The estimated reading time for this post is 140 seconds

Spurred on by the success of Black Friday as a shopping holiday, corporations in recent years have taken it upon themselves to amend the holiday calendar with the addition of events bearing catchy names like Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday, and Gift Card Weekend, which took place Jan 6 – 8 and gave consumers who received gift cards from participating retailers this holiday season discounts on redemption. While we all realize that these events are merely designed to drive sales, they can also be an opportunity to save for those of us planning to buy anyway.

Ok, but what if you’re looking to sell?

The average household has $300 in unused gift cards just lying around, and this value can be unlocked by using an online gift card exchange. A gift card exchange is basically a secondary market for gift cards, allowing consumers to sell unwanted gift cards for cash and, correspondingly, buy gift cards at a discount. You can typically sell gift cards to both individuals and large companies, and while returns obviously depend on the card being sold, you can expect to get as much as 95 cents on the dollar back. Card Hub’s gift card exchange is particularly useful given that it’s the only marketplace that allows you to list any gift card of any denomination for any price, though I am admittedly biased in saying so.

It’s important to note, however, that you needn’t feel forced to sell a gift card even if you know you’ll never use it. The funds on a gift card now cannot expire for five years. Most stores also allow you to buy new gift cards with old ones. That means you could simply hold onto your unwanted gift card till holiday shopping season 2012 rolls around, trade it in for the new seasonal style, and re-gift.

There are also certain gift cards that it does not make sense to sell at all, namely general-use gift cards (i.e. those issued by American Express, MasterCard, etc.). The reason for that is obvious: You can use them everywhere. However, you don’t want to leave a general-use gift card sitting in your drawer for too long because, unlike store-affiliated gift cards, they tend to have accompanying service charges, which degrade the gift card balance over time.
Ultimately, regardless of the approach you take in dealing with unwanted gift cards, it’s at least reassuring to know that you aren’t simply stuck with them. Twenty percent of adults received presents they did not want last year, according to Consumer Reports, and while 44% simply kept them, it’s our hope that this number will decline in 2012.

This guest post was written by Odysseas Papadimitriou from Card Hub, an online marketplace for discounted gift cards and the best credit card deals.

You might also like: