The Pepper gift card reselling platform, the current mass market frontrunner in the race to move funds from venture capitalist bank accounts to your wallet, has a few newsworthy updates:
- They got a loan last week, and they did the most Pepper thing possible when filing: The CEO’s name is spelled wrong. (This is probably a bridge loan, VC funding definitely doesn’t look like this)
- Yesterday, they offered (with most of the cash back coming in a couple of weeks):
- Unlimited Amazon gift cards at 25% off
- Walmart gift cards at 24% off, up to $1,500 per account
- HomeDepot gift cards at 22% off, up to $3,000 per account
I think it’s clear that Pepper is eating most of the cost on these offerings, which could lead you to a few conclusions:
- They might be trying to pump sales in anticipation of funding hurdles and are fiscally fine
- They might be trying to make payroll and are fiscally almost dead
- They’re just benevolent and like giving away money, but they have plenty of it
One of those three is probably right. Make your risk/reward calculations accordingly. Since no one asked: I’ve been bringing down my Pepper float to smaller numbers gradually over the last couple of months, and I’m approaching zero but not there yet.
Finally, I want to add something to a common argument I hear about Pepper, which is “Who cares if I lose the $20,000 I have floated to Pepper right now? I made way more than that.” It’s a good point, but I’d like to offer that if you can catch the falling knife, you can make “way more than that” and still not lose $20,000.
Happy Thursday!
Live view of Pepper manufactured spenders.