It's a swap meet
The same thing happens every holiday season — the $150 gift card to The Gap that you asked for on your Christmas list translated into a $50 gift card to Pete's House of Yarn. You sit under the tree, smiling and politely thanking the offending relative, while you wonder if it would be possible to learn to knit the cute sweater you saw in the store window.
Several Web sites allow you to sell or swap unwanted and unused gift cards to stores that you actually shop at, or for universally-accepted cash.
Cardavenue.com offers users the ability to buy, sell or trade gift cards online. Registration is free, but the site charges both sellers and traders a 3.95 percent selling fee, as well as a 50 cent closing fee per transaction. To cut back on fraud and disputes, a system called "Cardcowboy" is in place on the site that independently verifies the actual value of gift cards valued at $100 or greater. Cards with verified value are denoted with a Cardcowboy symbol on the listing.
Additionally, the company offers a product guarantee called Cardassure that helps to protect users against misrepresentations and fraud. There are some limitations and rules with the Cardassure guarantee, however, so users should read the fine print for details.
Certificateswap.com also offers a buy, sell and trade service with a little twist. The site has a feature called "Gift Bux" that allows users to purchase other gift cards on the site with the proceeds from the sale of their unwanted gift cards. Gift Bux are also available to purchase as a gift, offering the purchaser the option of sending the Bux via e-mail, or printing out a certificate to give to the recipient (think of it like a gift card to buy more gift cards).
Registration on the site is free, but sellers must give a credit card number to keep on file at the site. Once a gift card sells, a 7.5 percent processing fee is assessed based on the certificate's actual selling price.
The fee is taken out of the proceeds of the sale, and the seller isn't paid for the transaction until either the buyer leaves positive feedback about the sale or 30 days have passed without a negative feedback listing from the buyer.
Once the terms are met, the seller is credited the purchasing price minus the processing fee, plus a shipping and handling fee reimbursement of 75 cents. Additionally, the seller is bound to ship the gift card to the buyer within 24 hours of the close of the sale. Here's the caveat — after the sale, the seller's account must exceed a $25 balance if they want actual cash via PayPal or a physical check, and a $2 fee is assessed for "cashing out" their balance. Otherwise, sellers are encouraged to utilize the balance of their accounts through Gift Bux to purchase other gift cards from the site.
Certificateswap.com also has a dispute system in place; after 21 days from the close of the sale, the disputing party may contact the site so that the company can investigate and attempt to resolve the dispute. Be sure to read up on the fees, disputes process and rules of the site under terms of service.
Plasticjungle.com is another forum for users to deal with gift cards. Registration on the site is free, and sellers must give either credit card or debit card information upon registering. Listing on the site is free, but the site charges a 10 percent commission plus shipping and handling charges to both the buyer and the seller. The site sends the seller the proceeds from the sale via PayPal or a physical check within three days of confirming that the gift card was delivered to the buyer, and that there were no problems with the balance of the gift card.
For sellers who wish to sell their gift cards immediately, the site offers a "Quick Cash" option that allows the seller to sell their unwanted card directly to the site. The seller enters in the merchant's name and the amount of the gift card onto the site, and clicks a link that displays the amount that Plasticjungle.com is willing to pay for that card.
Plasticjungle.com offers users a "Plasticjungle Guarantee"; users must contact Plasticjungle customer service within three calendar days after receipt of their gift card to file a claim. Be sure to read the Terms of Service on Plasticjungle.com's site for details.
Giftcardbuyback.com lets users sell their cards directly to the site for 60 to 80 percent of the gift card's value. Sellers are paid for the cards within 10 days of mailing the gift cards to the site after terms of sale are reached.
Giftcardbuyback.com only buys gift cards from merchants that are listed on their site, however, and only buys cards with a balance of between $10 and $300. Check the site's terms of use for more details.
Regardless of which site you use, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the terms of use for each merchant prior to making a sale or trade. Look for details such as selling fees, shipping and handling costs, commission charges and payment terms. Also, be sure to know who you're transacting with — sites that offer feedback forums and rating systems for registered users can help you to see if there have been any previous payment issues or disputes that might sour a sale.
Originally published in Connect Statesboro, December 2007, under the byline Vanessa Jenkins.