9 Places to Buy Discounted Gift Cards

One of the easiest money-saving hacks is to get discounted gift cards.

By buying another person’s unwanted gift cards online, you can get them for less than face value. You can use gift cards to save money on every online purchase and even in-person retail and restaurant purchases!

I personally use discounted gift cards for online purchases to save extra cash.

Top Discount Gift Card Sites

There are many discounted gift card sites, but not every marketplace is legit. Speaking from personal experience, only buy gift cards from places with buyer protection.

Without the buyer protection, you can’t get a refund. All of the recommendations below offer buyer protection. You’re usually protected for up to one year from the purchase date.

1. CardCash

CardCash is a gift card marketplace with competitive discounts of up to 35% off and a one-year purchase guarantee.

You will find many restaurant and retail brands here, too. Since CardCash also buys physical gift cards, you’ll find a large selection of them.

There can be hundreds of available cards for one brand, but their search tool helps you quickly find the best offer for your budget.

2. Gift Card Granny

Gift Card Granny is a “gift card search engine” that helps you quickly find a great offer. Type in the retailer you’re looking for, and Gift Card Granny will retrieve the prices from the various online marketplaces.

To ensure you never miss out on a gift card opportunity, install the Otto browser extension to find gift cards for every online purchase.

In addition to offering discount gift cards, Gift Card Granny has a loyalty program. Members earn points for buying gift cards and opening sponsored emails.

These points can be redeemed for gift cards in the future!

3. Raise

One of the largest gift card marketplaces is Raise. There, you can constantly find flash sales that help you save even more money.

I typically use Raise more than the other marketplaces because of the selection and discounts.

There’s a quick turnaround in the Raise gift card inventory, which means prices and discounts are constantly changing.

Most gift cards sell within 24 hours, so check back daily if you’re looking to buy several gift cards at once.

Some of the discounted gift cards you can enjoy include:

• Airbnb
• Cabela’s
• Cold Stone Creamery
• Lowe’s
• Nike

A one-year guarantee covers all purchases. If your card is inactive, you can receive a full refund. The Raise customer support team has been very supportive when I have a question, too.

You can also make extra money by selling your unwanted gift cards on Raise.

4. GiftCards.com

GiftCards.com advertises itself as the leading gift card website. This site has a rewards program that gives you G-Money points when you buy select gift cards from them.

You can save your G-Money points for future gift card purchases.

When you click on the “Discount” tab at the top of the home page screen, the site will take you to a selection of discounted gift cards.

You can buy select gift cards for up to 25% off of face value.

5. Swagbucks

Swagbucks offers multiple opportunities to get free or discounted gift cards. Unlike the other gift card marketplaces, you don’t buy discounted gift cards from individual sellers.

You have these two options for getting discounted gift cards:

• Buying gift cards from MyGiftCardsPlus.com
• Redeeming rewards points for gift cards

When you purchase a gift card on MyGiftCardsPlus, you pay face value for the gift card (i.e. pay $25 for a $25 gift card), but you get cashback as Swagbucks rewards points.

You can redeem these points for future gift card rewards. MyGiftCardsPlus also offers bonus cashback days and “Swag Ups” that let you earn extra points.

6. Restaurant.com

For local restaurants, Restaurant.com offers excellent gift card options. My wife and I have purchased a certificate for date night from Restaurant.com.

Not only did we enjoy a meal alone, but we also got to try a new restaurant, too.

You can usually get gift cards for at least 50% off. For instance, a $25 gift card usually costs $10, or a $50 gift card costs $20. With these discounts, you can easily get one of your meals for free.

Remember that most restaurants have a minimum spending requirement of $30 to redeem the gift card. This can be a perfect option if you bring the family or meet up with friends and split the bill.

7. eBay

My wife and I have also used eBay periodically for discounted gift cards.

Personally, I prefer some of the other marketplaces mentioned above because they tend to offer better discounts. And, they have stronger buyer protection policies.

But you might go with eBay to buy gift cards for online stores that aren’t listed on any other marketplaces. One example might be online gaming websites.

Pay attention to these three factors:

• Shipping costs
• Seller feedback rating
• Selling price compared to other marketplaces

The shipping costs and seller feedback rating are the two most important factors. I only buy items like these from sellers with a positive track record because it means I’m less likely to get scammed.

Since shipping costs aren’t included in the “Buy It Now” price, consider this expense before you purchase.

8. Craigslist

I recommend Craigslist for buying gift cards for local businesses that can verify the balance before you buy it from the seller.

Once again, when we built our house, and it was time to buy flooring, we looked on Craigslist for a deal.

We found somebody selling a gift card at a discount to one of our local flooring stores. So, we met at the store, and the cashier verified the balance before I paid for the certificate.

If you can buy used, the savings from using sites like Craigslist can be greater than the savings from buying from gift card sites.

9. Amazon

When you reload your Amazon gift card balance, you can get a $5 bonus. As you may notice, it’s very difficult to find discounted Amazon gift cards. In most cases, you can only get them through an online side hustle.

You can qualify for this redemption bonus whether you buy a gift card from Amazon or at the grocery store.

Summary

Making the effort to get discounted gift cards is a simple way to save money at the cash register.

You can easily buy a gift card before you complete your online purchase, or you can wait a few days to get one in the mail.

Discounted gift cards make sense if you’re ready to save up to 30% at stores you will shop at regardless.