Buy And Sell Gift Cards For Cash

If you need some money, you can buy and sell gift cards for cash. Did you know that about 19-27% of gift cards go unused? That’s like giving money away to retailers. Unfortunately you can’t exchange gift cards for full cash value or perform what’s called a “money transfer” to your own bank account. However, this also presents an opportunity since there is a second-hand market for gift cards. Most often, the second-hand market favors the buyer of gift cards because they pay less than the value of the card. This still benefits the seller because they can cash out and use the cash however they want. There are at least three ways that you can spend less by leveraging gift cards.

If you have a gift card, but it’s not for the retailer where you want to buy something, then you can sell the gift card and use the cash.  This is the least efficient way to use a gift card because most likely you will end up selling it for less than it’s value. It still helps you spend less because you can use the cash that you didn’t have otherwise. You can get up to 95% of the value for popular retailers like Wal-Mart and Target. The less popular the retailer the less cash value you’ll get for the card.

The second way to spend less with gift cards is to trade your gift card for one retailer with someone else who has the gift card to the retailer you want. You could still potentially get less than your card’s value, but more likely this will be an even trade and you don’t lose any value this way. An even trade is challenging because most resources in this niche only allow you to buy or sell, not trade. So you’d need a resource like Craigslist or social media find someone who will make this trade with you.

The third way to spend less with gift cards is to buy gift cards in the second-hand market. If you’re looking to buy at a certain store, why not buy a gift card for less than its retail value? Do you want an item worth $25 but only have a budget for $10? Simple, buy a $25 gift card for $10 and use the card at the store. That’s a net of $15 in free money! Most discounts will be between 5-25%.

Is Cash From Selling Gift Cards Actually Free?

If you pay for the gift card, then it’s not actually free since you’re spending money. But it is a way to spend less if you already know you’re going to shop at a specific place. This is akin to trading or selling used items for additional cash. If you had to pay for those items initially then it’s not free money, it’s really a reduction of the initial price that you paid.

If you received the gift card as a gift, then it is actually free, and liquidating it will allow you to use the remaining cash to buy anything. Again, this is not as efficient, but it is more flexible. I’m not sure why people feel more comfortable giving gift cards as gifts instead of cash. If it’s the thought that counts then I’d appreciate it if you would think of the fact that cash is the most flexible gift you can give. Gift cards are more of a gift to the retailers than to consumers.

There may be some ways that you could acquire gift cards besides receiving them as gifts. You might get one as a trade or find one while dumpster diving. In any case where you get the card for free, the money you can get when you cash out would be free.

You could potentially combine this strategy with other strategies to get freebies. For example, if a gift card market online allows you refer a friend for cash, then you can refer friends to sell their gift cards. Then you’d get credit for those referrals, which you could use to buy a gift card in the same gift card market.

Where Can I Buy and Sell Gift Cards?

Some general resources where you can buy and sell gift cards include Craigslist and eBay. However there are also specific platforms that focus on this niche.

Raise.com – No up front fees, you set the price.

GiftCardGranny.com – “Gift Card Granny has been saving shoppers money since 2009. Originally founded as the first gift card comparison site, Granny has grown from a single person operation to a team of close to 40 employees. Today, Gift Card Granny is the largest discount gift card website on the Internet – with over 400,000 gift card deals and over 18 million visitors a year.”

CardPool.com – “Cardpool is a gift card exchange that makes it easy for anyone to safely and securely buy discounted gift cards at up to 35% off or sell unwanted gift cards for up to 92% of their value. Cardpool customers have saved over $32 million and counting.”

CardCash.com – “CardCash.com was founded in 2008 by two childhood friends, Elliot Bohm and Marc Ackerman, looking for a way to get rid of their unwanted gift cards into much-needed cash. The pair started the web’s first secondary gift card market for unused gift cards.”

GiftCardBin – “GiftCardBin has a mission to become the #1 online source to buy or sell gift cards. What does this mean to you? This means we will try harder and provide better service to our customers to ensure 100% satisfaction and 100% trust, we guarantee it.”

GiftCardZen – Gift card exchange site owned by By RetailMeNot.

More resources can be found in the Cash For Stuff directory. More will be added there as they are discovered.

Additional Tips

Not all gift cards are for specific retailers. If it says “Visa” or “Mastercard” on it, then there is a chance you can use the card anywhere even if it has the name of a retailer or brand on it.

Do you have any tips or resources to add to this page? Let us know.