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A gift card is the same as real money.
You get it and go to your favorite store.
Unused gift cards are a billon dollar industry though.
Many people get gift cards they don’t want.
There are sites that resell these gift cards.
Buying used gift cards can save you hundreds a year.
What are discounted gift cards?
Discounted gift cards are used cards that are sold to gift card reseller sites.
Again, every year there are billions of unused gift cards.
Instead of letting unused gift cards go to waste, people sell them to gift card sites and make a profit. You can sell yours at these sites too.
Gift card sites then sell these cards to you at a discount.
If you bought a $50 gift card at 30% off, you would pay $35.
That was $15 in your pocket.
You can literally save hundreds a year doing this.
Best places to buy discounted gift cards
There are a lot of discounted gift card merchants. Some may not be trustworthy as with anything.
Here are three of the most popular ones with an excellent guarantee. That means you can get your money back if something goes wrong.
Since it is free to join, you can sign up for all three. Look for our reviews later for each one.
As usual, use our links so we get credit for referring you.
- Raise.com, Get $5 after 1st purchase in 30 days
- GiftCardGranny.com
- Cardpool.com, Get $5 off for signing up
How the money back guarantee works?
In general, gift cards have a very high theft rate, whether used or new.
No worries.
All the sites we recommend have a 30-100 day guarantee period.
That means if something goes wrong, you will get your money back as long as you are within the specific time period.
How much can you save with discounted gift cards?
You can save between 1-30%.
It will vary by store.
Some sectors have very low saving and are probably not worth your time.
For instance, everyone wants to save on groceries and gas. Therefore, most of these don’t have the best discounts (around 4% or less).
Those are probably not worth your time again.
Restaurants and retail stores tend to offer the best deals, usually between 8-20%.
Best uses of discounted gift cards?
- Only buy at stores you shop at.
As with anything, merchants make money if you buy stuff you don’t use. The way to save is to only buy cards at places you frequent.
- Stock up during sales.
Sites like Raise can have a sale. This is a good time to stock up.
- Stack rewards.
Use discounted gift cards with coupons codes, a rewards credit card, and a cashback site. TopCashback.com offered 3% back at Raise (at time of writing).
Use cashbackmonitor.com to see about the other sites.
- Plan ahead.
Plan ahead so you can stock up, and get good deals. You don’t want to just save $.50.
- Set up alerts.
- Some sites, like Raise allow you to set up alerts. The alerts can be for percent off or dollar amount. Sites like these can sell out of the most popular cards.
How to get started using git cards?
- Sign up for a site. I recommend the three above since it is free to sign up and different sites have different rates. One site may have a better deal at a particular store you frequent. .
- Pick a rewards credit card to use. Best choices are general cards with 1-2% cash back.
- Use cashbackmonitor.com to find the best cash back portal. Last, I checked, it was Topcashback.com at Raise.
- Search for your stores. Browse the sites and find your cards.
- Use cashback site. When you are ready to buy, go through a cashback site like TopCashback.com and type in the site (Raise, Cardpool. etc)
- Buy. Purchase your cards.
Sign up for gift cards sites here: Raise, GiftcardGranny.com, and Cardpool.com.
Conclusion
Discounted gift cards are another way to put money back in your pocket.
Use our links to sign up for the three we mentioned.
Make sure to use a cashbacksite like Topcashback.com.
Again, at time of this writing, they offered 3% (the highest rate on a discount gift card site for cashback sites).
That means you would get an extra 3% back on your already discounted purchase. .
Discounted gift cards can save you hundreds a year. So if you don’t use them yet, you can start today.
Do you use discounted gift cards yet?