Still Hanging On To Those Gift Cards?

Christmas was six weeks ago and you’ve likely eaten the last of the fudge, thrown out old egg nog and have removed every last vestige of the holiday. After all, Valentine’s Day is next week and you don’t want to have a Santa figurine standing next to Cupid now, do you?

More than likely you still have at least one taletell sign of Christmas hanging on — it could be pinned to a bulletin board or stashed into your junk drawer. Yep, I’m talking about that gift card you received from a relative or friend on Christmas day, a card for a store you don’t even patronize.

So what do you do with an unwanted gift card? You trade it in!

Several websites have sprung up over the past few years, destinations where you can go and trade in your unwanted gift card for one that you really want.

MonsterGiftCard.com, PlasticJungle.com and GiftCardRescue.com have all gotten into the business to help move unwanted cards. Most of these sites require that you sign up and they’ll take a fee for helping your exchange your current card. Sure, you may not get anything close to the value of your card, but an unused $50 card means that you’re out fifty bucks.

When visiting these and related sites, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the fine print. Most sites will take cards valued between $25 and $200, giving to you the redemption value of the card. At GiftCardRescue.com for example, you’ll receive 60 to 80 percent of the card’s value.

You can then choose to receive cash via Paypal or select a new card from the site. Next, you’ll mail your card to this service and receive your cash about forty-eight hours after they have it in their possession. New cards are sent out via mail once they verify your trade in.

As with any sort of online dealing, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with each site’s fee policies. You could be charged fees for commissions and shipping, additional costs which can devalue the worth of your trade. Lastly, be on the look out for dormancy charges for not using the card within a certain period of time and make sure that the card you are sending in hasn’t expired.

Of course, if you don’t want to bother with such online services you can do what millions of shoppers do: regift the item. After all, Valentine’s Day will be here before you know it!

Tags: Christmas, gift card, shopping, stores, Valentine's Day