West Seattle startup Tango Card wants to remind you to redeem your gift cards

Consumers expect to give as many or more gift cards this holiday season, according to a new survey by Corporate Research International.

But the natiowide survey also suggests that many gift cards will go unused: Nearly half of those who received at least one gift card last season had not yet redeemed it by this season.

West Seattle startup Tango Card wants to change that. Its Web site lets consumers register their gift cards for free so they can better keep track of them. The startup also offers an iPhone application and quarterly email alerts.

Founder and CEO David Leeds asserts that about $15 billion of gift-card value annually is bought and never used. Before creating Tango Card in January, Leeds assembled focus groups in Seattle and Portland to find out why.

"People told us that they either forgot about their gift cards completely or put them somewhere and forgot to use them when they bought something," he said. Another common explanation: "People will use their gift card to purchase something once, and they don't know how much value is left and literally throw it away."

Most retailers allow customers to check their gift-card balances online, enabling Tango Card to do so on their behalf, Leeds said. "We're trying to provide you a bunch of ways to remind you to go use your gift card. You can check the Web site or iPhone application, or once a quarter, we'll send you an email."

Tango Card employs seven full-time workers and hopes to move to bigger offices in Sodo by the middle of next year, Leeds said.

For now, it has one revenue stream: Retailers including Barnes & Noble, Target and Wal-Mart pay a small commission when customers click from its Web site to theirs and redeem a gift card.

Leeds ticks off three reasons why all of this matters to retailers:
--Customers who redeem their gift cards typically spend 30 percent more than the full value.
--Gift cards are recorded as revenue only after they're used.
--And there's a concern that people could become fed up with unused gift cards and stop giving them.