I would eagerly cash out for Amazon.com credits. In fact, I suggested it earlier. However, none of those other merchant names or logo's would be of interest. I barely know what they are, but I certainly would not want a coupon from an airline or a restaurant chain. Amazon.com sells almost everything in all price ranges. That would be great for just about anyone.
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I'd love to be able to get Amazon, BH Photo Video or Zappos credit for my MD balance. I'd really appreciate being able to cash out at a lower amount too. I would agree to that weird conditional coupon thing only if I could use other non-conditional zappos credits to pay for the difference, like I have a Zappos CC so I get $25 credits. I love this idea!
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I like Amazon, but would love a gift card for Wal-mart. I would appreciate being able to cash out at $10 for a gift card if it is one that I can use in my area.
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I would definitely be willing to cash out for gift cards. Red Lobster would be great, as would Zappos. Amazon would be fantastic, because it has such a wide variety of products.

Any chance we could get some songs from here?
http://www.mspmentor.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/mspmentor-and-the-var-guy-podcasts-on-itunes.jpg

Also, if you're going to be making partnerships and sending money out to organizations, how about a place like this?
http://www.redcross.org/files/site/images/logo.gif
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This sounds like a great idea, and another vote for Amazon, Jason! Other stores I use habitually:
Starbucks
Lowe's
Trader Joe's
iTunes
newegg

Virgin America would be great, but I don't have time to fly right now.

I never go to WalMart. I rarely go to Home Depot (too much noise - does ANYONE understand what the heck they're saying over the speakers?).

Re: #1 I'd lose 255 what?
Re: #2 I'd like the opportunity to buy a discounted gift certificate. Anywhere from $25 - $50 as a minimum buy (unless it's iTunes) is fine.
Re: #3 See above preferred merchants
Re: #4 I don't think being able to cash out for lower amounts would have any effect on my cashing out behavior - I have yet to ask for a draw.
Re: #5 The manner of my cash out wouldn't have any effect on how much I feel appreciated. More options are always great, but the pleasant interaction with other members is as much (or more) payback.
Re: #6
Innovative! Thanks!
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Amazon
Lowes
WalMart
Safeway
and of course the ever popular Ichiban Restaurant
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I'd vote for Starbucks and iTunes. Safeway works as well (since you can trade gift cards at Safeway ;-)

I'd especially like the M$5 for $10 coupon. Where else can you get a 100% increase in your money!
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"1. Would you rather cash our Mahalo Dollar for a Starbuck, Amazon, Zappos, etc. coupon than lose 255 when you cash out "

255???

I know it is a Mersenne number, and the fourth such number not to be a prime number. It is a perfect totient number, the smallest such number to be neither a power of three nor thrice a prime. In base 10, it is a self number.

255 is a repdigit in base 2 (11111111) in base 4 (3333), and in base 16 (FF).
(whatever that means!)

All from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/255_(number)
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1. Would you rather cash our Mahalo Dollar for a Starbuck, Amazon, Zappos, etc. coupon than lose 255 when you cash out

I believe that the option to exchange Mahalo dollars for other forms of on line "currency" would be nice. However, I would not recommend that it be the only method to utilize Mahalo dollars.

2. What would you think of buying a $25 gift card to Zappos for M$10 that required a minimum purchase of $40? (i.e. you pay $10 for the gift card agree to spend $15 more in their store--getting $40 in merchandise for ~$25).

This is a reasonable offer, especially considering you couldn't really purchase anything at Zappos for less than $40 anyway.

3. What kind of gift cards would you like to see us partner with?

The more the merrier! Amazon, Border's, Lowe's, Target, Starbuck's, Panera Bread, Quizno's to name a few.

4. Would being able to cash out lower amounts (i.e. less than M$40) motivate you cash out for gift cards? (i.e. if you could cash out at M$10 say).

Possibly. I could see it being more useful if the gift cards were for low-cost items like Starbuck's or Quizno's.

5. Would being able to cash out any time for a gift card instead of monthly for cash matter to you/be appreciated?

Meh... No difference.

6. Post the logo/commercial from your favorite store/restaurant you would MOST like to cash in Mahalo dollars for gift cards to!!!

http://www.starbucks.com/shop/images/product/TwilightRetreat_245x154.jpg
http://www.quiznos.com/App_Themes/QuiznosWeb/img/RoundedLogo.gif
http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/giftcard/SPOCC-HAMMmi.jpg
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1. Would you rather cash our Mahalo Dollar for a Starbuck, Amazon, Zappos, etc. coupon than lose 255 when you cash out .

Yes, but I would be selective with this. I wouldn't cash out for every vendor just because you offer them.

2. What would you think of buying a $25 gift card to Zappos for M$10 that required a minimum purchase of $40? (i.e. you pay $10 for the gift card agree to spend $15 more in their store--getting $40 in merchandise for ~$25).

Sounds good. I prefer the ones you do not have to print out.

3. What kind of gift cards would you like to see us partner with?

Food stores or stores that have everything like Amazon. Possibly an airline like Jet Blue Airways would be good.

4. Would being able to cash out lower amounts (i.e. less than M$40) motivate you cash out for gift cards? (i.e. if you could cash out at M$10 say).

Yes, depending on the offer.

5. Would being able to cash out any time for a gift card instead of monthly for cash matter to you/be appreciated?

Yes, but hopefully you do not put deadlines on cashing out, yet rather deadlines on deals.

6. Post the logo/commercial from your favorite store/restaurant you would MOST like to cash in Mahalo dollars for gift cards to!!!

Here are a few possible ones:

Amazon

AMC or Regal Cinemas

Apple

Chipotle

Jet Blue

Marriott

Olive Garden

Snapple

Subway

Whole Foods

Zappos
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How about a wal-mart card
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I would trade M$5 for $10 of Starbucks or Amazon in a heartbeat!
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1. Would you rather cash our Mahalo Dollar for a Starbuck, Amazon, Zappos, etc. coupon than lose 25% when you cash out
- Most definitely

2. What would you think of buying a $25 gift card to Zappos for M$10 that required a minimum purchase of $40? (i.e. you pay $10 for the gift card agree to spend $15 more in their store--getting $40 in merchandise for ~$25).
- That's appealing, but I've never shopped at Zappos. Any plans for offers like that from other vendors?

3. What kind of gift cards would you like to see us partner with?
- In order of preference: Amazon, Target, Jamba Juice, Safeway/Vons, Visa gift card, Chipotle or Olive Garden, GameStop (or omg Microsoft Points for Zune and Xbox Live)
Oddly, there's no Wal-Marts in my area.

4. Would being able to cash out lower amounts (i.e. less than M$40) motivate you cash out for gift cards? (i.e. if you could cash out at M$10 say).
- Yes.

5. Would being able to cash out any time for a gift card instead of monthly for cash matter to you/be appreciated?
- At least bi-monthly would be nice.

**One question though. How long exactly would it take for us to receive the gift cards in the mail? Would it be an automated thing directly from the vendor or would you have some poor drone licking 3,000 envelopes in a back room somewhere?**
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Hi There,
I live in a small rural community, so unless I can use whatever gift card online, I wouldn't be able to use it all (i.e. Food Gift Cards).
Myself, I am hoping to eventually get a Macbook or Netbook so any company that sells them would work for me.
Amazon, Apple, Dell, HP, Newegg, Tigerdirect, etc..

I really like the double the value of the Mahalo Dollars idea.

Thanks!
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1. Would you rather cash our Mahalo Dollar for a Starbuck, Amazon, Zappos, etc. coupon than lose 25% when you cash out

Absolutely, especially more so if the selected partners were places I normally spend money, like Amazon and Starbucks.

2. What would you think of buying a $25 gift card to Zappos for M$10 that required a minimum purchase of $40? (i.e. you pay $10 for the gift card agree to spend $15 more in their store--getting $40 in merchandise for ~$25).

So I spend $15 of my own money and get $40 worth of merchandise? Sign me up! Only concern would be for places like Starbucks, where you don't spend $40 in one trip, how would that work? Another idea would make the cards reloadable, but with a lesser discount, like taking 75% of your M$ balance and being able to take that directly to your card.

3. What kind of gift cards would you like to see us partner with?

Starbucks and Amazon would be great, BestBuy being another. I really really like the iTunes idea too!

4. Would being able to cash out lower amounts (i.e. less than M$40) motivate you cash out for gift cards? (i.e. if you could cash out at M$10 say).

Yes, however it would be really neat to have a sliding scale for cash out amounts with the discount. Say you cash out $10, you get a 10% discount, $50 or more gives you a 25% discount or something along those lines.

5. Would being able to cash out any time for a gift card instead of monthly for cash matter to you/be appreciated?

Yes, instant gratification is fabulous, which brings back the reloadable card idea. That makes more sense than cashing out a second time and having to wait for a physical gift card to arrive in the mail.

Overall really great concept, I look forward to seeing where this goes!
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I personally would like the ability to tip someone directly with a gift card or credit of their choice. If I have a very important question and someone gives me an excellent answer, I'd like to say "hey, here's a $5, $10, or $15 gift card to Zappos". Even something as small as buying them a song on iTunes would be great. Yes, I realize that if we were to implement some sort of gift card program that I could just tip them M$5 and they could cash it out themselves... but I very much enjoy giving people tips on Mahalo. The community is the best part of Mahalo Answers in my opinion. Having the ability to give the people in the Answers community personal gifts for helping me out would be great :) Just a thought.
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1. Would you rather cash our Mahalo Dollar for a Starbuck, Amazon, Zappos, etc. coupon than lose 25% when you cash out

Yes

2. What would you think of buying a $25 gift card to Zappos for M$10 that required a minimum purchase of $40? (i.e. you pay $10 for the gift card agree to spend $15 more in their store--getting $40 in merchandise for ~$25).

No, that is annoying and I would rather take the 25% cut for cash.

3. What kind of gift cards would you like to see us partner with?

Amazon, Netflix, Starbucks, Walmart, Apple, Lowes, Home depot, -- mainly stuff I can use online in case I don't have a specific retailer in our area.

4. Would being able to cash out lower amounts (i.e. less than M$40) motivate you cash out for gift cards? (i.e. if you could cash out at M$10 say).

Yes.

5. Would being able to cash out any time for a gift card instead of monthly for cash matter to you/be appreciated?

I've never cashed out so I wouldn't know. More options are better than fewer-- but if it is too big of a sacrifice for Mahalo then no.

6. Post the logo/commercial from your favorite store/restaurant you would MOST like to cash in Mahalo dollars for gift cards to!!!
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Would this be open only in the U.S.A.? If it is available to other countries such as Canada or the UK then I am all in!

http://images.nintendolife.com/articles/2006/11/21/amazoncouk_wii_preorder_sells_out_in_2_minutes/attachment/large.jpg

http://selectroclash.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/01starbucks.jpg

http://www.textually.org/ringtonia/archives/images/set3/web_itunes.jpg
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1. Would you rather cash our Mahalo Dollar for a Starbuck, Amazon, Zappos, etc. coupon than lose 25% when you cash out?

Yes, I think that would be an excellent idea!!! I would much rather cash out for an even exchange on a gift card than lose the 25% fee. I'm assuming the merchants would sponsor the exchange, paying Mahalo an equivalent fee.

2. What would you think of buying a $25 gift card to Zappos for M$10 that required a minimum purchase of $40? (i.e. you pay $10 for the gift card agree to spend $15 more in their store--getting $40 in merchandise for ~$25)?

Undecided. Not sure how this would pan out at some of the merchants mentioned, like Netflix or Amazon.

3. What kind of gift cards would you like to see us partner with?

Amazon, Netflix, Wal-Mart ... in that order.

4. Would being able to cash out lower amounts (i.e. less than M$40) motivate you cash out for gift cards? (i.e. if you could cash out at M$10 say).

Absolutely. I also think this will appeal to a wide segment of Mahalo Answers users, because as someone else mentioned earlier there are a lot of users who will never make the $40 payout amount. If they can cash out at a lower level for a gift card, they will be more motivated (IMHO) to continue to participate in the site.

5. Would being able to cash out any time for a gift card instead of monthly for cash matter to you/be appreciated?

Yes!!! Again, see my answer to #4 above ... I think it would make user retention on the site better.

6. Post the logo/commercial from your favorite store/restaurant you would MOST like to cash in Mahalo dollars for gift cards to!!!
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Would it be possible to put it on a reloadable visa gift card? That way every time you cash out it would just add to your balance on that card, and you could spend it anywhere.

If not, then my vote is Amazon, Newegg, or Wal Mart.
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"2. What would you think of buying a $25 gift card to Zappos for M$10 that required a minimum purchase of $40? (i.e. you pay $10 for the gift card agree to spend $15 more in their store--getting $40 in merchandise for ~$25)."

I would not under any circumstances want to cash out for a coupon or gift card that REQUIRED me to make an additional purchase.

It is easy enough just to find coupons, deals, etc. for different places where they give you 10% off, or $5 or $10 off of a certain amount, or a buy-one-get-one, etc. for FREE. Why would I want to pay for the privilege to spend more money? I wouldn't.

Now, if there was an option to say, get a $25 gift card to _X_ for M$10 with NO restrictions, I would definitely consider that. Even a $10 gift card for M$10 is potentially advantageous because as you stated, M$s are NOT direct dollar-for-dollar equivalents.

Stores should be willing to accept that if they want to get business they will have to make efforts to take the risk of NOT putting a "$10 giftcard with $40 purchase requirement". As an example a while back since you mentioned them, I got a Red Lobster gift card -- there was some sort of Red Lobster club on their new website at the time, and I joined and did what I had to do (doing various stuff at the site earned you points..I believe towards gift cards or deals or something) they for whatever reason decided to shut down the club, and they wound up sending everybody who had a certain point level $15 gift cards because of it.

Well, I wound up going to Olive Garden with the gift card (OG is owned by the same folks as RL) and wound up spending _much_ more than just the $15 (infact, a little over twice as much) -- and that was for a meal by myself!

I also don't feel that I "lose 25%" when I cash out, because as stated, M$'s are NOT cash equivalents, and that is well-known. (As re statement in #1)

As far as #3 and #6 goes - it is irrelevant what stores or companies, etc. I would want -- what really counts is which stores/companies, etc. Mahalo can make the best/most advantageous deals with!

#4 & #5 - Yes, it would be beneficial to be able to cash out at lower dollar amounts, and/or more frequently.
Source(s):
I'm a smart consumer.

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1. Would you rather cash our Mahalo Dollar for a Starbuck, Amazon, Zappos, etc. coupon than lose 25% when you cash out

- I rather to cash out ex. $25 Mahalo dollar for a $25 gift card instead lose 25% on cash.

2. What would you think of buying a $25 gift card to Zappos for M$10 that required a minimum purchase of $40? (i.e. you pay $10 for the gift card agree to spend $15 more in their store--getting $40 in merchandise for ~$25).

- I wouldn't do this. I don't like this kind of calculation when shopping.

3. What kind of gift cards would you like to see us partner with?

- newegg and amazon

4. Would being able to cash out lower amounts (i.e. less than M$40) motivate you cash out for gift cards? (i.e. if you could cash out at M$10 say).

- Yes, more options always good.

5. Would being able to cash out any time for a gift card instead of monthly for cash matter to you/be appreciated?

- Yes.
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My choice would be Amazon and Starbucks. We do have Red Lobster on the east coast, but I don't go there much. I think this is a great idea. It gives folks more options which is always a good thing.
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Amazon is my #1 choice, too.

Other alternatives are welcome, by preference something that has to do with what we're doing here. So, Starbucks would probably not qualify. I'm not talking about political correctness, but if little extra effort is made to have these partnerships in some way reflect "Mahalo spirit", as people like to say here, it would be appreciated.

Another thing that's important for me is to be able to use these coupons to purchase things on line.

There are two more points I'd like to comment on specifically:

2. What would you think of buying a $25 gift card to Zappos for M$10 that required a minimum purchase of $40? (i.e. you pay $10 for the gift card agree to spend $15 more in their store--getting $40 in merchandise for ~$25).

NO! I don't like that kind of stuff. I don't mind if an option is there, though, for other people to choose if they want to.

5. Would being able to cash out any time for a gift card instead of monthly for cash matter to you/be appreciated?

YES, I like this.

p.s.
I didn't see you were looking for a specific kind of photo, before posting mine - it doesn't fit your description exactly, but I still like it!
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RE1: Yes, I would definitely would rather get a gift card than loose %25 of my mahalo dollars.

RE2: No, I hate it when stores require you to pay cash for something to use a gift card.

RE3: As many retailers as possible. Some that come to mind are Game Stop, Newegg, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart. I would also be interested in downloadable software.

RE4: Yes, definitely. I still haven't reached that magical M$40 checkpoint, and am beginning to wonder if it will ever happen.

RE5: Not really. I'm patient, especially for things I didn't pay money for.
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Nope. all those companies are US based (excpet Virgin America, we have Virgin Blue and Virgin Pacific).

For your overseas users, vouchers have a utility and possably a tax issue.

Most US companies do not reconise overseas markets. However, some companies like Amazon do have a public profile here, and are starting to get a presence in the market.

In Australia, vouchers are treated as a fringe benifit and impose a tax on the employer at the higest tax rate. While Mahalo is not an australian company, and does not have an Australian Business Number, nor an employer of australians under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936/1997 it could create an issue in the future if people make sizable income from Answers. As it stands now, Malhalo income could be classed as a windfall like gambling, as long as the income is not regular.

Disclaimer, this answer does not represent advice from the COmmonwealth of Australia and/or the Australian Tax Office and is personal opinion only.
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1. Would you rather cash our Mahalo Dollar for a Starbuck, Amazon, Zappos, etc. coupon than lose 25% when you cash out
yes, that sounds like a GREAT idea!!! But for all the questions, it would only work if the coupons work for Canada.

2. What would you think of buying a $25 gift card to Zappos for M$10 that required a minimum purchase of $40? (i.e. you pay $10 for the gift card agree to spend $15 more in their store--getting $40 in merchandise for ~$25).
- that sounds like a good idea if there was specific merchandise that I wanted to buy at that store in that price range. For example, I have not seen a better selection of crocs anywhere......although for Canada at least their plus size clothing is not there yet.

3. What kind of gift cards would you like to see us partner with?
I looked in my search engine under wiki combined with the words department store (eg. Wal Mart, Zellers, Sears, The Bay), grocery store (eg. Metro, Loblaws & affiliates, Sobey's) and discount store (eg. Wal Mart, Bargain Shop) and all of those categories sounded good. I also think that restaurants (eg. Swiss Chalet, Pizza Pizza) and coffee shops (eg. Tim Hortons, Starbucks only if they had a mailorder option as they dont seem to be located in economically depressed areas of the country) would work well. If you were to offer cards to electronics stores that could work if they also offer other products because in moving I saw how dropping a computer only a few inches can totally change it and would likely not trust getting one that way but may consider other products eg. software, gadgets, etc. if needed (eg. Dell Computers, NewEgg). Bookstores would work well also (eg. amazon.ca ). For specialty stores I would like housewares (eg. Paderno cookware from P.E.I.), art supplies, gardening supplies (eg. Lee Valley, Gardenimport, McFaydens, Stokes seeds), hardware stores (eg. Home Hardware, Canadian Tire), specialty brand name items (eg. Naked Pizza if it comes to the frozen food section of the grocery store, quality food products eg. Planters Peanuts, Ben & Jerry's icecream, Haagen Dazs icecream, Green Giant veggies, High Liner frozen fish, various brands of soy meat substitute products, this list could go on infinitely as long as it is available locally), dessert stores (eg. Dairy Queen, Baskin Robbins), bakeries (eg. Dimpfelmeiers, Rudolphs). Electronics stores would work if they also carried other products than just computers as that might just be a large one time purchase (eg. Future Shop). Office supply stores would be great because they would have so much for work and for home (eg. Staples Business Depot). Local clothing stores would also be great (eg. Pennington's, Old Navy, Cotton Ginny). Movie coupons would work (eg. Cineplex Odeon). Did I leave anything out? I think that you would use different cards for different times so a wide range of cards would work really well.

4. Would being able to cash out lower amounts (i.e. less than M$40) motivate you cash out for gift cards? (i.e. if you could cash out at M$10 say).
Yes, that sounds great! You may have more than one account from various types of logins and although one is your main account a quick email or twitter account is unlikely to ever reach $40 to cash out - so that $10 cash out limit would be extra motivation to get that extra few dollars so you could get a coupon. Great idea! Otherwise some would be wasted accounts re cashing out. That makes Mahalo MUCH more useful!

5. Would being able to cash out any time for a gift card instead of monthly for cash matter to you/be appreciated? Yes, it would be appreciated to be able to cash out any time for a gift card. Right now being able to cash out any time is not an issue, but really, this economy could change anything for any of us, you never know, so that at any time you may need to cash out your buffer money in Mahalo for things you may need or want to get sooner.

6. Post the logo/commercial from your favorite store/restaurant you would MOST like to cash in Mahalo dollars for gift cards to!!!
http://www.walmart.ca/wps-portal/storelocator/images/wm_white-intro.jpg

Thanks for the feedback everyone... my plan is to email this page to the vendors so please give detailed responses and if you're excited about this let me (them!) hear it!!!
Source(s):
http://www.walmart.ca

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