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Where To Sell Gift Cards
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Buying and selling gift cards can be very profitable if you find a great sale. Recently, Meijer had a 15% off sale that included Amazon Gift cards. I ended up buying about $1,000 worth of those gift cards during that sale for $850. The only problem was, I didn’t need all of those. So, I looked into different liquidation outlets that would still be profitable. Here’s what I found:
Gift Card Marketplaces
I’m sure most of you have heard about selling gift cards to Cardpool, Raise, Gift Card Zen, ect. They will usually buy gift cards for 60-90% of the gift card amount. This is by far the easiest option for selling gift cards, but it’s usually the least profitable. For example, when I tried selling my Amazon gift cards, the highest offer I found was 68% of the gift card’s value. I of course did not take this offer, because I would have lost money even after the credit card bonus. If you want to compare what each marketplace will give you for your gift card, check out Gift Card Granny.
Craigslist
Craigslist is a good option if you have a lot of patience. As an experiment, I tried selling one of the cards on Craigslist and had quite a few calls/emails/texts, yet it took over a week to actually sell the gift card. When selling on Craigslist, be aware that people will often inquire about an item just for curiosities sake. They usually have no desire to actually purchase the item. Also, make sure you write in your ad why you are selling the gift card. For example, here is what I wrote:
I have a $50 Amazon Kindle gift card for sale. This gift card can be used for anything on Amazon, not only Kindle books. I am selling this, simply because I don’t have a need for an Amazon gift card at the moment. This is brand new and the code has not been scratched off yet. Please contact Josh via call, text, or email. My number is XXX-XXX-XX zero seven.
Kyle pointed out that you should never send a picture of the back of a gift card. Apparently, the serial number of the gift card can be cracked. I have never run into this issue, however, it never hurts to be extra cautious when dealing with money.
Family/Friends
This is the most secure/profitable method. If you have a friend or family member that has a need for your gift card, I would highly suggest selling it to them. You will avoid having to deal with strangers, possible scams, and you will pass on a deal to a friend or family member.
Reddit
The Reddit gift card exchange is where I sold most of my Amazon gift cards. This was my first time selling anything on this subreddit, but it went much smoother than I expected. All you do is list your gift card like this:
[H] $50 Amazon Gift Card [W] $45 Paypal USD
Then other redditors will simply message you to trade. If you want to try this out, make sure to read this thread about avoiding scammers. I always required the buyer to send me money first, before giving them the code. Some people did not want to do this, others didn’t mind. Only do what you feel comfortable with. I will say that this is the quickest and easiest way to sell gift cards. I sold about $750 worth of Amazon gift cards on this subreddit within two days. Again, your experience may be different depending on what gift cards you are selling.
eBay
Ugh eBay… For some reason, many gift cards are selling for more than face value on eBay. Why? I have no idea. I listed a $50 Amazon gift card on eBay for $53 just to test the waters. It sold within an hour. I thought that went well, since the buyer had great feedback.
About 5 minutes after I received the money in my Paypal for the gift card, I got an email from eBay. it said that they were looking into the buyer’s payment and to avoid shipping the gift card. This was the first red flag. About that same time, the buyer messaged me and asked for the code via message; again another red flag. Never, I repeat NEVER send a code through eBay’s messaging system. That is against eBay’s terms of use and will likely get you scammed. I ended up cancelling the transaction and selling this gift card on Reddit instead.
If you decide to sell your gift cards on eBay, be very careful. Make sure to only ship the gift card after receiving payment via Paypal. Also, only send the gift card in the mail – never the messaging system. I would also take a picture of the gift card, before sending it.
Upgrade
Some stores allow you to use gift cards to buy other gift cards. So, if you have a gift card you don’t want, try to upgrade it to a better gift card. This is very YMMV. Some cashiers don’t care, others are very weary about allowing you to upgrade. It’s always worth a try at least.
