How do you trade or sell your Amazon gift cards for cash?
Here is a scenario:
Let’s say somebody bought you a generous $500 Amazon gift card.
You are beside yourself.
You thank them a thousand times and can’t wait to use the card.
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The only problem is that you don’t actually need anything that Amazon sells (which is everything by the way). Let’s just say you would rather have that $500 in cash because you have to pay your rent or some other bill.
Amazon won’t (obviously) exchange the card for you with cash. And if you were to buy something and then return it, they could only credit your account, which gets you nowhere.
You can’t ask your friend (or whoever that someone was that gave you the Amazon gift card) to take the card back and give you cash instead.
So what can you do?
What’s the Best Way to Exchange Amazon Gift Cards for Cash?
Well, I don’t think there is one “best’ way.
It all depends on your situation, how much the GC is worth, how fast you need the cash, etc.
That said, there are a few ways you can get cash for your unwanted Amazon GC or any other kind of gift card for that matter.
Here are a few options:
1. Use Reddit
Reddit actually has a dedicated subreddit for gift card exchanges where you can trade unwanted gift cards for cash (PayPal mainly) or other gift cards.
If you are not a member of Reddit yet, you’ll need an account first. It’s free.
Then simply visit /r/giftcardexchange, create a post with some details about your card, its worth, how much you want for it, etc. and wait for other redditors to respond.
You can also use a subreddit called /r/barter.
On this subreddit people normally barter for tangible goods rather than gift cards and gift certificate codes. But you may be able to find someone who will be willing to pay cash for your Amazon gift card.
2. Buy Stuff for Friends/family and Get Cash in Exchange
Ask your other friends or family members if they need stuff from Amazon. If they do, buy it for them and have them give you the equivalent amount in cash.
And if you don’t have a friend or family member who needs $500 worth of stuff, perhaps you could find a few people who may each need $50-$100 worth of stuff.
3. Sell a $500 Amazon Gift Card for $520 on eBay!
Not only you can sell your Amazon GC, but apparently you can sell it for more than its face value!
I was baffled when I saw people buying a $50 Amazon GC for $57,99.
So I looked into it (here is a great discussion about it on Amazon Community Forum,) and from what I have gathered there may be a few reasons for why people pay more than the face value.
One theory is that people from other countries buy them and take advantage of the currency conversion somehow. So for them it actually is a win.
Another one is that the buyers are using cashback sites to shop on eBay and sometimes the cashback sites have promotions where they can earn way more cashback than the few extra dollars they paid for the GC.
And if you are not sure about that, you can always sell the GC for its face value or a few dollars lower. I looked on eBay and a lot of gift cards, including Amazon’s, do sell for 100% face value or near it.
4. Sell It on Craigslist
You may have to sell it for a little less than its value, but that’s probably one of the fastest ways to get cash in your hand.
You could sell a $500 Amazon gift card for $450 or $430 perhaps.
If not, and if you don’t mind, lower the asking price.
5. Ask Amazon for Cash
I know this sounds like a crazy idea, but Amazon has fantastic customer support and they are famous for it. You just may get lucky.
It won’t really cost you but a few minutes of your time to contact Amazon support and ask them. The worst that happens is that they will say no.
6. Sell on Gift Card Reseller Sites
This is another option. It’s not the fastest one, nor will it get you the most cash, but it works.
Here are a few legit sites you can try:
- CardPool
- Gift Card Granny
- Card Cash (Previously Plastic Jungle)
- Gift Card Rescue
7. Sell it on Raise
This is an app that works similarly to websites like CardPool.
You list your GC for a little less than its face value and people can buy it from you.
You can install the Raise app for Android and iOS devices via these links:
- iTunes App Store (for iPhone)
- Google Play App Store (for Android)
8. Use CoinStar
I wrote about this in my “Exchange Gift Cards for Cash Instantly” post.
Coinstar has kiosks all over the country where you can get cash for electronics as well as gift cards.
Simply find a kiosk using their kiosk location finder, take your Amazon GC and insert it into the machine. See how much it pays for it, and if you accept it, get your cash instantly.
Obviously, this won’t work with Amazon gift certificates (the ones you get the code for online). You have to have an actual physical gift card to insert into the CoinStar machine.
9. Buy Grocery & Pay Yourself in Cash
Most of us buy groceries a few times a week. But you can buy some of that stuff on Amazon now.
If you need the cash in a week or so, instead of buying your grocery from the store next week and paying with cash from your next paycheck, buy the grocery on Amazon now with the card and then pay yourself the equivalent amount in cash when you get your paycheck.
Alternative Options
Here are a few other options for cases where you don’t need cash, but you also don’t want the gift card.
10. Use Purse
This site was made exclusively for the purpose of allowing people to buy and sell Amazon gift cards for Bitcoin.
Bitcoin owners create a wish list of items they want from Amazon, then people with unwanted gift cards purchase their order in exchange for bitcoin.
It is actually a very safe program. They use escrow to make sure both you and the buyer get your intended items. You get your bitcoin(s) and the buyer gets his/her amazon products.
11. Shop with Amazon Payments
If what you need is not cash but another item that is not sold on Amazon.com, you can actually use your gift card balance to shop on other sites that accept Amazon Payments.
You can see a list of merchants that accept Amazon payments here.
12. Sell Amazon Gift Card for Bitcoin
If you’re a fan of bitcoin, beside Purse, there are also other sites that let you trade/sell all kinds of gift cards, including Amazon gift certificates, for bitcoin.
Here are a few sites you can try:
Now if you don’t really want Bitcoin, there are much faster and easier ways you can sell your Bitcoin for cash. So that’s another option.
Your Turn
Have you ever had to exchange your Amazon gift card for cash? How did you do it?
Do you know of any other way one can get cash for an unwanted Amazon gift card?
If you know how to sell on eBay, you can actually buy something on Amazon that sells well on eBay, using your card. Then sell it on eBay and get cash for it. You can potentially get more for a product on eBay than what it sells for on Amazon. Might be time consuming BUT you can get more cash, eventually. And if you know what you’re doing, you can actually list your product on eBay BEFORE you buy it, and only buy when it sells, and actually have it shipped directly to your customer from Amazon directly. Then you get your cash’ worth on Paypal directly from eBay.
That’s a great idea Tim. Have you ever done it yourself?
what about getting eaten alive by fees?
Beware trying to sell gift cards on eBay, at least electronic gift certificate codes. I sold one worth $100, collected payment via PayPal from a eBay and PayPal verified buyer then emailed the code. I kept proof that I had delivered the code and that it was valid. The buyer then reversed the payment with their bank, and PayPal withdrew the payment from my account. The buyer didn\\\’t even provide a reason. PayPal wouldn\\\’t cover the transaction despite fraud as they said it isn\\\’t covered by their seller protection policy. I\\\’m out $100 and as a bonus, eBay still wants to be paid for the sellers fees for selling the item – they refuse to refund the charges. So I owe the
eBay money after they allowed the buyer to rip me off!
I am sorry James. That’s one thing I don’t like about PayPal or eBay. They seem to always side with the buyer even if the buyer is clearly in the wrong.
Coinstar isnt taking amazon
Nick, they used to. They still do, but as they mention on their Gift Cards Accepted page “*This list is updated every 15 minutes. Occasionally, a gift card may become temporarily unavailable.”
The ebay thing is going to be far more effort than it is worth. It is going to take you forever to find something an amazon that is cheaper than the average price on ebay. I\’ve found it to be impossible. Then, even if you do, the massive 13% (and change) ebay seller fee is going to hose you.
I have been trying to unload an amazon credit off and on (without taking a bath or exposing myself to fraud) for half a year now. It\’s pretty much impossible. Everything is cheaper on ebay.
My local grocery store, Safeway, sells gift cards on Amazon. I do surveys for a site that gives me some pretty hefty rewards on occasion in the form of Amazon credit. I use that to buy a Safeway gift certificate, that I can print out and use instantly. I always need groceries, so I just use the gift certificate for my normal grocery shopping. It’s a minor variation on your number 9, but it provides more flexibility than buying the groceries items that Amazon offers (which aren’t cheaper than your local grocery store many times, despite people thinking Amazon is always cheapest). I’ve also done the same thing with Old Navy gift cards. I did all of my wife’s Christmas shopping this way– used Amazon to buy Old Navy gift certificates, then used them to buy her, and my daughter too, Christmas clothes.
That’s awesome. Thanks for sharing, Wil.
I was researching this topic for an article and came across your blog. You have a lot of creative idea’s I didn’t know you could sell AMZ Gift cards on Ebay for more than face value that is crazy!. Look for a link from Amazon Hackers soon. Thanks for sharing!
You can’t use an Amazon gift card or certificate for Amazon Pay.
why is it so hard to find merchants that accept Amazon?? I received a $25 card for my BD and cannot find any thing I can buy with it that is that amount….no one accepts it….what can I do to get rid of it or exchange it
i would like to get rid of this $25 Amazon gift card….is useless to me…can I get cash for it
Annabell, you could either sell it on discount gift card sites or trade it using one of the methods in this post.
I successfully sold two $250 gift cards on eBay. For the first one, I had to sell it twice – the guy must have been inebriated when he purchased it, as he paid $50 over the selling price. At that point, wasn’t sure this was going to work, Didn’t feel right taking that much when he purchased at like 2 am, probably at a bar.
After he realized he had to wait out eBay’s two-week period before I could send the gift card, he started freaking out, so I canceled the sale.
Second time around, I made the terms extremely clear that the buyer would have to wait two weeks (because of eBay’s policy), and she was pretty good and started getting antsy, but that sale was fine. I lost maybe $15.
eBay policy is that the seller cannot collect their payment for two weeks after the buyer received the item. That’s due to fraud, but they’re not taking into account buyer fraud!
So best way is to wait two weeks to send the gift card.