Anyone else out there who gets stuck with tons of unused gift cards around the holiday season? I’m from a big family, so my relatives have a lot of people to shop for, which means I always end up with gift cards to the stores that my aunts and uncles think would interest me. While I appreciate the gesture, their taste in retail stores is pretty different from mine, so the gift cards end up untouched on my dresser for months into the new year. I don’t want to get rid of them because then it would feel like $50 or $100 down the drain, but I know I’m not going to use them. That was my gift card pattern until I discovered Raise.com, an online marketplace for buying and selling gift cards.
On the
Raise marketplace, I was able to sell my gift cards for the cash price of my choice. Because most of my gift cards were $50 or $100, I would typically ask for 5-10% less than the total to see what I could get. All I had to do was choose a selling price, and my gift cards would be featured among the countless other retailers and restaurants on the site. Once the gift cards are purchased, the earnings, minus a small commission, arrive seamlessly in my account within a few days. I much prefer Raise over store credit because a lot of the gift cards I get are for places I’d never normally shop.
Since signing up, I’ve sold a few gift cards on Raise, and have already started earning cash. My aunt and uncle always give us $50 Google Play gift cards, but I have an iPhone and don’t use Google Play. So I put it on sale on Raise and I was able to get back $37. I also received a $50 gift card to Chili’s, but there isn’t one near me, so I listed it on Raise and got back $38. I no longer have to worry about unspent money lying around. By earning cash on cards that would normally go unused, this felt more useful to me, and I know my relatives would want me to actually be able to spend the money. The most useful sale turned out to be a $100 gift card to Guitar Center from my musician uncle who keeps trying to get me to play guitar. I sold it on Raise and got back $85. I then decided I’d buy an AMC gift card instead — right on Raise!
Raise has helped me earn money on unused gift cards rather than being stuck with cards that go to waste. I’ve learned that every gift card you have has value, even if that particular store doesn’t have any value to you. I started selling back my gift cards on Raise last year when I received an unprecedented amount of gift cards, and was surprised by how easy it was to make money. Saving money with Raise.com has changed the way I view receiving gift cards at the holidays – now I don’t mind getting gift cards because I know they won’t go to waste, thanks to Raise!
Update 12/21/2017: Start getting the most out of those unused gift cards. Follow this link to sign-up with Raise today.
