Re-gifting the Gift Certificate
Tue Jan 2, 2007 10:01AM EST
See Comments (78)
Did you get a gift certificate or gift card for the holidays? They've become quite the mainstay for folks who want to give something a bit more meaningful and festive than cash. But they can be the gift you'd rather not have. An L.L. Bean gift card doesn't cut it for a fleece hater; the Williams-Sonoma card doesn't do much for the non-cook. Maybe you'd just rather have the cash? Maybe you've got a pile of expired gift cards you're always forgetting to use and hate the thought of adding another one?
Whatever the reason, there are a bunch of places on the web where you can buy, trade, swap, and auction gift cards and certificates. Typically, a card or certificate sells for a little less than the face value of the card. So, for example, a $50 Barnes & Noble certificate might be listed for $45. Typically, there's also some sort of transaction fee, usually for the seller. Sometimes it's a fixed price and sometimes it's a percentage of the transaction.
Here are some of the sites I stumbled across as the subject of unloading unwanted certificates came up over our holiday.
CertificateSwap lets you register and list your certificate for free. When it sells, there's a 7.5 percent processing fee for the seller.
Cardavenue lets you buy and sell, but you can trade or auction too. The auction is handled much like an eBay auction. CardAvenue takes 3.9 percent of the transaction. If you want to trade you can specify what card you'd like to trade for and they'll notify you.
Gift Card Buy Back will simply buy your card from you for a percentage of its value, and it lists the percentages it'll pay. Then it lets you buy a gift card as much as 20 percent off of the face value, so it all evens out.
Swapagift.com offers immediate cash for your cards and posts a list of how much it'll pay (anywhere from 60 to 75 percent of the value on the card seems to be the average). Or you can pay a flat fee of $3.99 and sell your gift card directly to another site user.
GiftCardBazaar, like Swapagift, buys your card for a straight 68 percent of its value or will give you a credit toward buying another gift card from their site at slightly better rate.
Two great blog posts that do a good job of covering the re-gifting certificates territory come from ProBargainHunter and The Tao of Making Money.
Be forewarned. There are plenty of ways to get scammed when buying and selling gift cards. After all, you're buying a piece of plastic that's like cash, only you have no way of verifying what's on the card until you go to spend it and you face things like expiration dates. The FTC offers some cautionary advice for using gift cards.
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67 Posted by lhardwick@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:50PM EDT Report Abuse
If you have gotten a gift card and are not going to use it, wouldn't it be great to give it to someone who could. My grandmother was in a nursing home for a little while, some of the residents had little to nothing. Very sad. A donated gift card to anywhere may allow them to get something they wanted or needed. So, basically I am saying if you get them and are not going to use them donate to someone who will be thrilled to get it. And you will feel good too! Happy New Years!
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68 Posted by tastefullychris@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:57PM EDT Report Abuse
Hey...I LOVE getting gift-cards! My mom gets me one every Christmas to one of the clothing stores I like to shop at. She knows I am a mom on a budget and don't typically spend money on myself. If she gave me $100 cash, it would go into my wallet and end up going towards groceries, bills or something for my boys. If she bought me the actual clothing, God only knows if it would fit properly. BUT...she knows the gift card will be a real treat only for ME! What a nice little "luxury" to go into my fave boutique and enjoy buying myself something without the "guilt" of thinking that I shouldn't be spending this money on myself. Cash is probably my LEAST favorite gift, since it usually ends up "disappearing" towards the aformentioned bills/groceries.
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69 Posted by merry2day06 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:16PM EDT Report Abuse
Personally, I love gift cards. As a Mom and now a Grandmaother, I often receive some really useless gifts (vases, canddles, one more thing to dust or store). I would rather have a gift card to a favorite store then any of these things. Should I receive one for a store I don't frequent, I donate it to a battered women's shelter where someone there can ether use it or they can sell it and have the money to use.
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70 Posted by raymondhudson@verizon.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:31PM EDT Report Abuse
Gift cards are a way of letting the receiver have some say of what they get for a gift. The gift is what you do with it or not.
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71 Posted by hullabaloo08@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:21PM EDT Report Abuse
Giving is good, no matter what the gift is.......People don't give to be mean. I personally enjoy getting a gift card to somewhere I rarely or never shop. It's fun to shop somewhere I don't usually go. I'm just thankful for whatever is done for me. Also, I know that whatever I give someone else, I give it to make them happy, so if they would be happier to exchange it for whatever, who cares! They're happy then because I gave them the means to get what they wanted and so I'm happy to, where's the harm to me?
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72 Posted by cass_422@att.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:19PM EDT Report Abuse
I never realized how rude people are. I love to recieve gift cards and if its for a store I never go to, who cares? I might end up liking the store. I would rather get a gift card than a crappy gift. And when I give gift cards its not cause Im 'thoughtless and rude' its cause I dont know what that person already has or wants and Id rather get them something than nothing. And who cares if the gift card comes from the gas station? The point is that when the person went to the gas station, they thought of me. Seriously.
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73 Posted by beadyeyedcat@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:04PM EDT Report Abuse
If you get a gift card worth say $50 or whatever, you could always buy something, anything, and return it and get the cash back for it. Then the gift giver doesn't lose money nor do you the reciever. Remember that the person who bought you the gift card thought enough of you to give you a gift card, even though it may not be an actual gift. So don't say they didn't think of you. They didn't have to go as far as giving you anything what-so-ever. You got something and that's what counts. At least it's supposed to. Stop complaining. Some people get nothing at all for Christmas.
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74 Posted by spacemetal@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:34PM EDT Report Abuse
I think people should stop buying Christmas gifts all together, and enjoy Christmas for the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. I did not shop this year and the rest of the world should wise up too. People don,t want junk or gift cards. They want to be free to enjoy the season. I see the greedy shoppers at malls fighting each other for a gift the kid will throw to the side in a few days anyways. Is it worth being ignorant for that. Don't rack high interest credit cards for junk. Enjoy the holiday season from now on. You will see there is no more stress.
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75 Posted by ogb2581 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:43PM EDT Report Abuse
After reading some of these comments, I've come to the conclusion that a lot of you need some help. Listen to the people who are saying be grateful, because that is the same advice I would say to you. Maybe that person thought you'd perhaps like the aforementioned gift card you got, but as it turns out, you didn't like it. That's ok. Don't cry about it though, that is not ok, and makes you look like a fool. I am a mid twenties female here, and might I say, I love gift cards. People that give them to me know exactly where I like to shop, so it all works out in the end. Perhaps you could be more helpful and tell your friends and family, well...you know I shop at such and such place, and that's one of my favorite stores. At the same time, that should give them some sort of hint, and then they will know exactly what kind of gift card you want.
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76 Posted by shawnachettu@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:18PM EDT Report Abuse
Thanx for info!
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77 Posted by katy.kat@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:47PM EDT Report Abuse
I work at a return desk for a major chain store. I didn't even realize that buying/selling gift cards was so flipping easy. Because of 'no hassel' return policies, I knowingly return suspicious (can't really prove stolen) products for store credit. I also can see they do not use them at our store (maybe another location, I can't follow the card outside of the store). I now see them selling these cards and I just think the availabily of it encourages them. I just want to say if you are going to buy a gift card off of someone, please know them and know if they stole for it. We are enabling them. Thanks! Peace.
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78 Posted by amkert@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:53PM EDT Report Abuse
Gift card givers should consider corporations that sell them are making out like bandits. They are the marketing marvel of the decade! I bet the percentage of cards that are never used in staggering. If they are used they are usually never enough to cover what you want. If their is enough on the card the store usually ends up keeping the change (a couple bucks adds up). When the store gets their money up front, it win win. Some cards charge a fee to purchase them! They appear more thoughtful, but CASH IS ALWAYS KING!
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66 Posted by a643doubleplay on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:43PM EDT Report Abuse
I personally like receiving gift cards. Most I got were from Wal-Mart. Everyone goes to Wal-Mart and I would rather buy something I wanted with the gift card than have someone buy me something I didn't like but I ACTED like I really wanted. But like I read earlier in one of the posted comments, If you receive a gift card from somewhere you don't shop, go and get something from there anyway and give it to someone who does shop there for that other special occasion.