Have you considered selling your gift cards? Gift cards are real money you might have lying around in your junk drawer. After the holidays or your birthday, you may find yourself with a coffee or retail store card you might never use.
You can sell your gift cards for cash to spend on what you really want. It’s a great way to earn extra money. The sites listed below talk a small cut, but it’s better than having a piece of plastic you might never use.
Did you know 65% of people that receive a gift card will spend on average 38% more than what the card is worth? Meaning if you get a $50 gift card you’ll probably spend an extra $19 ($69 total).
Instead of spending more than what your gift card is worth, how about selling it and getting some cash instead?
Best websites to sell your gift cards
We’ve compiled a list of the best websites to sell your gift cards and get some cold, hard cash you can use to get out of debt, start an emergency fund, or get started investing.
We experimented with the most popular gift cards according to the National Retail Federation.
What about Amazon gift cards? Nope. We couldn’t find any place to buy back your Amazon gift cards. If you want to sell your Amazon gift card, check one of the options mentioned in the next section.
While there used to be many websites to buy gift cards, most have closed their doors or consolidated. When we published this article, there were only two left – CardPool and CardCash.
CardPool compared to CardCash
We visited each site and tested five popular gift cards, using a balance of $100 for each card to see what we could get. Here’s how CardPool compares to CardCash on the gift card payouts:
| Store | CardPool | CardCash |
| Target | $87.00 | $83.00 |
| Walmart | $90.50 | $85.00 |
| Starbucks | $73.00 | $73.00 |
| Apple Store | $89.00 | $60.00 |
| Best Buy | $88.00 | Not accepted |
Hands down CardPool was the winner. There were some minor differences. CardPool would not buy back iTunes gift cards (only Apple store gift cards). And CardCash wouldn’t buy back BestBuy gift cards in any value.
Click here to see how much your gift card is worth on CardPool.
The gift card graveyard
These sites used to offer similar services but no longer do. If you Google for places to sell your gift cards, save your time and don’t bother with these sites.
GiftCardRescue – closed
PlasticJungle – closed
GiftCards.com – GiftCards.com is a great place to buy gift cards at a discount. GiftCards.com has partnered with CardPool to purchase your unused gift cards.
Steps for selling your gift cards
The two websites we tested have similar instructions.
- Enter in the information about your card including the brand and balance.
- You’ll get an instant quote on what they company will pay for your card
- Get paid instantly or wait to have a check mailed to you.
If you use CardPool, they will give you an additional 6% more if you agree to be paid with an Amazon gift card. It’s a pretty good deal if you shop at Amazon already.
Earn cash by selling on Raise
Raise is a site where it’s free to list your gift card for sale, and you set the selling price. Once your card sells you can get your money via direct deposit, PayPal, or check.
The drawback of selling gift cards on Raise is you have to wait for someone to buy your gift card. Set the price too high, and you’ll never sell it.
It’s a great way to maximize the amount of money you get, but you’ll have to be patient and wait. It’s a bit like doing For Sale By Owner with a house. Yes, you’ll likely get more money, but you have to wait longer for the sale to complete.
Selling gift cards on eBay
If you’re thinking about selling your gift card on eBay, think again. It’s quite possibly the worse place to sell your gift card. On eBay you’ll only get 80–90% of the face value of your gift card, plus you’ll pay seller’s fees on top of that.
For example, if you have a $100 iTunes gift card, your top bid might be $80.00. You’ll pay 8% for the eBay listing fees. Plus if you get paid by PayPal they’ll take 2.9% as well. Suddenly your $100 gift card is worth $70 to you. No thanks.
Stick with the sites listed above to sell your gift cards for cash, and you’ll get more of the face value. Plus you get instant cash and don’t have to deal with bidders and auctions. You save time and get more money.
How to get started
Check both of the sites where you can sell your cards to make sure you’re getting the best price. Shop around to get the best offer. Also look at the terms of the sale. Some gift card buying sites will pick up the shipping costs for you.
In our testing CardPool was the simplest and quickest service, paying out 70–90% of the face value of your gift card balance. But as a savvy shopper you want to comparison shop with CardCash too.
Please come back and leave a comment with how much cash you got!
Disclaimer: Yep, this article has affiliate links. It’s how we pay for the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream around here.
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