CardStar

App Aims: Keep Your Cards in One Convenient Location
Reviewer Comments:
If we know you, and we think we do, you want to save money. Not just save money, but get rewarded for spending your money. Is that right? That means you probably have loyalty cards to 90 percent of the places you shop, just like us. Go to the grocery store, get a discount. Go to your favorite clothing store, get a reward. These are all things that businesses get us to spend more money, right?
So what to do with all our cards? Every place either gives a credit card sized card or a smaller card to add on our keychains. But to prevent us from hauling around books full of cards and having our keychains weigh 20 pounds, the CardStar iPod/iPhone app has the answer.
You might ask how CardStar can help us continue to save money and get rewarded without having to drag around hundreds of loyalty cards. Have no fear. You simply enter one of the many cards they accept. Out of all our cards, the only ones they didn’t have available at the time of this review was Shopko, a retail superstore with 142 stores in 13 states in the western and northern United States and Maverick, a gas station chain with over 400 locations in the Midwestern United States. While these two examples will most likely be added over time, right now it’s not a huge oversight. One of the things we love best about this app is that it’s absolutely free.
One of the things we didn’t like about the app was the selection process of the cards. When we initially tested it, we thought we could go through the list and select all the cards we wanted to add and then it would pull them up one by one to be added, but you can only select one at a time and then hit the Next button. Obviously this isn’t that big of a deal, but it would have been nice if, after selecting a card, it took us to the screen where we could add information.
Once you have your card information added in, you can use your iPhone as your card and have the cashier scan it to take advantage of the deals. CardStar also shows the information of your closest retailer and their webpage along with a telephone number to contact them. Another beneficial thing that CardStar offers is each retailer can add different deals available through your iPhone.
You can enter in your current card information or you can sign up online with a limited number of retailers. Be sure you have an internet connection if you want to access this.
Conveniently located within the app is the opportunity to send an email directly to CardStar’s customer support if you have an issue. They also provide a link to their Twitter feed and their home page. They also have a great Help section with a detailed information page and a FAQs list. One thing we noticed with this app is that to access the Help screen we had to edit our cards. Otherwise, we never would have found it.
If you’re a retailer I would suggest adding CardStar to your list of things to do. After all, it’s all about pleasing the customer right? And who wouldn’t want to make things more convenient for them?
Summary: