Want to collect Target Gift Cards?

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Introduction

      This is a guide to collecting, selling, buying, and finding Target GiftCards and maintaining your collection efficiently.

Technical Information

      Currently there are over 750 different Target GiftCards that I know of and more than 2000 variations likely. The GiftCards are normally classified by item#, otherwise known as the event#. Every card will usually have the item# printed on the back in the form of 4 numbers. But for the cards that don't have an item#, it will be contained within the Event number instead. For example, if the event number is: 0-790-01-0094-1, then that is item# 0094, otherwise known as card #0094. Now for older cards from before 2000, there won't be an event number at all, and thus they won't have item numbers either. They will only have a Card# and a Form#. In this case just use the Form number for classifying and searching for those cards. Also, a word of advice regarding those cards older than 2000, grab them while you can, because they will usually disappear quickly and end up selling for hundreds on eBay later. Now, the Form numbers have since then been replaced by the event/item number on newer cards. The picture below is of card #0094, and shows the transition from the old system to the new system. Just for your information, the actual Card# that appears on the back of Target GiftCards is useless. The Card# on Target GiftCards is not the catalog number, and won't appear on every other card like it. Only the Event# or Form# will actually appear on every card, so always use these for classifying purposes.

Variations

      Now, there are times when one item number will have numerous different art variations. This happens when Target releases a collection series or a corporate reprint. These collection series will often be multiple cards interconnected creating a larger picture, but not in every case. In this case most people just classify them by the item number followed by an "A", "B", "C", etc. to the end of the number. So be aware of this while searching for Target GiftCards, because you might see letters added to the end of the event/item numbers which don't actually appear on the card itself.

Detail on Variations

      Now, there are a few other variations, depending how crazy you want to really get with your collecting. For example there are In-store, online, corporate, vending machine, and regionally released cards. Many sellers on eBay though will mislabel these cards, and call online cards corporate cards when there not. Online cards are purchased through target.com directly and are only available there. Corporate cards are purchased from Target's corporate gift card center and likewise are only available there. Vending machine cards were available in machines at select stores and were extremely limited in production, but were abandoned a couple of years ago making them among some of the rarest Target GiftCards. In-store and regional cards come only from stores in the US. The difference between normal in-store and regional is that regional are only offered in certain parts of the country, spread about Target's 4 different regions of the US, and thus are scarcer and a good item to look for on eBay if you can’t locate them in stores or with other collectors. Additionally, there are gift certificates in the form of cards issued by Target directly or from the Gift Certificate Center, usually for things like business rewards or something similar, these too are also pretty rare.

      As for variations, the variations you will see right away, will be the presence of an "initial value" on the back of the cards or not.



    Most all the time, this initial value on the back means that the card is either a corporate issued card or an online issued card, and did not come from a store. Now there are some very old cards that came from stores that had the initial value, but there are very few of them. You can pretty much classify it immediately as either corporate or online when you see that initial value, but to make sure just check the copyright date. If it is from before 2001 it is likely from a store. Most GiftCard sellers on eBay and elsewhere  will add the initial value to the description of each auction, but be aware, there are people out there that don't understand and they will bid on those cards thinking they still have the initial value of money on them without reading everything first. So some auctions for these cards might get out of hand, but my advice, place a bid because the winner who misunderstood will likely back out of the auction giving you a second chance.

      Initial values are available in the range of $5 up to $1000 ($2000 for corporate cards), and it is up to you if you want to collect every single initial value of a particular card. However each initial value variation is technically a different card, and thus one more to add to your collection if you are really serious about it.

      Copyright years and release dates are another variation to look for. Often Target will release a GiftCard under the same event# but sometimes years after the first release. This will often change the copyright year and/or the release date. The release date and copyright year will often be found in the lower left hand corner, on the back of the card. The release date will be a series of four small numbers like this "0104". This would stand for a release date of January 2004. Changes in release date are rare, but occasionally pop up.

      As for physical variations, there are a few to look for. The main physical variations are the shape of the card and the image type. The physical shapes that are most commonly referred to are cards with Rounded Corners, Squared Corners, and Die-Cut cards. Die-Cut cards are cards that are cut into a fancy shape. As for image types, you have foil cards and Lenticular cards primarily that vary from the norm. Foil cards have a thin film of metallic foil on them giving them a rather iridescent look. Lenticular cards are cards that have a sort of ridged feel to the front and change pictures when moved. Lenticular cards are often also called 3-D cards, but in reality they are not.

      Now, many of the Target Gift Cards are produced from various materials intentionally, but some are mistakes or alterations to the original card release. Examples include things like, heavily rounded corners, when the normal card has square corners, and vice versa. Or occasionally the picture is just wrong... There are instances where a card number and form number match that of a card that is totally different looking. Now, in the case of corporate cards, this could be done intentionally, but in the case of website cards, and especially in-store cards. This is a mistake almost always. So keep you eye out for those weird cards...

Foreign Stuff

      There are currently two countries that have stores operating under the name Target. Those are the United States and Australia. However the two companies are technically un-related to one another. The United States chain is owner and operated by Target Corporation of the United States, while the Australian chain, is owned and operated by Coles Myer Ltd. of Australia.

For these cards from Australia, outside of fellow collectors, eBay or another auction site are the only places I have ever found them, but it is very rare even here. So grab them while you can.

      Regarding classifying Australian cards, it is a bit different from Target USA. For Target Australia cards, there will be a VERY small little number at the lower left corner of the back-side of the card, just under the magnetic strip. This number will have the form "TA000". The first three that were ever made don't have this number, so if it is missing you know it's one of the first three. Without the TA number, you tell which is older, by reading the serial number on the front of the card. Every card ever made in Australia has a sequential serial number on the front. Meaning no two are the same, and the higher the number, the newer the card. Currently I only know of about 30 Target Australia Cards, but that is plenty, because they are very hard to come by if you aren't from Australia...

Again, please note Target Australia is not connected to Target Corporation of the US in anyway, they simply have the same name and logo.

Searching on eBay

      To find these cards easily on eBay go to the following link, this will filter out the results on eBay giving you only the collectable Target GiftCards for sale minus the actual money bearing cards.

Click here to Filter out the Target GiftCard on eBay “within Collectibles”

or there is one other place to check as well,

Click here to Filter out the Target GiftCard on eBay“within Gift Certificates”

Card of the Week

Target GiftCard #0191

Legal Stuff

      We are NOT affiliated with Target Corporation, Target Australia Pty Ltd, or Coles Myer Ltd in any way.  The Target symbol and Bulls-eye puppy are registered trademarks of Target Brands, Inc.  We do NOT claim, imply, nor warrant any intrinsic right to Target’s Intellectual material or Trademarks. All protected material used throughout is utilized strictly for non-commercial purposes.

Lastly have fun...

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