Plastic Jungle 48-Hour Gift Card Deals – Starbucks, Barnes and Noble & Fandango

Plastic Jungle is offering some special 48-hour gift card deals this week for Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, and Fandango. The discounts on these gift cards are higher during the sale than their normal discount percentages.

• Wednesday – Save 7% – 9% on Starbucks gift cards
• Thursday – Save 14% – 15% on Barnes and Noble gift cards
• Friday – Save 11% – 12% on Fandango gift cards

If you have some extra gift cards you’re looking to sell, Plastic Jungle is also a great way to convert them to cash or Amazon gift cards too.

Discount Gift Cards To Save Money On Father’s Day

Sometimes we get so caught up in coupon savings, that we forget to think of other avenues to save money. One of my favorite ways to save money always amazes my friends, and really it is very simple. I buy gift cards, at a discount, to use at my favorite restaurants and stores. That’s right, I use discount gift cards to save money on everything.

If you are new to this concept, you think this is craziness. Why would someone sell a gift card at a discount. The reasons are many — a gift for a place they never shop, in need of cash, it has just been sitting in a drawer collecting dust… Whatever the reason, there are tons of people unloading gift cards at a discount everyday, and you can cash in on the savings.

Before I go one step further – don’t go crazy and buy tons of gift cards you will never use. Otherwise, you will find yourself on the selling end later down the road. (I promise.) This gig only works as a savings tool if you buy gift cards as you need them for things you would ordinarily buy.

Perfect example – my family loves to eat at Boston Market (at least 2-3 xs a month). So we buy $20-$25 gift cards at a savings of 10%. Nope, not going to get rich this way. But add that 10% savings to the coupons and over time… it adds up.

Or you could treat Dad to a fancy dinner at his favorite restaurant, secretly saving money on the gift card you purchased especially for Father’s Day.

Another example – we picked out my daughter’s new bedroom furniture from Pottery Barn Kids. Once I knew the total, I shopped for gift cards first. I saved 10-15% on each gift card I purchased. Then I stacked the gift cards, shopped online through Upromise and saved a whopper!

You can buy gift cards to anywhere, although the more popular the store the smaller the savings margin (think 3% for Target vs 16% for A.C. Moore). And the big boys (like Target) usually get snapped up quickly.

So where can you get these magical savings. You can snag discount gift cards online through Plastic Jungle.

If you are new to purchasing to this concept, challenge yourself to buying gifts for dad with discount gift cards this year. Here are some ideas for you:

Buy Discounted Gift Cards at Plastic Jungle + $50 Giveaway

Gift cards a great! They are a fantastic way to give/receive the gift people really want. No need to worry about the right size, color or style – a gift card fits everyone. Except… when it doesn’t.

Even the perfect gift can be imperfect… A gift card to the wrong store can be just as bad as a shirt that doesn’t fit. Bummer, what to do with that gift card that you know you will never use? Or even if you MIGHT use it, perhaps you could really use the cold-hard cash. That’s where Plastic Jungle comes in.

In a previous post, I explained how people with unwanted gift cards can sell them at Plastic Jungle and receive payment in the form of a check, PayPal deposit or Amazon gift certificate. In this post, I want to show you how savvy shoppers, like you, can purchase these gift cards at discounted prices.

Shopping for discounted gift cards at Plastic Jungle is easy. Available gift cards are offered at prices set by Plastic Jungle, so all the buyer has to do is search for the store or restaurant you want to buy a gift card for and if you like the savings, purchase. Payment is made via PayPal and gift card shipping is free, if you want quicker service you can even opt for an ecode if you are shopping online.

Yes, this can be a great way to purchase gifts, but it’s also a great way to save money on your own purchases. For example, gift cards for Cracker and Barrel sell for 9% under face value. That means you can pick up a $50 gift card for just $45.50 saving 9% on dinner with the family. Or how about movie tickets? You can score an AMC gift card for 16% off face value. That will certainly take a chunk out of the cost of date night! Believe it or not, you can even buy Toys R Us gift cards for 10% off face value, that’s like tax-free toy shopping! Wooza, you can even get a White House Black Market gift card for 25% off face value – shopping for mama!!

Want to make your savvy shopping even smarter? Combine your gift card savings with a coupon to really maximize your savings. Now that’s smart shopping!

I’m off to save 10% on a Boston Market gift card, which I will combo with the $4 off $20 coupon that was in the paper last week!

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

Buy it – Shop Plastic Jungle for discounted gift cards, or sell your unwanted cards for cash!

Win it - One lucky winner will receive a $50 gift card of their choice from Plastic Jungle, list may include Walmart, Target, Gap Brands, Land’s End Brands (Sears, Kmart & Land’s End), Home Depot, Lowes, Best Buy and Macy’s. You pick!

Mandatory Entry – Head over to Plastic Jungle and tell me what gift card you would buy and how much you would save!

Additional Entires:

1. Sign up for my newsletter. (You must confirm your subscription – thanks.)
2. “Like” TheSuburbanMom on Facebook. (Already a do, that counts too, just leave a comment.)
3. Follow TheSuburbanMom on Twitter ( @SuburbanMomClub) and tweet about this give away. “Enter to #win a $50 gift card to Target, Walmart or your Fav store from TheSuburbanMom @SuburbanMomClub #giveaway http://wp.me/pQHaE-2BA” (Can be done daily)
4. Enter any of my giveaway for a Organizing Tote from Thirty-One Gifts.
5. Sign up for NoMoreRack (via this link) to get a $10 credit for you to shop and help me win an iPad! (5 extra entries!!!)

Contest ends January 25, 2011 at 11:59 pm. Open to U.S. residents in the continental U.S. only. Winning comment will be chosen at random by Random.org and contacted for shipping information. Winner will have 72 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.

Turn Your Gift Cards Into Cash

Now that Christmas has passed, you might find yourself with some extra gift cards like myself. While I have been a big fan for along time of buying discounted gift cards to save on purchases, I have just recently started to sell some unused ones. If you rather turn your gift cards into cash or an Amazon gift certificate (which we never have a hard time spending), here are two companies to help.

Plastic Jungle and Cardpool have both been around for several years and offer similar services. Both allow you to easily buy or sell your unused or unwanted gift cards. They both feature easy to use websites, and can quickly give you estimates on how much your gift cards are worth.

Here’s how the process works. Head over to either Plastic Jungle or Cardpool’s website and click on the “Sell Gift Cards” link and input the merchant and the amount on the gift card. Plastic Jungle has a $50 minimum value, and Cardpool has a $25 minimum value to sell. You’ll then be presented with a quote for how much they will pay. I have found that Plastic Jungle has better payouts versus Cardpool, which is why I have used Plastic Jungle in the past. For example on a $100 Best Buy gift card I sold, Plastic Jungle offered $88 cash or $92.40 in an Amazon gift card, while Card Pool offered $86 cash, or $90.30 in an Amazon gift card. If you choose to accept the offer, you can print out a pre-paid shipping label to mail your gift cards, and about a week later you should receive either the Amazon gift card by email, or they will mail you a check or deposit the funds by PayPal if that is the option you chose.

Both companies also recently launched the ability to instantly pay you for the value of your gift cards. Cardpool is currently supporting more merchants compared to Plastic Jungle, but both offers lower payouts compared to mailing them your gift cards. Both sites also offer convenient ways to purchase gift cards with a savings of up to 30%. If you have any purchases planned, why not save some additional money by purchasing discounted gift cards too.

My recommendation for selling gift cards is that when you are mailing your them, take a photo, make a photo copy or at least write down the gift card number and pin, so for some reason if they are lost in transit, you’ll still have the information.

For more information, head over to Plastic Jungle or Cardpool.