How to Turn Gift Cards into Cash
Did you ever receive a gift card to a store where you never shop? Or have you ever had a gift card to a store that filed for bankruptcy, like Sharper Image? When a retailer files for chapter 7 bankruptcy, gift card holders get in line with every other unsecured creditor. What does that mean? It means you can kiss the value of your gift card goodbye. One solution is to run out and spend the gift card if you hear the retailer is in financial turmoil. But there is another solution.
Buy and Sell Gift Cards
There is an active secondary market for gift cards. And one place to buy, sell or trade gift cards is called Plastic Jungle. Registration, which is free, is required to buy, sell or trade gift cards. You can save money and lots of it by buying gift cards, but let's first look at generating cash from selling cards.
Selling Gift Cards with Plastic Jungle
There are two options for selling a gift card on Plastic Jungle. First, you can sell the card directly to PJ for what they call "Quick Cash." PJ's Quick Cash page has a nifty tool that will tell you how much they will pay for your card. A $50 AMC Theatre gift card, for example, will net you $32.50. A $50 Best Buy card gets you $35. From what I can tell, the highest paying gift cards sold through PJ's Quick Cash payout at 70% of the face value of the card.
Second, you can put your card up for sale to third parties on PJ's site. You set your own price, and can accept cash or trade. You can also enable a feature to allow bidders to make a counter offer.
Buy Discounted Gift Cards
If you can sell gift cards on Plastic Jungle, you can also buy gift cards, and at a great discount. I noticed, for example, that Home Depot gift cards are selling at an 8% discount off the card's face value. So why would one ever shop at Home Depot without one of these discounted cards? I guess to avoid the hassle of buying the card online. But if you plan ahead, you can save a lot of money by buying these cards and using them at the retailers you shop at regularly. Now that's smart money management at its best.
Trade Gift Cards
If you have a gift card for a store where you don't shop, another option is to trade the card. A trade can avoid the loss of 30% or more when you sell the card, and you can nab a gift card for a store where you enjoy shopping. Plastic Jungle has a section for trading gift cards. When card owners list their cards for sale, they can also list gift cards they would consider for a trade.
All in all Plastic Jungle looks like a great online tool to manage your money. I expect to start buying discounted cards for those retailers where we shop every month. If you've used Plastic Jungle, please let us know what you think.
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You can get more for your gift cards by selling it on ebay. But then of course, it looks like you maybe be able to buy it for a greater discount at Plastic Jungle.
Christine, thanks for the tip.
This is pretty neat. I had no idea this type of service existed. I think my son will benefit from this as he never uses all the gift cards he gets for holidays/birthdays.
There goes by business idea!
Actually, I always wondered if this type of thing (outside of ebay) existed. This post saved me doing the research. I’ll check it out and with the holidays coming up in a few months (how the year has flown), I want to get in early and save a few % when I shop.
I’m always reluctant to sell my gift cards for less than face value, but I guess if the alternative is not really using them for things I need, perhaps I should consider it.
That being said, your point about how its almost always worthwhile to buy discounted gift cards is interesting… there are probably a lot of applications for that, and I’ll have to keep it in mind.
I’m glad to see more and more solutions to the problems that typically plague gift cards. Let’s reduce the money that goes unused!
I count no less than 28 sites related to buying, selling, swapping, trading, or transferring the balance of your gift card now. You can find a list at http://www.giftcardadvocate.org on the resource page.
My own frustrations with Visa gift cards prompted me to create a service to transfer the balance of Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover gift cards to PayPal instantly. You can find it at http://www.cashfromcards.com.
This is a great idea, but I have one question. I have had restaurant gift cards expire on me. So do store gift cards have expiration dates? And if so, how can you be sure you are not buying an expired one off the site? (I guess that was two questions!) Thank you for your advice.