Unused Gift Cards

[jasoos007]

I always had this doubt...every holiday season..I get these variety of credit card belonging to all kind of store ..such as 50 dollars at BBuy, 50 dollars at amazon ..25 dollars at staples ..50 dollars at CC....for each one of them I need to add some of my own money to buy anything useful ..I wonder if anyone has suggestions...as most of them do go useless ....I just discovered a 25 dollar best buy gift card from 2005....pity me..

[Will]

I have a bit of good news, if you live in California.

Californians soon will be able to convert leftover gift card balances into extra pocket change.

Starting Jan. 1, a state law will let residents redeem gift cards for cash if the balance is less than $10.

Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, wrote the bill after becoming frus- trated with plastic gift cards piling up in a drawer. She said most often there'd be just a few dollars left on the balance.

"The idea came from my own personal ex- perience and my own constituents,' " Corbett said. "They would go to the store with a gift card and try to spend it and have a little bit of money left over, and they weren't able to receive the cash."

Modesto Bee via Consumerworld.

[Emily]

There are websites where you can buy/sell/trade gift cards.

[eatmyace007]

if you sell them on ebay you should get 75-85% of face value. sometimes people pay more, which doesnt really make sense, but who knows.

[DrMomentum]

If you have a friend who is goign to make a large purchase at one of those stores, that might help. For instance, if you know someone doing a renovation, they might be willing to pay you for the Home Depot card.

I've done this for a coworker before. It was someone I trusted, and I didn't mind using the card for him. So, check with people close to you.

-JP

[summrs1]

Originally Posted by Emily

There are websites where you can buy/sell/trade gift cards.

Cardavenue: Gift Card Exchange, Discounted Gift Cards, Gift Certificates, Gift Card Swap is one. I have never used it, but take a look to see if it can help.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by Will

I have a bit of good news, if you live in California.

That sounds perfect for me! I too have too many gift cards with a few dollars left on them.

Thanks for the link!

[Basenjimom]

I fi get a gift card that I know I am not going to be able to spend, rather than just go to that particular store and buy something because I can....I will sell it on eBay for a portion of the face value...I'd rather get some cash value out of it than have a bunch of unwanted "stuff" in my house...I can then use the money to pad my Efund or pay down some debt!

[Megan]

The idea that $50 at Amazon won't get you anything useful boggles my mind, but I am a diehard Amazon fan. They sell everything! But I understand where you're coming from.

I agree with the suggestion to sell on eBay or one of the gift card sale sites. You will take a loss for them going that route, but at the same time, $30 you can use is better than $50 you can't.

And look to see if you have any friends or coworkers who could use the gift card. I'm sure they would be willing to buy it off of you, especially if you offered it at, say, a $5-$10 discount.

[purplefdu]

You could always re-gift them. My husband gets one from his site every year for $20 at Dunkin Donuts and splits it into $5 cards for his guys. He doesn't drink coffee so he figures he can make 4 of his guys happy instead of letting it go to waste.

Selling them is an option, but I would honestly never buy a gift card unless I met the person at the store to check the balance right there. I know in NH they never expire as per state law so we normally just let them build up in a drawer until we are heading to that store.