This isn't so much an educational tip as an "FYI" tip for our readers. If you're like us, you ended up with a lot of gift cards this holiday season. Typically, gift cards can't be exchanged for cash at the store. If it's not a retailer you normally use, this can be a problem. Luckily, we've found four great sites that let you cash in on your unwanted holiday and birthday gift cards.
Plastic Jungle You click "Sell Now" and enter the information on your gift card. The site tells you what percentage will be paid in advance. For example, it says it will give me 84% of the value of my Bed, Bath, and Beyond gift card. It looks like they just take the card number, without needing the physical card.
Card Pool This site offers to send me a check for $82.00 for a $100.00 BB&B gift card, and will cover the shipping costs. It looks like they want the physical card, rather than just the number.
Gift Card Rescue This site offers $80.00 cash or an $84.00 Amazon gift card for my $100.00 BB&B gift card.
Card Woo This site offers up to 90% of the card's value, but it looks like I'll have to register before getting an offer on my card.
It's nice to know that unwanted gift cards won't be wasted! Then again, seeing that we can instantly save a nice percentage off a purchase by buying a discounted gift card first, this little exercise might end up costing more than it saves! Then again, if we use our purchased gift cards for things we would have bought anyway, there's no harm.
Can anyone remember the days before the internet, when getting a discount was a rare treat? Between sites like these, GroupOn, Amazon Local, restaurant.com, etc., we haven't paid retail since the last millennium!
If you have any other tips on how to stretch a teacher's salary, please let us know.
