Forums > Social Chat > Malcolm, I have an idea...

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MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:
Malcolm, do you know what I bet a lot of people here would love and what would probably sell really well?

HOP Store Gift Certificates!

What do other people think of this idea?

(No pressure, Malcolm!
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)

[ 08. December 2002, 15:15: Message edited by: MikeGinny (Lightning) ]

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura


CantusSILVER Member
Tantamount to fatuity
15,966 posts
Location: Down the road, United Kingdom


Posted:
Is your PM facility not working Mr Ginny?

Meh


flash fireBRONZE Member
Sporadically Prodigal
2,758 posts
Location: Sydney, NSW, Australia


Posted:
he probably posted it here so we can all see the reaction and support for such a great idea!

my vote: gift cert - top idea!

HoP Posting Guidelines
Is it the Truth?
Is it Fair to all concerned?
Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?
If you can answer YES to these 4 questions then you may post a reply.


CantusSILVER Member
Tantamount to fatuity
15,966 posts
Location: Down the road, United Kingdom


Posted:
Ah i see. Perhaps he should've said that in his post then.

Meh


flowingchaliceBRONZE Member
member
180 posts
Location: Leicester, uk


Posted:
here here,

put me down as a yay

Who looks outside dreams; who looks inside wakes C G Jung


Raymund Phule (Fireproof)Enter a "Title" here:
2,905 posts
Location: San Diego California


Posted:
I like that idea, maybe electronic gift certificates. *shrugs* hell everything else on HOP is electronic why start to use paper now hehe.

Some Jarhead last night: "this dumb a$$ thinks hes fireproof"


Thistleold hand
950 posts
Location: Nottingham UK


Posted:
What a great way to show the spinner in your life you really care

Are we nearly there yet?


primative_toyshappy hunting
228 posts
Location: Brisnyland


Posted:
here here!!

regret nothing, learn everything

fire_light_movement


Feuermachermember
6 posts
Location: lakeside california


Posted:
that is a great idea, but i know i for one, couldnt just wait to get some fire toys....there was no way....

Keine Mehrheit Fur Die Mitlied!!!


CharlesBRONZE Member
Corporate Circus Arts Entertainer
3,989 posts
Location: Auckland, New Zealand


Posted:
quote:
i know i for one, couldnt just wait to get some fire toys....there was no way....

Um...Feuermacher? Could you reword that for poor little old me?

I don't seem to be able to make any sensde of that whatsoever....

---------------

HoP Posting Guidelines
* Is it the Truth?
* Is it Fair to all concerned?
* Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
* Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?


UCOFSILVER Member
15,417 posts
Location: South Wales


Posted:
hear hear...i second that motion

MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:
Ok, I gave this some thought: here's how to do an electronic gift certificate program.

Suppose I want to buy Flash Fire a $100 gift certificate because she so kindly protected me against C@ntus's wrath. ( Love ya, C@ntus!).

I pay $100 and either 1) You send an E-mail to Flash Fire with a gift certificate number and tell her that this number can be put towards any purchases on HOP or 2) I could opt to have you E-mail me the gift certificate number so that I can make a nice little card and snail-mail it to Flash Fire. This could easily be automated so that certificate delivery would be almost instantaneous.

On the purchase page, have a slot where she enters the gift certificate number and then that amount of money is taken out of her gift certificate balance. If she should happen to need to spend more than $100, she can apply her credit card (or whatever other form of payment) to cover the balance.

I figure it shouldn't cost you very much to set this up, and each gift certificate you sell is guaranteed revenue.

[ 09. December 2002, 06:09: Message edited by: MikeGinny (Lightning) ]

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura


flidBRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,136 posts
Location: Warwickshire, United Kingdom


Posted:


MikeGinny: the problem with emailing the number is that email is insecure (unless you use pgp, which you can't guarantee the reciever has). Hypothetically speaking someone could sniff the email (very easy to do) and use the certificate. It's unlikely that anyone sniffing would have an interest in poi and want it, but it could happen. So you'd need to snail mail it unless you come up with a better option.

The number would also have to be pretty long to stop people from using a brute force attack (that is: write a program to try the number 1, then 2, then 3 etc). If the number was long enough thou (a mix of upper/lowercase characters and numbers), ie 128 chars then it would work.

My advice would be to specify the name of the person recieving, then when they make their purchase they must give cc details. Even if the value of stuff they are buying doesn't need additional payment, 1 dollar of the certifcate can be deducted and creditted to their cc acount. By doing this malcom can get the cc holder's name, and cross reference it with the gift certificate owner. If this were done then the certificate number could be emailed, because anyone sniffing it would not have the appropriately named credit card account (unless they happen to have the same name!)



Anyway, sounds like a great idea, not sure who would want to buy me a certificate thou

Astarmember
1,591 posts
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada.


Posted:
Id say just use snail mail, it's slow but it's the simplest way to do it.

That or look at other webstores and see if any of them have gift certificates and see how they handle it.

MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:
Flid,

To me, a computer is a black box with a keyboard on one end and a monitor on the other.

But you can maybe help Malcolm figure out how to do it. Either way, the full name of the recipient should be known (OR...if the recipient is a HOP member, then the recipient could access the gift certificate by entering the HOP member ID and password?)

Alternatively, when you buy your gift certificate, the site could just show you the number on a secure page. Most major store branches use gift cards with 16 digits. Having to type in 128 numbers would be tedious.

Anyways, there should be a user-friendly way to do it. Maybe some of you computer geeks can figure it out.

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura


CantusSILVER Member
Tantamount to fatuity
15,966 posts
Location: Down the road, United Kingdom


Posted:
So you'll be wanting my postal address then?

Meh


MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:
What for, C@ntus?

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura


MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:

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Gosh, I'm so excited!!!!!

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura


NYCNYC
9,232 posts
Location: NYC, NY, USA


Posted:
Perhaps I should change my screen name to "Devil's Advocate" since that's all I seem to be doing lately..

It sounds like a great idea but I can think of a billion headaches associated with it. Also, I'm not sure how much use they'd get since it is a website store anyway and the products are pretty specific. At a clothing store it makes sense because the shopper doesn't know what the other person wants and they can pick out sizes and colors and stuff out of a large selection of items. You can already say "Hey send Mike an electroglow staff and bill it to me" which is almost what a gift certificate would do. Just a thought. Perhaps it would be easier to just give Malcolm your credit card # with an email explaining how much to charge, then email a fellow HoPer and say "Hey, You've got a "$50 gift certificate" so email Malcolm whatever you want.

I'm not so much being the Negative Nelly as jumping in to say "Oh God don't dump more headaches on Malcolm!"

But I don't really care of course! If Malcom wants the headaches, bring it on!

-NYC
[PS. Please do not send Mike an electroglow staff and bill it to me.]

Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]


FireSpiritSILVER Member
Classic 90's Fire Dancer... Poi, Staff, Doubles, and Breathing
743 posts
Location: South Lake Tahoe, USA


Posted:
How Did You Get That Big Bouncing Silly Smiley Face, MikeGinny? Thats Great!!!

Anyway I like the idea of giving, and know lots of fire spinners!

~Fire Spirit

FIRE IS ALIVE!
IT LIVES AND BREATHS!
IT CONSUMES, AND DISTROYS!
BUT WE CONTROL IT,
AND DANCE WITH FIRE!!


MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:
NYC, you have a good point, but if Malcolm decides to keep it to paper (which most stores do...they give you a "gift card" and then they keep track of your balance), a lot of the hassles should go away.

I think it would be nice to just give the spinner who seems to have everything a little toy money, yanno?

Firespirit, if you go to Best Smileys, that's where I get all my non-regulation smilies and assorted cute graphics (the dancing fat guy for birthdays, the welcome gorilla, etc.)

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura


NYCNYC
9,232 posts
Location: NYC, NY, USA


Posted:
If anyone wants to buy me some Home Of Poi gift certficates I'll gladly try them out and report back as to how well they work.

I always wanted to be a beta tester...

Well, shall we go?
Yes, let's go.
[They do not move.]


FireSpiritSILVER Member
Classic 90's Fire Dancer... Poi, Staff, Doubles, and Breathing
743 posts
Location: South Lake Tahoe, USA


Posted:
Cool, Thanks Mike!!
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[ 11. December 2002, 08:14: Message edited by: FireSpirit ]

FIRE IS ALIVE!
IT LIVES AND BREATHS!
IT CONSUMES, AND DISTROYS!
BUT WE CONTROL IT,
AND DANCE WITH FIRE!!


MikeGinnyGOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA


Posted:
Woo Hoo! In case we hadn't made this abundantly clear, you rock, Malcolm!

Now...how to hint to my parents that this would be a perfect gift?

-Mike

Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella



A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura



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