I have a confession to make: I have a ton of gift cards. Most of them were acquired through rewards from my credit card, since you can get them at a discount using cash back rewards. Not only do I save money through using gift cards because I get them at a discounted rate, you don’t feel the financial impact as much (which could be a good or bad thing depending on the person). When I came across GiftCardRescue.com I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is another place to buy discounted gift cards, and that there was a wide selection available.
Buying Gift Cards
GiftCardRescue.com sells gift cards at a discount from over 250 retailers. It’s all based on supply and demand, and savings can vary buy cards. If you go to the “Buy Gift Cards” tab, you can either search by retailer or scroll through the current gift cards available for purchase, and the savings available.
I don’t know about you, but I often buy gift cards not only for myself but also as gifts. When I’m buying them as gifts for other people I usually end up buying them at the retailer. If I switched my purchasing to GiftCardRescue.com I would be able to save a few dollars on each purchase and potentially save hundreds or thousands of dollars over time.
If I am purchasing for myself, I could get a gift card to AMC Entertainment and save some money on movie tickets. If I use the discounted gift card I just purchased and went to a movie on a weeknight as opposed to the weekend I would be saving even more money. Packaging deals, coupons, and discounted gift cards is a great strategy for saving money and cutting some expenses out of your budget.
Selling Gift Cards
Selling gift cards and receiving cash or an Amazon.com credit is relatively easy. Simply go to the “Sell Gift Cards” tab and enter in the gift card you want to sell (note: most gift cards should not have an expiration date).
I tested out what I could receive for one of my $50 Starbucks gift card would get me. I love the fact that if people have gift cards they know they will never use, instead of forgetting about them they can simply go to this site and turn it into cash. The amount offered to you will vary depending on their current supply of gift cards, and demand for the given gift card. If they had zero Starbucks gift cards and inventory sells relatively quickly, they likely would offer more than $36.50.
They are currently running a special promotion where if you sign up for their newsletter you are entered into a $500 Visa Gift Card sweepstakes. Sounds like a good deal to me!
Sweepstakes
They also have a great $500 Sweepstakes going on (as of the time of this writing). Click the picture below to head to their home page, where you should see a pop-up box similar to the one below.
If you like what you’ve seen, consider checking out GiftCardRescue.com.
What are your thoughts on GiftCardRescue.com? Would you consider using a site like this in the future?
Full Disclosure: I did get compensated for this review, but the opinions are solely my own.
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Wow! That is a great website. I have never heard of it before. We are also gift card junkies, so I may just have to check it out. Thanks for pointing us in that direction DC!
GregatClubThrifty No problem! I am going to try to be more proactive about purchasing gift cards for a discount if I’m going to use them anyway. Target, Home Depot, etc. are no-brainers in my opinion.
Very cool DC, I hadn’t heard of them before. As you saw from our Minimalist Living series, we received a bunch of gift cards for wedding gifts, but we plan on using most of them. Perhaps we’ll look into dumping a few.
CashCowCouple Yes we STILL seem to have some gift cards from our wedding, though we have used most of them.
Wow the site sounds really cool. I have never heard of them, but will definitely take a look at them. There’s nothing wrong at all with saving a few dollars on something I’d already be buying anyway.
FrugalRules That’s the way I think as well. I might try to be more proactive about getting these gift cards if I’m going to spend the money at the stores anyway.
Never heard about that site. I will have to check it out more. Thanks for bringing this one to my attention DC.
DebtRoundUp Not a problem
This sounds like a great option for those gift cards you know you’ll never use or for buying gift cards as gifts. It’s cool that you can get cash for a gift card, but at only around 70% cash to gift card value I’m not sure it’s worth it. I guess if you’re never going to use it anyways it’s better than nothing.
CommonCentsWealth You’d have to try a few more gift cards to confirm that it’s only 70%, but I think that would definitely be worth it if you were a teacher or someone who gets a lot of gifts that you will never use.
I’ve heard of GiftCardRescue through GiftCardGranny.com, the aggregator of discount gift card resellers. So far I’ve only purchased discount gift cards through ABCGift cards but I’m sure GiftCardRescue is similar. I like using GCG because I can compare prices and bids among several resellers. Ultimately, I think discount gift cards are a brilliant way to save money. Great post!
HassleFreeSaverI have never heard of GiftCardGranny.com, I may have to check it out based on your recommendation!
DC @ Young Adult Money HassleFreeSaver Definitely! Since you’re familiar with discount gift cards, I’m sure you’ll navigate the site quite easily. Every week they post coupon codes for extra savings from ABC Gift Cards (which might explain why I’ve only bought from them so far!).
HassleFreeSaver Sounds awesome! I will definitely check it out.
HassleFreeSaver DC @ Young Adult MoneyWe will actually be enabling our coupon code feature shortly, so stayed tuned for that! We also send out a weekly newsletter with our latest deals and discounts on gift cards if you would like to sign up for that! :)
These sites are cool. So many of them have popped up over the past few years. I use to follow a Canadian one but the discounts were not very significant so I haven’t use it yet.
TacklingOurDebt I have not, to any great degree, purchased through these sites. I think it may be beneficial if I’m going to shop at the store anyway. I am going to start checking the site when I know I am going to make a purchase at a retailer and see how much of a discount I can get.
Sounds like a great site. It’s rare to find gift cards on sale by the retailer, so this is a nice way to save a few bucks. Normally I use most of the gift cards I receive, but occasionally you get a few that just sit in the drawer – I might need to check out how much they would pay for them. It’s not like they are doing any good collecting dust!
TheHeavyPurse True that! Especially if you have a gift card to say…Omaha Steaks….and you are a vegetarian. Definitely probably worth grabbing the cash.
That’s a great idea. I’ve only sold gift cards on Ebay, which takes their cut with the fee schedule. This site might actually be a better deal.
Cool website! Hopefully we’ll get something similar in Canada eventually. I usually use Craigslist to buy and sell gift cards. The going rate is usually about a 10% discount, sometimes more, and I won’t usually buy for less.
I have a couple of large $ ($1,000+) cards that I’d love to sell – thanks for the lead!
Buy and Sell Gift Cards at GiftCardBin It’s very wounderfull.Buy discount gift cards for popular stores – Gift Card Exhange.It’s gives us more opportunity I thinks every body like this site.So better,Thanks to modern technology.
http://www.giftcardbin.com/sell_card.php