How to Sell Gift Cards Instantly (We Tested Five Different Sites)
Saving money on sell gift cards instantly does not have to be complicated. We rounded up the essentials so you can spend less and skip the guesswork.
Key Takeaways
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- The value of unwanted gift cards in the U.S.
The value of unwanted gift cards in the U.S. is estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars. In fact, it’s very likely that you have an unused gift card laying around or languishing in your purse or wallet.
If so, you could turn those gift cards into cash. That’s what I did!
We wanted to see how simple it is to sell unwanted gift cards. So for this article, we purchased five physical $20 Walmart gift cards and attempted to sell them on five different online platforms.
Doing so took around three hours and paid $80.51 (about a 20% discount off the gift cards’ face value).
This article outlines the testing methodology we used, the results, and my experience with the platforms we tested.
In this article:
ToggleKey Takeaways
Keep the following in mind when deciding where to sell your gift cards.
- Raise is the most popular and most well-known gift card selling site, but it paid significantly less than some of the other platforms we tried.
- Raise and CardCash will all accept partially-used gift cards.
- Though eBay paid out the most, the platform is risky to use for selling gift cards because of scammers.
- CardCash paid nearly as much as eBay and proved to be much less of a hassle.
- ClipKard paid the least and required the extra step of sending in the gift card by mail.
In three out of five cases, I was able to send the gift card to the buyer digitally. That saved time and money on postage and shipping supplies. If you have a physical card that can’t be digitized, figure in the cost and hassle of mailing it.
Our Test Results
Our test results indicate that eBay offers the best payouts for unwanted gift cards. However, eBay only allows you to sell physical gift cards, not digital gift cards.
CardCash is the best platform for digital gift cards. It’s also arguably the better option for physical cards, because it doesn’t come with the same risk of scams as eBay (see below for more on this), but pays a comparable rate.
ClipKard offered the least amount of money by a fair margin, and the gift card had to be shipped by mail. It may not always be the case that ClipKard is the lowest offer, though, so it’s worth checking. Different brands net different offers on different marketplaces, and those offers can change.
PlatformGift CardValuePayout After FeesTime RequiredeBayWalmart$20$17.4445 minutesCardCashWalmart$20$17.3010 minutesGameflipWalmart$20$16.201.5 hoursRaiseWalmart$20$15.3010 minutesClipKardWalmart$20$14.2730 minutesNote: Most of the top free gift card platforms only pay in digital cards, but a handful allow you to opt for a physical gift card.
How We Set Up the Test
I tested five platforms using five physical $20 Walmart gift cards. Although these gift cards were physical, they also had the ability to be used online (on Walmart.com). This capacity to be used as either an e-gift card or a physical gift card turned out to be very key when trying to sell them for cash, because not all platforms accept both types of cards.
Note that on some platforms, you can set the cost you want to get for your gift cards. When that was an option, I asked for $18. When that wasn’t an option, I accepted the cash offer that I was presented with.
I was able to set the cost in three instances, though being given that opportunity didn’t make much difference in terms of earnings.
You Can’t Sell Digital Amazon Gift Cards!
Initially, I set out to sell five $20 Amazon digital gift cards. However, it quickly became apparent that I would not be able to do so.
That’s because digital Amazon gift cards do not have a serial number or PIN number to exchange. Rather, when you’re given an Amazon e-gift card, you click a link and the value of the card gets added directly to your Amazon account.
You’re also not allowed to use the balance of a digital Amazon gift card to purchase a physical Amazon gift card. (We tried that, too.)
Moreover, most gift card exchanges I considered using , Raise, CardCash, GiftCash and ClipKard , don’t accept Amazon cards, digital or otherwise.
For those reasons, I had to pivot to Walmart gift cards.
The Best Sites for Selling Gift Cards
Below is my experience with each of the platforms I tested in the order that I tested them.
#1. Raise
Raise is a discount gift card marketplace that sources its cards from businesses and consumers and offers a simple, transparent selling process. Raise does not purchase your gift cards; it makes them available for shoppers to purchase, then facilitates the payment and transfer.
I signed up for Raise with my email address, phone number and a password. Then, I authenticated my device via a text message from the company. Authentication can also be done with a phone call.
To start a listing, I had to verify my identity via a temporary $1 charge to my credit card. It says you can input your debit card information as an alternative, but that didn’t work for me. (I had to use an actual credit card.) This identity verification process needed my card details, billing address and phone number.
Listing a gift card for sale on Raise requires inputting the serial number, PIN, the current balance, and a selling cost. Raise will suggest a cost once there’s a value in the “current balance” field.
I listed my card for $18, and it sold within two minut
Final Thoughts
Before you check out, double-check sell gift cards instantly against current offers and any coupons you can stack. Small habits like this add up to real savings over a year.
Originally published at thewaystowealth.com.
Cleveland Dietz
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