Blackhawk Boosts Wallet App with Gift Card Exchange, Scanning (Mar. 5, 2015)
Blackhawk Network Inc. is bolstering its mobile wallet app, adding a feature that will enable users to sell and exchange gift cards as well as the ability to scan physical gift cards to add them to the wallet. With the new enhancements, users of Blackhawk’s GoWallet mobile app can sell physical or digital gift cards from their smartphones or tablets. After putting a gift card up for sale, a user gets a quote and, if accepted, he receives a credit for the quoted amount to online gift card marketplace GiftCardMall.com, where he can use the credit to buy a preferred gift card. More cash-out options are coming soon, Blackhawk said. The exchange service is available now for the iOS version of GoWallet, with Android support expected soon, according to the company.
Along with the exchange, Blackhawk has added a scanning feature to GoWallet, enabling users to load physical gift cards into the digital app using their smartphones’ camera, rather than having to enter the card information manually.
Blackhawk has been steadily expanding its digital gift offerings over the past year-plus. In January, the company announced a partnership with German bank Deutsche Kreditbank AG to offer digital gift cards to the bank’s customers. In May 2014, Blackhawk struck a deal with Canadian telecom Rogers Communications to open Blackhawk’s digital gift card platform to users of the Rogers suretap mobile wallet. And in 2013, Blackhawk announced its digital gift cards would become available through PayPal’s mobile app.
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