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Half-Price Gift Certificates Available For Top Restaurants

Tracy Davidson, NBC 10 Consumer Reporter

How would you like to save a ton of money when you eat out?
NBC 10's Consumer Alert team has the details. Thanks to the Web site Restaurant.com., it is surprisingly simple.

Restaurant.com designs Web sites for restaurants for free and, in return, the restaurants accept the gift certificates they sell. More than 225 restaurants in the Delaware Valley participate. You can see pictures of inside the restaurants and view menus. If you like what you see, buy the gift certificate right there and use them that night if you want.

"They get sent an e-mail link that says, 'Here's your gift certificate, please print it out and enjoy your dinner,'" said Scott Brodof of Restaurant.com. The best part is that their $25 gift certificates sell for half price. You only have to pay $12.50, plus a 50 cent transaction fee. Anthony Masapollo is the manager at Le Castagne in Center City, which is a participating restaurant.

"They offer that exposure. It's a way to give the customer an invitation to come into the restaurant," Masapollo said. Restaurants limit the number of certificates they put up for sale each day...so the same ones may not always be available, but if one for your favorite restaurant is not available, go to eBay. Some of Restaurant.com's gift certificates are auctioned off there-- so you may be able to get one of those $25 gift certificates for even less than $12.50. You can only use one gift certificate per visit and one each month.

Related Resources

• www.restaurant.com

• eBay Auction Web Site

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