Retailer Gift Cards at Lowest Cost

[Barefootwoman]

Over the next few months, I have several upcoming events where I would like to bring a gift. The recipients prefer gift cards.

I've never purchased gift cards from any of the discount giftcard websites. I seem to remember reading in the past that some of these discount sites are more reliable and "honest" than the others.

Do any of you buy from these sites? can you vouch for any of them or do you have any that you would advise us to stay away from?

Also, for example, if a site has only cards available in $50 denominations, but you want to give a gift of $200 - can you purchase 4 and take them to the retailer to have them exchanged for the higher value? or is that just crazy talk?

I can lower the price a bit not only via using my Citi More 3% CB card, but I assume there are no portal payouts (?) (I gotta check around).

Thanks much!

 

[Josh F]

Over the next few months, I have several upcoming events where I would like to bring a gift. The recipients prefer gift cards.

I've never purchased gift cards from any of the discount giftcard websites. I seem to remember reading in the past that some of these discount sites are more reliable and "honest" than the others.

Do any of you buy from these sites? can you vouch for any of them or do you have any that you would advise us to stay away from?

Also, for example, if a site has only cards available in $50 denominations, but you want to give a gift of $200 - can you purchase 4 and take them to the retailer to have them exchanged for the higher value? or is that just crazy talk?

I can lower the price a bit not only via using my Citi More 3% CB card, but I assume there are no portal payouts (?) (I gotta check around).

Thanks much!

Unfortunately it's not necessarily the discount site being reliable/honest, it's unscrupulous people selling GC to those websites (although I'm sure some crack down on it more than others). This is why those sites typically give you a "warranty" period to use the cards. With that said, I wouldn't buy discount GC from them to give to someone else, too much of a risk that you give them a bad card IMO. However, a number of legitimate retailers regularly discount GCs where you shouldn't run into this. eBay is pretty handy with regular discounts from PPDG and SVM plus you can get some eBay Bucks back and go through a cashback site. Other retailers (e.g. Staples and others) regularly have discounts on GC like iTunes.

 

[Barefootwoman]

Hi Josh, I see your point. It's interesting to me that the sites that purchase the cards wouldn't first verify the balance of any card prior to making the purchase - after all - if they don't end up re-selling it - they're stuck with the loss and dead inventory. Thanks for the tip as to eBay as a legitimate retailer.

 

[Josh F]

Hi Josh, I see your point. It's interesting to me that the sites that purchase the cards wouldn't first verify the balance of any card prior to making the purchase - after all - if they don't end up re-selling it - they're stuck with the loss and dead inventory. Thanks for the tip as to eBay as a legitimate retailer.

They do verify the cards before they pay you, but it doesn't help when people drain it afterwards (before you get to use it) OR the originating store cancels the GC (e.g. someone paid with a stolen CC).

Be careful of who you buy from on eBay (sorry if that wasn't clear). I'd only buy from one of the legit retailer "stores" (e.g. PPDG, SVM, GCM, etc.). I wouldn't ever buy from an individual eBayer.

 

[VanillaSmack]

I've never purchased gift cards from any of the discount giftcard websites. I seem to remember reading in the past that some of these discount sites are more reliable and "honest" than the others.

Do any of you buy from these sites? can you vouch for any of them or do you have any that you would advise us to stay away from?

I have had good experiences buying discount gift cards from both Raise and Cardpool. I generally spend them within a week or so - I would not want to hang on them past the 100 day guarantee period that they both offer. That said I have not been burned yet by any bogus cards from these two over the course of buying roughly $5k in cards this year so far. YMMV of course.

To maximize discounts, Gift Card Wiki is a pretty cool site. It regularly updates the best discounts on various merchant gift cards.

Also, for example, if a site has only cards available in $50 denominations, but you want to give a gift of $200 - can you purchase 4 and take them to the retailer to have them exchanged for the higher value? or is that just crazy talk?

I know you can do this in store at Target; not sure about anywhere else. But I haven't really had a reason to check.

I can lower the price a bit not only via using my Citi More 3% CB card, but I assume there are no portal payouts (?) (I gotta check around).

There actually are portals which payout on card resellers like Raise or Cardpool. They all seem to generally have a lifetime limit though - e.g. Topcashback for Raise says "After you have placed over $1,000 in lifetime purchases on Raise.com, you will no longer be eligible for cash back."

Cash Back Monitor is your friend here. Cashback rates fluctuate, but this site will tell you what each portal currently pays out for a given merchant. Always be sure to check the terms and conditions on the cashback site for each merchant though - many exclude some categories of merchandise, frequently purchases of gift cards.