Gift cards make great presents. They are quick and easy to buy, and you don’t have to worry about whether or not the recipient will like the gift. Gift cards make great presents even for the man (or woman), who has everything-no need to fret about whether she will like that Deluxe Shiatsu Foot Massager from The Shaper Image or if the Nose & Ear Trimmer with Vacuum will be to his liking; with a gift card, your special someone can pick something out for him or herself.
Not surprisingly, gift cards are becoming ever more popular; last year, Americans spent approximately $87 billion dollars on store gift cards alone-and that’s excluding bank issued cards, such as Visa or American express gift cards.
But despite the versatility of gift cards, every year hundreds of millions of dollars of value get lost on gift cards, because recipients either lose or forget about the card or can’t find a use for the card. With numbers like this in the balance, it would be only a matter of time before a secondary market for gift cards emerged.
A new breed of websites provide exactly that, giving gift cardholders the option to turn unwanted cards into cold, hard cash. With the help of sites ranging from Ebay to PlasticJungle.com, consumers have found a way to turn what was once a shopping spree at Nordstrom into a portion of their next month’s rent.
PlasticJungle.com, GiftCardRescue,com, MonsterGiftCard.com and many other such sites offer gift card recipients the chance to convert their cards to cash or even swap them out for other gift cards. Cards are purchased directly by the site, often at 60-90% of original face value.
Purchase price is determined by a number of factors: cards with greater liquidity, such as a Sears or Target card, will fetch more than brand-specific ones, such as gift cards from Old Navy or Red Lobster. Seasonality may also come into play; gift cards for the NFL Shop are more likely to fetch big bucks around the time of the Superbowl than they are in early April.
For people looking to cash in one card for another, gift card exchange sites give users the ability to purchase new cards at discounted rates. Many sites offer a better deal for those looking to trade in as opposed to simply cash in. Most of the discounted gift cards are priced at 90 percent of their original rate, but the keen shopper may be able find bargains of up to 30 percent off—especially if the card is from a lesser known merchant. Many gift card exchange sites also provide you the option of donating cards for the benefit of your favorite charity or nonprofit organization.
Even a partially used card has value; as long as the remaining balance is over $25, gift card exchange websites are happy to take it off your hands-and replace it with cash or credit.
If your gift card total hits below the $25 mark, or if you want to try your luck in the consumer marketplace, Ebay is a hot spot for the re-gift card exchange. People looking to cash in a Target gift card can collect as much as 95 cents on the dollar, whereas less versatile cards, such as Talbots cards tend to go for as low as 75 cents per dollar.
Gift cards are similar to prepaid cards, a.k.a. stored value cards, however, prepaid cards tend to target people with poor credit and typically come with hefty fees. While some gift cards come with a small purchase fee, for the most part, they don’t come with monthly fees.
