Market for Gift Cards

[Dean2]

The whole theory of store specific gift cards has never made sense to me. You buy a $100 gift card that is good at only one place. There is no up front discount, it is just trading $100 cash that you can spend anywhere you like, for $100 you can only spend one place, and where they have a 30 to 100% markup on the goods you are buying. On top of that, the gift cards are not redeemable for cash and in some places they actually expire, though I know Alberta they don't.

I refuse to buy gift cards, I give cash instead. If I could get a 20-30% discount I might change my mind but as long as it is $1 for $1 not interested. I do however have a collection of gift cards for places I never shop or go. Does anyone know of an active market for selling gift cards?

[fishtank]

well there are about 40$ billion of unspend gift card ... there retailer got the money already so they have everything to gain and nothing to loose . it like warren buffet say about the insurance business, The cutomer give you money upfront and may not claimed the product .

[pinelakeperch]

Originally Posted by Dean2

The whole theory of store specific gift cards has never made sense to me. You buy a $100 gift card that is good at only one place. There is no up front discount, it is just trading $100 cash that you can spend anywhere you like, for $100 you can only spend one place, and where they have a 30 to 100% markup on the goods you are buying. On top of that, the gift cards are not redeemable for cash and in some places they actually expire, though I know Alberta they don't.

I refuse to buy gift cards, I give cash instead. If I could get a 20-30% discount I might change my mind but as long as it is $1 for $1 not interested. I do however have a collection of gift cards for places I never shop or go. Does anyone know of an active market for selling gift cards?

I think the popularity around gift cards is that they're more "thoughtful" than cash. While cash is infinitely more practical for obvious reasons, purchasing a gift card to a store that the buyer knows the recipient does a lot of shopping at is perceived to be "thoughtful."

Practicality isn't always top of mind when gift giving. The majority of wives don't get excited over a new set of winter tires, and the majority of husbands don't get excited over new nose hair trimmers

[Dolly’s Mom]

I prefer receiving gift cards to stores I frequent over cash. Cash is too easy to spend and disappears quickly. If I have a gift card I usually end up with a “gift” in the end. I also tend to give gift cards instead of cash for the same reason.

[Mr Flyguy]

Originally Posted by Dean2

The whole theory of store specific gift cards has never made sense to me. You buy a $100 gift card that is good at only one place. There is no up front discount, it is just trading $100 cash that you can spend anywhere you like, for $100 you can only spend one place, and where they have a 30 to 100% markup on the goods you are buying. On top of that, the gift cards are not redeemable for cash and in some places they actually expire, though I know Alberta they don't.

I refuse to buy gift cards, I give cash instead. If I could get a 20-30% discount I might change my mind but as long as it is $1 for $1 not interested. I do however have a collection of gift cards for places I never shop or go. Does anyone know of an active market for selling gift cards?

Try the buy and sell here on the forum. Probably lots of members will offer 75 to 80% on the dollar if you really want to get rid of them. Unless the're for Victoria's Secret or Love Boutique, then you might have a problem.

[Jerry D]

Yea, give cash, it may go to gas, groceries, life... give a gift card, chances are the wife wont steal it and I can treat my self to something.

People do loose them though, and they become wasted! Costco in our area has $80.00 for $100 for some restaurants so you save some $$ on that one!

[CaberTosser]

Gift cards sure work out well for the vendor selling them, firstly they have shoppers money in their bank accounts long before any goods are exchanged, that can add up to a lot of operating capital. Second is that the cards can often be lost, those instances sure make for great profit margins. Third is that the card recipient is guaranteed to shop at their business and they may spend additional money above the value of the gift card; many a card recipient might buy an item from them that costs less elsewhere, but their rationale is that the gift card 'discount' offsets that price difference for them.

When purchasing gift cards by using accumulated credit card rewards, note that the store gift cards always cost fewer reward points than do equivalent value pre-paid Visa or MasterCard gift cards.

I'm sure there are many more advantages for the company offering gift cards than the few I noted, feel free to chime in with more...


I once traded a person a lot of accumulated Canadian Tire money for cash at about 80 cents on the dollar, the drawback was waiting for the person to shop. If I were to do that again I would buy gift cards with the CT money and exchange those. I know my wife knows some site to sign on and verify gift cards and the $$ on them, verifying that they have value would always be a concern when exchanging them with strangers.

[antlercarver]

WE give Subway gift cards to students instead of cash, can be used for meals not beer, vaping or any thing else.

[Sundancefisher]

Selling gift cards is more of a scam than reality. Who will give someone money for a card that only the retailer can confirm is valid?

If you don’t like cash or store specific gift cards do what others do and give a visa gift card.

You can still get your sales.

Want a good gift...movie packages from Costco.

[CNP]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Selling gift cards is more of a scam than reality. Who will give someone money for a card that only the retailer can confirm is valid?

If you don’t like cash or store specific gift cards do what others do and give a visa gift card.

You can still get your sales.

Want a good gift...movie packages from Costco.

Found a couple Costco movie certificates in the console of my truck. They had expiry dates on them. Expired like 5 years ago lol...

[AndrewM]

Originally Posted by CNP

Found a couple Costco movie certificates in the console of my truck. They had expiry dates on them. Expired like 5 years ago lol...

I think in Alberta they are not allowed to expire.

[Jack Hardin]

We give visa gift cards, then they can spend them anywhere that takes visa.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by Jack Hardin

We give visa gift cards, then they can spend them anywhere that takes visa.

Not being smart but how is that better than just giving them cash?

So what I am getting from these posts is that no one is aware of a place to buy and sell Gift Cards that you have no use for, which I guess makes sense because unless you meet them at the store that takes the card there would be no way to know for sure if the card had any money left on it.

Anyone interested I have a $100 Keg Card I would let go for $90, and you can tell from my trader rating I am good to my word. P.M. me if you like the Keg. May try posting this in the general buy and sell since there doesn't seem to be a specific active market for these.

[fishtank]

Originally Posted by Jack Hardin

We give visa gift cards, then they can spend them anywhere that takes visa.

cost extra $5 fees and taxes on top to get a prepaid visa card

[CaberTosser]

Post it in the AO classifieds Dean, that’s where I sold $1000 of CT money for $800 about a decade back. Keep in mind that asking 90% of face value might no motivate many to undertake the time and trouble to meet to save a mere $10. Co-ordinating a meeting time and fuel eats that up and then some. You might however find someone with a gift card more to your liking and you could have a mutually-beneficial straight across swap of equal face value cards.


A gift card exchange sounds like a good idea to me.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

Post it in the AO classifieds Dean, that’s where I sold $1000 of CT money for $800 about a decade back. Keep in mind that asking 90% of face value might no motivate many to undertake the time and trouble to meet to save a mere $10. Co-ordinating a meeting time and fuel eats that up and then some. You might however find someone with a gift card more to your liking and you could have a mutually-beneficial straight across swap of equal face value cards.


A gift card exchange sounds like a good idea to me.

Thanks, exchange is a great idea.

As far as meeting up, I was kind of hoping that my trader rating would give the buyer the confidence to just let me mail it to him. It is after all only $100, I would never do someone over for any amount of money but for $90 it would take a really low life buttwad to stoup that low, though God knows there seems to be an ever increasing supply of those.

[Kyle]

Originally Posted by Jack Hardin

We give visa gift cards, then they can spend them anywhere that takes visa.

Most of them start declining in value after a certain amount of time (6 mths-1 yr)
Went to use 1 from a few years ago I forgot about and there was $0 left on it

[CaberTosser]

Originally Posted by Kyle

Most of them start declining in value after a certain amount of time (6 mths-1 yr)
Went to use 1 from a few years ago I forgot about and there was $0 left on it

This is unlawful, in Alberta for sure or possibly even nationwide by this point. The gift cards already lean heavily in the retailers favor, there'd no need to further fleece the consumer by having them expire.

[fishpro]

Not sure if it would always work, but there have been times where I've purchased a couple things with a gift card that totaled more than the gift card and put the rest on visa, and then returned some of the items and the entire refund was put back on my visa. Could be a way to get a portion exchanged for cash.

[Dean2]

Well, as it turns out, AO is a decent place to buy, sell and trade gift cards too. The whole trader rating system definitely helps facilitate safe transactions on these too. Next time I have another one to sell I will definitely put it in the general buy sell on here.

[ssyd]

Originally Posted by Dolly’s Mom

I prefer receiving gift cards to stores I frequent over cash. Cash is too easy to spend and disappears quickly. If I have a gift card I usually end up with a “gift” in the end. I also tend to give gift cards instead of cash for the same reason.

I agree with your rationale. I got a bunch of cash for Christmas and the girlfriend insisted I buy something right away because she knew I'd just end up paying bills or buying beer with it. Can't wait to try out my new (to me) Taylormade M4 driver!

[Skoaltender]

Originally Posted by Kyle

Most of them start declining in value after a certain amount of time (6 mths-1 yr)
Went to use 1 from a few years ago I forgot about and there was $0 left on it

What you had was in-store credit and not a gift card. Two totally separate things.

In store credits can have expiry dates + decreasing values and other restrictions

Gift cards purchased with cash are not allowed to expire or depreciate in value.

[Kyle]

Originally Posted by Skoaltender

What you had was in-store credit and not a gift card. Two totally separate things.

In store credits can have expiry dates + decreasing values and other restrictions

Gift cards purchased with cash are not allowed to expire or depreciate in value.

Wrong, it was a visa prepaid card (looked like a credit card) and had around $25 on it. This was probably close to 10 years ago but when I called the customer service number they told me I hadn't used it fast enough and that it expired. This may have changed now like cabertosser mentioned, I'm not sure though?

[CaberTosser]

Originally Posted by Kyle

Wrong, it was a visa prepaid card (looked like a credit card) and had around $25 on it. This was probably close to 10 years ago but when I called the customer service number they told me I hadn't used it fast enough and that it expired. This may have changed now like cabertosser mentioned, I'm not sure though?

You'll be sure now, its been that way for over 11 years:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...cards-1.730141


https://open.alberta.ca/publications/gift-cards

[NCC]

I’m with Dean on this one; cash is king.

[Skoaltender]

Originally Posted by Kyle

Wrong, it was a visa prepaid card (looked like a credit card) and had around $25 on it. This was probably close to 10 years ago but when I called the customer service number they told me I hadn't used it fast enough and that it expired. This may have changed now like cabertosser mentioned, I'm not sure though?

Prepaid visa is a different thing. Thought you were talking about a specific card from a store. Because gift cards themselves legally cannot diminish in value or expire.