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Facebook launches ‘The Facebook Card’ to its online store

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By Jennifer Faull, Deputy Editor

February 3, 2013 | 2 min read

Facebook has brought out The Facebook Card to its online store, Facebook Gifts,

The complicated card has thus far bemused users, as although it can be bought in the Facebook Gifts online store, it can’t actually be spent there.

Instead the gift card works like a pre-paid Visa card, which is loaded with a certain amount of money which can then be spent at any of the four participating retailers- Sephora, Target, Jamba Juice and Olive Garden.

The card can only be used in the bricks-and-mortar stores, not online.

The card also allows for multiple gifts for multiple stores, with each balance dedicated to the retailer associated with the gift. For example, $10 dedicated to Sephora, $25 to Olive Garden, etc.

Additionally, an app has been launched alongside it which allows recipients, who will receive it through the post, to manage the card and balances.

However, critics have been quick to complain about the complicated set-up and lack of variety in the stores.

Ryan Tate, a writer for Wired.co.uk, reviewed Facebook’s latest offering. He wrote: “The Facebook Card feels, in short, like a product designed by a recent business school graduate trying, overexcitedly, to squeeze some extra marginal revenue out of Facebook's massive user base. And yet Facebook doesn't need that extra revenue; the company just got done telling Wall Street, on an earnings call yesterday, not to expect any near-term revenue growth from Facebook Gifts.”

At the moment The Facebook Card is only available in the US.

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