Patent ID: 8682715

Claim:
A method of redeeming a gift card having an associated programmed monetary value and incentivizing a user to purchase goods and services from a merchant in an amount exceeding said programmed monetary value, said method including the steps of: obtaining a gift card; establishing an associated monetary card balance of said gift card, wherein said associated monetary card balance is recorded in a database provided on a storage medium accessible via a respective merchant service system; determining a purchase amount of a user's desired purchase during a checkout process using transaction software hosted by said merchant; reading an identity of said gift card presented by a user; recalling a monetary card balance associated with said gift card by one of obtaining said associated monetary card balance stored within a storage media integrated with said gift card and obtaining said associated monetary card balance associated with said gift card by submitting a reference associated with said gift card and contacting said respective merchant service system; comparing said determined purchase amount with said associated monetary card balance; revising said recorded associated monetary card balance in said database by electronically communicating with said respective merchant service system, wherein said recorded associated monetary card balance is reduced by the lower of said purchase amount of a user's desired purchase and said associated monetary card balance; in a condition where said purchase amount is greater than said associated monetary card balance, said transaction software hosted by said merchant calculates a balance owing in excess of said associated monetary card balance; discounting said calculated balance owing by a predetermined percentage, wherein said discounting and balance owing calculations are completed by said transaction software; and receiving a secondary form of monetary value from said user for payment of said discounted balance owing.