Bargain Quest

Instead of purchasing gift certificates to a specific restaurant, buy a Restaurant.com gift certificate. These can later be exchanged into restaurant-specific dining certificates. There are numerous denominations available, starting at a $25 certificate for $10. You can apply the 70% discount code CHEERS as usual, making the $25 certificate cost only $3, then checkout and choose the “customize later” option. Your certificates will be reflected in “My Account” under “My Certificates” as “Restaurant.com Gift Certificates.”

Check back January 1, when (hopefully) the restaurant you want is in stock. Make note of the Gift Certificate number in your account, choose the Redeem Gift tab, enter the GC number, and shop!

Advantages to this method:
1. As mentioned, you can acquire your certificate of choice when in stock next month, but take advantage of the best promotional price now.
2. At a cost of $3 apiece, you can stock up on $25 GC’s for eating out throughout the upcoming year, without having to commit to a particular restaurant far in advance.
3. As far as I know, you have up to one year to exchange your Restaurant.com certificate for a restaurant-specific one, then another year from the date of the exchange to use it at the restaurant before it expires.
4. It’s possibly a way to get around paying extra for restaurants that charge a premium for their certificates -
     Ex. Several Mexican restaurants in my area list $12.50 instead of $10 as the purchase price for their $25 cert. However, a $25 Restaurant.com certificate that cost me $3 should be exchangeable for their $25 that would cost me $3.75 (70% off $12.50). I haven’t tested this!

What you can’t do is receive an additional discount when converting Restaurant.com GC’s to restaurant GC’s. The the exchange system is set up to prevent it.