How to Get Cash for Your Gift Cards

Use a Third-Party Site to Sell Your Gift Cards

This may be your easiest way to get some cash for your gift cards. It may not be the most profitable strategy, however, since these websites will always take a cut of the money on the card. Still, you could sell your gift card on a website that specializes in buying and selling gift cards. For instance, here's a handful of websites you may want to look at:

• CardCash: You will tell CardCash what type of gift card you have—the store and the amount—and the website will typically offer you a choice of cash or another gift card that might be more useful to you. But either way, CardCash will take a commission. So if you have a $100 Target gift card, you might be offered (just as an example) $84.50, and it may also give you a chance to get a Walmart card with $86.61 on it. The most money you'll receive, at the time of this writing, is 92% of the value of your gift card.
• GiftCash: The website currently promises at the most 93% of the gift card's value, but as with other sites, the cash value varies. The most popular stores, like Walmart or Macy's, tend to pay the most.
• Raise: This website allows you to set the price of your gift card. It's also free to list your card. If you sell it, Raise will take 15%. You can also sell gift cards with partial balances on them, as long as they have at least $10 on them. If you have a digital card to sell, it needs to be worth at least $5, and the highest balance you can have on a gift card is $2,000.
• CardSell: You'll download the app, share your gift card info and, after the amount has been verified with the retailer (you'll need to provide the numbers on the card), you'll be offered something. You'll either agree or not, and if you agree, your cash will be sent into your PayPal account or via Venmo within 48 hours. As with the other sites, you'll want to keep your expectations low. You'll never get the same amount of cash that the gift card is worth.

There are other buying and selling gift card websites out there, but the ones above are some of the easiest to navigate. You also want to make sure any site you use has a good reputation. Plenty of shady websites are interested in gift card fraud.

Other Ways to Get Cash for Your Cards

If you don't want to pay a commission to a website for your gift cards, there are some other strategies you may want to try.

• Ask a friend or family member if they would be interested in purchasing your gift card. If you have little need for a home improvement store gift card because you live in an apartment and are not a home improvement type person, a family member who is always making home improvements and buying tools might be perfectly happy to take it off your hands. The same goes with certain restaurants. You can always sweeten the offer by taking off, say, $5 and exchanging a $50 gift card for $45. In other words, give your family member a break but maybe not as good of a break as the gift card selling websites.
• Expand your request to social media. If you don't have close family, friends or coworkers who are in the market for the gift card, you could put it out there to pretty much everybody you know. Somebody may step up. The only downside here, of course, is that the person who gave you the gift card may see your plea.
• Regift it. Somebody's birthday, anniversary or graduation is bound to come up within the next year. You have presents to buy. As a way to save a little money on future presents, you could always earmark this gift card as a gift to give to somebody else.
• Go to the store with your gift card in hand. Then, ask the retailer if they will give you cash for the card. In most cases, store policies won't allow the sales associates to give you money in exchange for the card, or if they do, it may be for a discount. But it's worth a try.

How to Use Your Cards Wisely if Cash Isn't an Option

If you're not interested in selling your card or giving it as a present, there are still a few more strategies you can try:

• Donate the card to a worthy cause. You could ask a local charity if they would be interested in the gift card. Maybe your school or an organization you belong to would like to use it as a prize in a raffle? Or you could visit CharityChoice, which will happily accept your gift card and turn it into a donation for one of its charities. Just be aware that 10% of your donation goes toward the charity's marketing and administrative costs. The important thing, of course, is that through your charitable giving, you'll be doing a good deed.
• Use the gift card—and then sell the items you buy. You probably don't want to do this with food, but if the gift card is to a store filled with items you aren't interested in having, you could buy some things to sell online or at a future yard sale. You could also use the gift card and buy future gifts for family and friends.
• Barter with your friends. Maybe some of them also have unused gift cards that they aren't interested in. Perhaps you won't get the exact same amount of money, but it may not matter. If you trade a $75 gift card that you aren't interested in for a $50 gift card that you would like to have, and you and your friend are better off for it, then that isn't such a bad deal.

The Bottom Line

It can be disappointing to get a gift card for a store or service that you're not interested in—but that doesn't mean the gift is worthless. Gift cards are essentially coupons for cash, and unlike coupons, they either don't expire or take years to. If you're given a gift card you don't want, it'll pay off to cash it—preferably as soon as possible, so you can get something you do want.