Online platforms specializing in gift card resale connect sellers looking to unload unwanted cards with buyers seeking discounts. These exchanges verify card balances and legitimacy before listing, creating secure transaction environments. Discount percentages typically range from 2% to 30% below face value, depending on retailer popularity. The most significant discounts appear for speciality retailers, while general merchandise and grocery cards maintain smaller but worthwhile discounts. Creating accounts on multiple exchange sites allows comparison shopping to find the best available rates for specific retailers you frequent.
Seasonal timing
Strategic timing dramatically affects available discounts throughout the year. January consistently offers the deepest discounts as marketplaces become flooded with unwanted holiday gift cards, creating buyer-favourable conditions. Post-holiday inventory surges drive competition among sellers, pushing prices lower as they compete for buyers. Secondary discount peaks occur after Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and graduation season, when gift recipients sell unwanted cards. Keeping a schedule of upcoming promotions helps maximize your american express gift card balance use.
Bonus card promotions
Many retailers offer bonus cards with gift card purchases during promotional periods, effectively creating built-in discounts. These promotions typically appear during holiday shopping and summer, when retailers seek to boost sales during slower periods.
- Restaurant bonuses – Food establishments frequently offer $5-$10 bonus cards with $25-$50 gift card purchases, creating effective discounts of 10-20%.
- Retail stackers – Department stores and speciality retailers often provide percentage-based bonuses, adding 10-20% in bonus cards with minimum purchase amounts.
- Entertainment extras – Movie theatres and entertainment venues regularly feature added value offers, such as purchasing a gift card at face value, which includes free concessions or bonus tickets.
Membership programs
Warehouse club memberships and premium credit card programs provide consistent access to discounted gift cards year-round. These programs offer 5-25% below face value gift cards as member benefits.
- Wholesale clubs – Membership retailers regularly stock physical gift cards at 5-20% below face value, with monthly rotating selections.
- Rewards portals – Credit card reward programs frequently offer gift card redemptions that value points higher than cash redemptions, creating effective discounts.
- Employee perks – Many corporate benefit programs include access to discount gift card platforms as part of their employee perks packages.
Combining digital coupon apps with discounted gift cards creates powerful layered savings. This technique uses gift cards purchased below face value to pay for discounted items through separate promotions. The most effective approach involves scanning deals through multiple rebates and coupon apps before shopping, then paying with discounted gift cards once you’ve identified items with active promotions. The combination often yields 20-40% savings between the card discount and the promotional price reduction. Some rebate apps even feature special bonuses when you pay with gift cards, creating triple-stacking opportunities.
Advanced discount seekers use strategic reselling to create perpetual discount cycles. This approach involves purchasing heavily discounted cards for retailers where you don’t shop, then reselling them on exchange platforms to generate funds for buying cards you will use. This method works particularly well when timing purchases around seasonal low prices and reselling during higher demand periods. The difference between purchase and resale prices creates a fund for acquiring cards for your preferred retailers at effective discounts beyond what’s directly available. While more involved than direct purchases, this strategy yields consistent savings for dedicated discount seekers.
