Cash Goes in, Gift Certificate Comes Out -- Coinstar Now Offering Gift Certificates Redeemable At Amazon.com With No Transaction Fee

The Coin to Card(TM) program from Coinstar is a new service that allows the average American to take the approximately $99 in loose change that is sitting in their house and turn it into clothing, music, books, movies and more from Amazon.com, including many items offered on the site by third party sellers.

"We're always working to make buying on Amazon.com more convenient for customers," said Toni Reid, Director of Business Development. "We're excited to work with Coinstar to make using cash for online purchases easy with no additional cost, as there are thousands of Coinstar Centers around the country and there is no transaction fee to turn coins or bills into a gift certificate redeemable at Amazon.com."

Coinstar estimates that approximately $10.5 billion in spare change is sitting unused in American households and previous to this arrangement, there was no easy way for consumers to spend this money online. The Coinstar and Amazon agreement creates one of the first self-service methods for using cash to make purchases on the Internet.

"We're thrilled to offer gift certificates redeemable at Amazon.com as part of our Coin to Card(TM) program," said Peter Rowan, Vice President of New Business Innovation at Coinstar, Inc. "Using idle change or found money to make online purchases brings 'shopping freedom' to consumers who either prefer to use cash or don't have access to credit."