Many folks have saved hundreds of dollars by scouring the internet for utilised present cards that can be bought, sold and traded on the net at extremely low costs.

Purchasing a pre-owned card is anticipated to be a single of the most well-liked presents to date, producing about twenty billion dollars in all round retail sales for the duration of the holidays each and every year. Many experts expect a total of sixty billion additional will be spent on store brand precise cards the following years.

Nevertheless, a seldom recognized fact is that around 10% of the dollars on all these sold cards basically goes unspent. As a result, numerous sellers have all of a sudden sprung up online making a tiny recognized secondary industry for these popular products. Many analysts estimate this to be an additional two billion dollars more in more sales.

For all the buyers, these private and qualified sellers present an astounding opportunity to buy 1 at savings of anywhere from 10 to even 50 % off the original face value. All of these cards can be provided to good friends and loved ones or redeemed for shop merchandise. For all the traders, this can be a easy way to exchange an undesirable gift card for a far more desirable 1 from a store that they in fact prefer with out the original giver ever knowing something about it. For all the sellers, it is a hardly ever swift and uncomplicated way to get money for their unused card.

As a note of caution, gifting card exchangers need to have to be further cautious when trading cards. While the majority of on line sellers are legitimate, the secondary market is nevertheless a building business. Even though there are a range of policies and protections, a transaction is only as safe as the folks who mutually participate in it. Moreover, there is still the very true concern in regards to stolen merchandise and fraud.


Currently, there are quite a few different company models when it comes to getting second hand cards on line. A much more careful look into this matter reveals that there are an escalating number of trustworthy on-line market locations such as eBay.

A single can also acquire these cards on the internet at precise card trading web-sites but all of this normally comes at a cost. Despite the fact that it varies from web-site to web page, these made use of card distinct sites ordinarily need customers to pay a registration charge, commonly about fifty cents to a handful of dollars, or a transaction charge of three-8% of the present card’s total worth. Lots of of the web-sites charge a combination of each, which can truly eat into the overall worth of your card.

Yet another fact to be wary of is that all gift cards are not traded equally. Paying close consideration to the market demand will aid you in your search for that great pre-owned card.

Firstly, you need to have to be cautious and consider a lot of issues such as when to invest in and sell. A lot of present card exchange internet sites are disproportionate in their supply and demand and have significantly more sellers than buyers on any offered day. Having said that, during vanilla balance of weeks in the starting of each year, specifically in the month of January after the holidays, that imbalance is amplified when the market is flooded with undesirable vacation gift cards. Other peak time periods include the weeks soon after similar well-liked present giving holidays such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s & Father’s Day.

For the shrewd buyer, this indicates a substantially bigger selection to pick and decide on from and costs that could be 15-20% percent reduce than they are at other times for the duration of rest of the year. For possible sellers, it may be a superior incentive to wait but not also long. Some present cards which have expiration dates or charge fees when they go unredeemed are forbidden from some majority of on line websites to prevent issues.

Secondly, you have to have to contemplate what to acquire and sell. While it is not simple to tell from an occasional check out to these websites, frequent second hand buyers and sellers recognize that not just about every utilised card is good bargain. Most cards sell for ten to fifteen % off their full face value. Note that a thirty to forty percent reduction is regarded to be an fantastic deal. However, the reputation of the retailer and condition of the card are critical in figuring out no matter if a utilised card is really worth its value.

If you appear at it from a buyer’s point of view, the biggest bargains can be located at national retailers that have quite a few special gifts. Cards from those nationwide store chains take longer to sell, in most cases, and are normally at discounts of 20 % or greater. Smaller regional shops normally sell at fifteen to twenty percent off because there are fewer bidders and a smaller demand. Bigger retailer cards trade at a larger discount soon after the holidays given that so quite a few impulse buys are produced that the secondary industry is flooded with second hand gift cards.

Now, if you view this from a seller’s point of view, present cards that command the most cash are for massive-box retail retailers and discount chains. The demand is also pretty strong for preowned gift cards from workplace provide retailers. They all generally bring in a return of at least ninety cents on the dollar.

Even so, for the majority of buyers it is a great rule of thumb to think about the discount as well as the total actual worth of the present card. While twenty percent off a twenty five dollar gift card is fantastic, twenty percent off a hundred dollar gift card may possibly be substantially improved if you spend focus to the transaction fees and other prospective dangers. From a seller’s viewpoint, that reasoning also tends to make trading a present card an attractive deal as opposed to just trying to sell it.

It is recommended that you inquire about the situation of the card, especially if you are not organizing to personally use it oneself. Some websites have a condition grading system that classifies the put on and tear of every single card though other internet sites enable you to send an email message to the seller. Ultimately, it is of utmost value that you check if it is really a gift, not a voucher or shop credit, which sometimes appears deceptively related.

Some final cautions to be conscious of is the possibility of ending up with some thing considerably diverse from what you initially thought it would be. A applied present card seller should anticipate prompt payment and buyers should use a credit card or on the internet payment service and count on to acquire a card within a reasonable amount of time.