Alright, we continue our series of wish list service reviews. Now we’re looking at Gifthero, a website based in the United States. This site has been online since 2015, and they’ve gained some good opinions. Gifthero is the first review we make about an American site, so let’s get to it.
First impression
The main page has a friendly and minimalist layout. It doesn’t display 3rd party ads, so a check mark for that. At the top, there are some options: create a wish list, find friends (other users) and some ideas for gifts. There are also links to the blog, help, information about the page and links to logging in and signing up. You can sign in with Google and Facebook, so a check mark for multiple logins. After that, there’s another link to registration page (“Get Started” button) and information about the features of the service. Finally, at the bottom of the front page, you’ll find some of the links mentioned earlier and a few more. These include browser plugins, mobile app and links to social media platforms where they have a presence. Browser plugins are extensions that work as bookmarklets for Chrome, Safari and Mozilla Firefox. Moreover, Mobile Apps are available for Android and iOS (check mark for that, too).
Privacy and Security
They have a privacy policy in place, in which they divide collected information in two types: non-personal information and personal information. The first is made up of usage data, IP addresses, demographic information, and cursor movements. However, IP address is classified as PII (Personally Identifiable Information) in the EU. If you use a mobile, the type of device you use, your mobile device’s unique ID and your mobile OS are also in this group. The latter includes name, email, birthday and mailing address.
In the privacy policy, we also find something unsettling. They state that they may use non-personal information at their complete discretion. They reserve the right to use and disclose it to their partners, advertisers and other third parties. This alone would be more than enough for concluding that they don't respect user privacy.
Then we check their site and how it works. We see that they place cookies from at least 6 different 3rd parties. There are Google, Intercom, Pusher, Bugsnag, and affiliate cookies from Amazon and LinkShare. No check mark for not having affiliates, and no check mark for “Respects your privacy”.
The site has SSL protection and earned an “A” from SSLlabs. That is good, and they get a check mark from that. However, what is the point of protecting the communication if they themselves leak your information to databrokers?
Wish list functionality
Let's sign up to the service. You can choose to register using your social media account or email account. Select your preferred option and the page will do the rest. If you choose to register using email, fill in the information required. After that, you’ll get access to the user’s main page. There, you can edit your personal data. This includes profile pic, names, username, birthday, biography and social media. Once you have done this, you can proceed to create wish lists.
Gift hero offers two types of lists: user’s wish list and expert list. Let’s focus on the first type. It is a universal wish list, you can use it for any occasions: birthdays, Christmas, weddings or any other.
Select the type, and make it public or private. Selection between public and private list is a bit confusing, as the 'private' button looks disabled. However, clicking on it will make the list private. But what does it mean ? At the bottom of the screen, there is a link to more information about list privacy settings, but the link (https://support.gifthero.com/managing-wish-lists/whats-the-difference-between-a-public-list-and-a-private-one) leads to a non-existent page.
Wish lists are public by default, which is also a bit strange. Especially when they have an explicit option for public lists - the Expert list.
You can share public lists via email, Twitter, Facebook or a link. For private ones, only those with a link can access it. Well, we can give a check mark for private lists.
Once you do this, we reach the wish list menu. From here, you can edit the name and photo of your wishlist and, of course, add wishes!
Wish adding
On this page, you may add wishes from anywhere (check mark for that). You can do it filling in all the information or by copying and pasting the link of the product. If you choose the first option, add a name, quantity and price. In the second case, the system tries to retrieve all the information of the product. In my test, it managed to fetch the name of the product correctly, but not the price. However, it is easy to fix, as you will need to accept the fetched results where the values are presented clearly. Just remember to check them.
GiftHero supports item tracking. So, if someone bought you a gift, he or she may confirm the gift purchase. You can see that at your wish list menu, if you accept spoiler alert. So, a check mark for surprise me functionality. However, the service doesn’t support group purchasing (no check mark for that).
Regarding multi language, no check mark for that because the site is always in English. This is understandable, because it is an American site.
It also has a modern and appealing GUI, which scales to different screen sizes, so check mark for that. Besides, it’s got a mobile app, as I said before, for Android and iOS.
This mobile app is odd, because with the app itself you can’t do much else than add wishes to existing lists. But at least the app is named accurately as "Gift Hero’s Add to Wish List app".
There is also one other functionality in the app that we noticed. They have added a new sharing method in the global sharing menu, so that you can send items to your wish list from many other apps.
Conclusion
We’ve covered almost everything. The purchased gifts remain hidden, so you can’t see them unless you explicitly choose to check them. The site lacks an explicit bookmarklet, but offers valid alternatives for it with browser plugins. So, I’ll give a check mark for the bookmarklet.
There are two extra functionalities rarely seen before. Remember that second type of wish list? The one called Expert Wish List. It’s more like a reference wish list. You create it and put in there everything you think someone would like to get and make that list public. So, when your friends, or anybody else, need ideas for their own wish lists, they can check out your list. Also, there’s a bookmark option in which you can follow other people's expert wish lists.
Well, that’s all folks. Gifthero is a solid wish list service. It covers all the basic needs for a wish list, except respecting users privacy. It has also a very limited mobile app with a clever sharing method that compliments the web service. GiftHero is also now added to our wishlist comparison table. Check it out!
wishlist service review for Gifthero
First impression
The main page has a friendly and minimalist layout. It doesn’t display 3rd party ads, so a check mark for that. At the top, there are some options: create a wish list, find friends (other users) and some ideas for gifts. There are also links to the blog, help, information about the page and links to logging in and signing up. You can sign in with Google and Facebook, so a check mark for multiple logins. After that, there’s another link to registration page (“Get Started” button) and information about the features of the service. Finally, at the bottom of the front page, you’ll find some of the links mentioned earlier and a few more. These include browser plugins, mobile app and links to social media platforms where they have a presence. Browser plugins are extensions that work as bookmarklets for Chrome, Safari and Mozilla Firefox. Moreover, Mobile Apps are available for Android and iOS (check mark for that, too).
Privacy and Security
They have a privacy policy in place, in which they divide collected information in two types: non-personal information and personal information. The first is made up of usage data, IP addresses, demographic information, and cursor movements. However, IP address is classified as PII (Personally Identifiable Information) in the EU. If you use a mobile, the type of device you use, your mobile device’s unique ID and your mobile OS are also in this group. The latter includes name, email, birthday and mailing address.
In the privacy policy, we also find something unsettling. They state that they may use non-personal information at their complete discretion. They reserve the right to use and disclose it to their partners, advertisers and other third parties. This alone would be more than enough for concluding that they don't respect user privacy.
Then we check their site and how it works. We see that they place cookies from at least 6 different 3rd parties. There are Google, Intercom, Pusher, Bugsnag, and affiliate cookies from Amazon and LinkShare. No check mark for not having affiliates, and no check mark for “Respects your privacy”.
The site has SSL protection and earned an “A” from SSLlabs. That is good, and they get a check mark from that. However, what is the point of protecting the communication if they themselves leak your information to databrokers?
Wish list functionality
Let's sign up to the service. You can choose to register using your social media account or email account. Select your preferred option and the page will do the rest. If you choose to register using email, fill in the information required. After that, you’ll get access to the user’s main page. There, you can edit your personal data. This includes profile pic, names, username, birthday, biography and social media. Once you have done this, you can proceed to create wish lists.
Gift hero offers two types of lists: user’s wish list and expert list. Let’s focus on the first type. It is a universal wish list, you can use it for any occasions: birthdays, Christmas, weddings or any other.
Select the type, and make it public or private. Selection between public and private list is a bit confusing, as the 'private' button looks disabled. However, clicking on it will make the list private. But what does it mean ? At the bottom of the screen, there is a link to more information about list privacy settings, but the link (https://support.gifthero.com/managing-wish-lists/whats-the-difference-between-a-public-list-and-a-private-one) leads to a non-existent page.
Wish lists are public by default, which is also a bit strange. Especially when they have an explicit option for public lists - the Expert list.
You can share public lists via email, Twitter, Facebook or a link. For private ones, only those with a link can access it. Well, we can give a check mark for private lists.
Once you do this, we reach the wish list menu. From here, you can edit the name and photo of your wishlist and, of course, add wishes!
Wish adding
On this page, you may add wishes from anywhere (check mark for that). You can do it filling in all the information or by copying and pasting the link of the product. If you choose the first option, add a name, quantity and price. In the second case, the system tries to retrieve all the information of the product. In my test, it managed to fetch the name of the product correctly, but not the price. However, it is easy to fix, as you will need to accept the fetched results where the values are presented clearly. Just remember to check them.
GiftHero supports item tracking. So, if someone bought you a gift, he or she may confirm the gift purchase. You can see that at your wish list menu, if you accept spoiler alert. So, a check mark for surprise me functionality. However, the service doesn’t support group purchasing (no check mark for that).
Regarding multi language, no check mark for that because the site is always in English. This is understandable, because it is an American site.
It also has a modern and appealing GUI, which scales to different screen sizes, so check mark for that. Besides, it’s got a mobile app, as I said before, for Android and iOS.
This mobile app is odd, because with the app itself you can’t do much else than add wishes to existing lists. But at least the app is named accurately as "Gift Hero’s Add to Wish List app".
There is also one other functionality in the app that we noticed. They have added a new sharing method in the global sharing menu, so that you can send items to your wish list from many other apps.
Conclusion
We’ve covered almost everything. The purchased gifts remain hidden, so you can’t see them unless you explicitly choose to check them. The site lacks an explicit bookmarklet, but offers valid alternatives for it with browser plugins. So, I’ll give a check mark for the bookmarklet.
There are two extra functionalities rarely seen before. Remember that second type of wish list? The one called Expert Wish List. It’s more like a reference wish list. You create it and put in there everything you think someone would like to get and make that list public. So, when your friends, or anybody else, need ideas for their own wish lists, they can check out your list. Also, there’s a bookmark option in which you can follow other people's expert wish lists.
Well, that’s all folks. Gifthero is a solid wish list service. It covers all the basic needs for a wish list, except respecting users privacy. It has also a very limited mobile app with a clever sharing method that compliments the web service. GiftHero is also now added to our wishlist comparison table. Check it out!
See you in our next review.
Cheers,
WishSimply
Read the previous wishlist review (mywishBoard).