Benjamin Ashford|Can you sell unwanted gift cards for cash? Here's what you need to know

Gift cards are Benjamin Ashfordan easy solution during the holiday season, but they don't always hit their mark. If you got a gift card you aren't thrilled about spending, you could turn it into cash.

Shoppers do love to buy gift cards – they were expected to be the second most popular gift this holiday season, with 44% of consumers expected to buy them, according to the National Retail Federation. Only clothing, which 56% of shoppers planned to buy, surpassed gift cards among consumers, the group said.

Shoppers planned to buy three to four gift cards, spending about $50 per card, the group said, boosting total gift-card spending in 2023 to $29.3 billion, up from $28.6 billion last year.

If you were gifted one that you don't want to use, you have some options.

Use your gift cards wisely:Can you use restaurant gift cards on DoorDash or Uber Eats?

Can I sell my gift cards for cash?

Yes, there are several well-established sites where you can sell your gift card. Here are a few:

• Raise. This online marketplace lets you sell gift cards, but its draw is that buyers get them at a discount. For instance, a $100 Barnes & Noble card is priced at $93. So you will likely have to price yours below the full value to attract a buyer. Also, Raise gets 15% of the selling price when your card sells. That drops your take-home amount to about $79. Gift cards from Amazon, Starbucks, and Walmart aren't as steeply discounted, so you'd make more selling those.
• CardCash. This site works slightly different from Raise in that CardCash will buy your gift card directly and send you the funds a variety of ways, including direct deposit, PayPal or by prepaid Mastercard. (Note: You can also exchange your gift card for one from another store or restaurant – or shop for discounted cards on the site.) If you sell your card, you won't get its full value. CardCash will pay up 92% of the card value. For instance, if you want to sell a $100 Walmart card, you would get $86. For a $100 Barnes & Noble card, CardCash will pay you $76. You can see how much your card would get on the site's sell page.
• eBay. Yes, eBay pretty much sells everything, including gift cards. You can list your unwanted gift cards to sell just as you would sell books or other items. And you can send the gift card code to the buyer through eBay messaging, so there's no shipping costs. However, when you sell your card, eBay gets 13.25% of the sale. So if you are selling a $50 gift card, and price it down to $45 to tempt a buyer, eBay gets about $6 of that sale, so you end up with $39.

Those and other sites such as ClipKard, Gameflip and GiftCash are recommended over eBay because "these marketplaces specialize in selling gift cards, so the base value of your gift card is likely to be higher on (those sites) … than on eBay," notes writer Adam Hardy on The Penny Hoarder site.

How safe are gift card platforms?

CardCash and Raise "are generally reliable platforms in the secondary gift card market," and WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe recommends them both – and warns consumers not to stray too far from well-known gift card exchange sites, especially with all the scams involving gift cards.

"Consumers should exercise caution and stick to approved sites to mitigate potential fraud or misrepresentation concerns," Happe told USA TODAY. "Using reputable platforms with buyer protection measures is crucial to ensure a secure and satisfactory experience. It's important to prioritize due diligence and be wary of deals that seem too good to be true when dealing with online gift card transactions."

Gift cards:Here's why you should never buy one from a display rack.

Is it a good idea to sell my gift card for cash?

That depends. If you frequent – or are interested in – the store, restaurant or site that your gift card is for, it may be better off to keep it. But if you are the kind of person who might set your gift card aside and not use it, maybe you are better off selling it.

That's because nearly half of U.S. adults (47%) had at least one unused gift card, voucher or store credit last year, according a CreditCards.com survey conducted in 2022 by YouGov.com. The average unspent gift cards was $175 per person, which amounts to about $21 billion in the U.S., the survey found.

Remember, since you get a lower value for the card when you trade it for cash, "consider trading it instead of selling it," money-saving expert Andrea Woroch told USA TODAY.

"Maybe there’s a gift card to a store retailer or even airline that you will need for an upcoming purchase or trip," she said, so opt to trade it on a site like CardCash, which buys, sells and trades cards.

Another option: if you know you'll be shopping for a birthday gift – or maybe a late holiday gift – you can re-gift the gift card to someone who would really like it. Just remember, if the card has Christmas designs on it and you re-gift it for, say, Valentine's Day, you may be found out.

Follow Mike Snider on X and Threads: @mikesnider & mikegsnider.

What's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day