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.

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