Editing Gift card (section)

==History==
{{more citations needed|date=June 2012}}
In 1932 the Book Tokens scheme was established in UK by publisher Harry Raymond.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2007/nov/17/weekend.lucymangan|title=An appreciation of a token|first=Lucy|last=Mangan|date=17 November 2007|website=the Guardian}}</ref> The original format of the tokens was as "lick-and-stick" stamp-like vouchers, which were glued into gift cards and had to be removed by the bookseller redeeming the token. In the 1990s, this design was changed to a "currency-style" voucher, available in a number of different denominations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalbooktokens.com/about-us/gallery/Brief-History.aspx|title=National Book Tokens|website=National Book Tokens}}</ref>

In 1994 [[Neiman Marcus]] introduced the gift card system in US using a payments infrastructure in late 1994,<ref>{{cite web|last=Buchanan|first=Matt|title=The Vile History of Gift Cards and How They Came to Destroy Christmas|url=https://gizmodo.com/5434783/the-vile-history-of-gift-cards-and-how-they-came-to-destroy-christmas|website=Gizmodo|date=27 December 2009 |access-date=7 June 2012|archive-date=25 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625132420/https://gizmodo.com/5434783/the-vile-history-of-gift-cards-and-how-they-came-to-destroy-christmas|url-status=live}}</ref> though [[Blockbuster LLC|Blockbuster Entertainment]] was the first company to do so on a wide scale,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/CES%2fNaBANCO+introduces+stored+value+card+technology%3b+Blockbuster...-a017787941|title=CES/NaBANCO introduces stored value card technology; Blockbuster Video is first merchant partner|website=Business Wire|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619150012/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/CES%2fNaBANCO+introduces+stored+value+card+technology%3b+Blockbuster...-a017787941|archive-date=19 June 2013|url-status=dead|access-date=14 January 2018}}</ref> test-marketing them in 1995 and launching them around the country the next year. In the beginning, the Blockbuster gift card replaced gift certificates that were being counterfeited with recently introduced color copiers and color printers. Blockbuster's first gift card transactions were processed by what was then Nabanco of [[Sunrise, Florida]]. Nabanco was the developer of the first third-party platform for the processing of gift cards using existing payment infrastructure.

Neiman Marcus and Blockbuster were later followed by the [[Mobil]] gas card, which initially offered prepaid phone value provided by [[MCI Inc.|MCI]]. [[Kmart (United States)|Kmart]] was next with the introduction of the Kmart Cash Card, which in the early generations provided prepaid phone time with [[AT&T]]. Later Kmart and Mobil dropped this feature, as it was not profitable for them. The Kmart Cash Card was the first replacement for cash returns when a shopper did not have a receipt for a gift. This practice of giving a cash card in place of cash for non-receipted returns is commonplace today with most merchants. From these early introductions, other retailers began to adapt a giftcard program to replace their gift certificate programs.