Selling Unwanted Gift Cards – Is The Card Woo Infomercial For Real?
Written by Oprah Fangirl on October 27th, 2010 in Infomercials.
I’ve been seeing a lot of infomercial spots lately for people who want to sell their unused or unwanted gift cards. I checked out the Card Woo website and found out that they only pay 50% of the card’s value. That didn’t seem like much to me so I started looking around for some other websites that are good for selling unwanted gift cards. Here are some better alternatives to what you’re seeing on the daytime TV infomercial circuit:
Gift Card Granny
This site stood out to me because not only do they allow you to sell gift cards for up to 100% of the value (usually around 65% – 85%), but they also show you what coupon codes and free shipping deals go along with the stores when you buy a gift card from them.
I had no idea this was going on, but apparently you can buy gift cards that other people have sold to save on pretty much anything. For instance, you could buy a $100 Target gift card for $80 and save an instant $20 on your purchase at the Target store. I’m going to say this in my best infomercial voice (and I watch LOTS of infomercials): But Wait, There’s More!
Take that $100 Target gift card that you bought for $80 and then combine it with a free shipping offer and maybe even a stackable Target coupon for an additional %10 off and you’re getting whatever you buy for a HUGE discount. The tricky part is finding discount coupons that work with free shipping codes. Sometimes you have to choose one or the other. But if you wait and buy your stuff on Cyber Monday you can usually find some pretty serious discounts that stack with your card and free shipping.
OK, so that’s the game and Gift Card Granny seems to be the best place to play it. But they’re not the only two sites out there doing this. You can also sell unwanted gift cards, or buy discounted gift cards at several other websites, including Plastic Jungle (probably the best known site), GiftCard Rescue, and SwapaGift. Just be sure that they tell you up-front how much you’re going to get for your gift card. Some places will require you to send your gift card in before they tell you what they’ll pay for it.
So there you have it. Whether you’re selling those unwanted gift cards or buying one at a discount to save on purchases, there’s a whole Internet out there at your disposal. How is it that I’m just now finding out about this loophole in the shopping system? It’s time I crawled out from under my rock a little more often. I’ve started by reading a few blogs about saving money. Here is a list of the ones I like so far:
