PayPal now lets you send designer cards when gifting money this holiday season

PayPal is making another effort to show that if you’re giving money as a gift this year for the holidays, you should consider the online payment processing service. To enhance its appeal, the company is launching digital gift cards designed by Jonathan Adler that you can send to your friends and family members when you just want to hand out money as a present.

These cards are available in 17 countries today, including the U.S., Germany, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, Russia, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Austria.

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“A recent PayPal survey found that money is the number one gift Americans want this holiday season, and 62 percent wish they could ask for cash instead of traditional holiday presents,” explained PayPal senior director for global core consumer products Meron Colbeci. “But, the survey also found that the main reasons people don’t give money as a gift are because they’re afraid it’s not personal enough (63 percent) or it’s tacky (29 percent). By partnering with Jonathan Adler to create exclusive digital cards, we’re able to make the gift of money feel more personal.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsdAWZlkCxI

If you want to give a cash gift card to someone, log into your PayPal account, and select “Send Money” and “Make It a Gift.” Afterwards, choose who you’re sending this to, the design you want, and the dollar amount, and compose a personal note. Hit send and that’s it. The recipient will receive a notification of the digital gift card you sent. So instead of getting a plain email with “Sally Q sent you $100 for Christmas,” you’ll now get something more decorative, akin to a gift card holder people give in real life. Ah, the holidays.

“PayPal is expecting more than 17 million [peer-to-peer] payments in the month of December alone, so the holidays felt like the right time to enhance our P2P product and make it more personal (and stylish),” Colbeci said. We all have at least one person we gift that’s hard to shop for, and things get more complicated when they’re far away. Instead of taking the chance on giving a bad present, PayPal wants to offer an alternative — just send them cash, but make it a bit more festive.

There are six designs you can choose from ranging from holiday greetings, thank you cards, and generic gift giving.

This isn’t the first time that PayPal offered gift cards, but it is rare to see the company utilize fancy designer templates. Of course, you can purchase gift cards for other vendors, including Apple Music, iTunes, Best Buy, GameStop, Lowe’s, Netflix, Uber, Southwest Airlines, and Crate & Barrel, via PayPal, but if you simply want to send money, now there’s a more aesthetically pleasing presentation.