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How to Avoid Wasting Old Gift Cards

How to Avoid Wasting Old Gift Cards

If you’ve ever looked into an old drawer only to find a bunch of old and unused gift cards, you aren’t alone. There’s a reason they are in the drawer in the first place.

Perhaps they are for obscure or far away restaurants that you have no intention of ever going to. Perhaps they are for stores that aren’t conveniently located to you or that don’t sell merchandise you generally shop for. Regardless of the reason, there’s no point in allowing those gift cards to sit there unused.

Instead of having them sit there burning a hole in your drawers, you can easily exchange those unwanted gift cards for cash. Sounds like it might be difficult, right? The good news is that it’s not.

Unfortunately, not everyone knows how to liquidate unwanted gift cards for cash. This is true considering a recent Bankrate survey showed that over 50% of adults in the United States have unredeemed store credits and gift cards but only 8% of them have ever resold one of them. This is a mind boggling stat especially when you consider that the average value of unused gift cards sits at $167 per person. Needless to say, this is a lot of money sitting there and not being used. Find out your gift card rate here.

Looking to turn your old and unwanted gift cards into useful cash? Here are some of the best ways to do so successfully. 

1. Sell The Gift Cards For Cash

Once you’ve decided that you have no use for the gift card, it’s time to sell it for cash. There are all kinds of websites out there where you can sell gift cards. These sites work as a middle-man between those looking to offload gift cards and those looking for gift cards to specific retailers.

A company like CardCash or Raise will allow you to sell your unwanted gift cards for as much as 92% of their face value. While it’s not going to allow you to get full value from the gift card, it’s going to help you liquidate the unwanted gift cards into cash that can be used anywhere.

A reputable gift card resale site will also help to ensure that all of your gift card sales transactions go smoothly. They are backed with fraud protection and even money-back guarantees. This is very important considering the likelihood of being targeted if you were to sell the gift card privately. There are a lot of security concerns to consider. After all, if you sell directly to someone, you could find yourself having to deal with a lot of scammers or those who are looking to potentially rob you.

2. Trade Your Unwanted Gift Cards

If you enjoy having gift cards, but you have gift cards redeemable only for places you don’t shop at, you may be interested in making an even trade. There’s an option that will allow you to swap your unwanted gift card for a gift card that you deem valuable.

A company like CardCash will allow you to trade in your unwanted gift cards for any gift card of equal value. In some cases, they will allow you to trade your unwanted gift card for a gift card that exceeds your card’s stored value by up to 7% more. Thus, you can not only get a valuable gift card for one that you weren’t using in the first place but you could also get more value back at a place you want to spend money with.

3. Avoid Redeeming Your Valuable Credit Card Points For Gift Cards

If you are looking to make money with gift cards, it’s best not to use your credit card rewards points for gift card redemption. While it may be tempting to get a gift card worth a lot of money with your credit card rewards points, you are generally going to get a very poor redemption value compared to using your rewards points in other ways. Redeeming them for gift cards will typically yield the lowest redemption rate. Depending on your card, you’ll likely get the most value from transferring to reward partners or redeeming the points on travel.

Try to calculate what redemption method makes the most sense for your lifestyle habits and which one helps you generate the most value per point. You can easily learn which methods deliver you the most value per point which can help you avoid wasting them on gift card redemptions. For instance, if you have a Chase travel card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, your points will be worth a lot more when you redeem them through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel program. This is going to yield a lot more value than redeeming them for gift cards. 

Conclusion

It’s usually the case with gift cards that if you don’t use them within a few months of getting them, you’re going to stuff them into a drawer to be wasted. It’s a better idea to take those unwanted gift cards and trade them or turn them into cash. This can help you get the most value out of these cards rather than allowing them to sit there and collect dust. You could be putting the cash from those cards to good use. Figure out which method above is most useful to you and liquidate those unwanted and unused gift cards sitting in your drawers.

Article Submitted By Community Writer

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