at two separate
stores and send out two lots of invitations. With a flexible gift list provider you can have all your gift
items on one list (and yes you can often even add items from John Lewis, Next, Argos and the other
traditional department stores!)
What about the charges?
With the traditional department stores it is usually free to set-up your list and in fact they may offer
incentives to draw you in such as vouchers to spend in their store. But remember you are limited to
the items that store sells, at the price that store charges which could be quite expensive (see point 2
above)! You should also check delivery charges as whist some will be free, others will charge a
separate, small delivery charge to each guest which can add up to quite a significant amount of
wasted money.
Pay for your honeymoon using your Bottom Drawer wedding gift list”.
With the alternative flexible gift lists the charges are normally split in two ways: charges to you to set
up and use the list and charges that are levied against the value of the gifts your guests make to you.
You need to compare carefully to know the full charges you will be paying. Many of the services that
offer a free facility to set-up the list then go on to charge 9% or more on to the orders from your
guests. Not only can this add up to an awful lot of money but your guests won’t be too happy either!
Some services such as The Bottom Drawer are set-up in such a way that potentially there is no cost
for you the couple to use the service AND no cost for your guests to make contributions as they earn
income by selling items direct to you or from commission received from the companies they work with
to provide gifts. You should also check that all payment options are supported for your guests so that
those that prefer not to pay by credit or debit card have the option to pay by cheque and over the
phone too. One final thing to bear in mind is that the money collected may be used to purchase gifts
from stores other than the flexible gift list company – so you should check what the delivery charges
will be from the store(s) you will eventually be buying your gifts from.
Security
Naturally when several thousand pounds is potentially being collected via your gift list you need to feel
certain that your money will be safe in the hands of the gift list company. No matter what the size of
the company they can never totally guarantee to be around forever - witness some household names
(not wedding related!) that have disappeared over the years. But there are ways you can limit the risk.
For one, any transactions that your guests make using a credit or debit card must be handled over a
secure server using encrypted technology. This is fairly standard these days.
Also, fairly good protection is offered when your guests use a credit card or Visa debit card as the
card companies can often be obliged to refund any money if a company gets into difficulty and can’t
fulfil on its promises. But this doesn’t apply to other debit cards or cheques.
A good thing to do is check the small print for the company you are dealing with – do they openly
tell you about the directors of the company? If it is a limited company it is much easier to track
down who is behind the company in case something goes wrong – if you are dealing with a small
internet company it could be very difficult for you to get any comeback if the company goes bust.
Finally, consider how secure your own information is – what if someone hacked into a site, pretended
to be you by obtaining your details, and asked for your gift list funds to be transferred to THEIR bank
account! Only one gift list company in the UK is certified by Hackersafe, the worlds leading
compliance company (who also monitor Microsoft sites) – and that’s The Bottom Drawer. Their site is
tested daily to make sure it is secure against all known hacker tricks.
Conclusion
So our advice is to think twice before going with the traditional department store – there is much more
choice to be had elsewhere. And if you opt for a flexible gift list service then always check the
(sometimes very) small print to know what ALL the charges – both to you AND your guests – will be.
Finally, consider how secure your gift list funds will be with that company. Only The Bottom Drawer
offers Hackersafe protection.