Struggling financially? You’ll love saving money using gift cards.
Gift cards make great gifts, but they can also be an excellent way to save money on gifts and other things you need to buy. Have people on your shopping list who are hard to buy gifts for? It’s no wonder that gift cards are so popular. Here are some ways you could be saving money using gift cards.
Buy Gift Cards From Someone Else
Do you have the time to wait for shipping or are you ok with someone e-mailing you a gift card code in an otherwise blank e-mail? Go online to buy your gift card from the secondary market. You can almost always buy the gift card at a discount. Depending on how popular the gift card is, the discount can be anywhere from two percent to 20 percent off face value.
Also, if you’re buying the gift card through an intermediary, like eBay, you can pay with your credit card. This is an added bonus because many credit cards have special cash back or other rewards on certain purchases
So imagine you find a $50 gift card on eBay for $45 shipped. Then you have a credit card that will provide 2 percent cash back on this purchase. You bought a $50 gift card for $44.10.
Great places online to look for discounted gift cards besides Ebay include Gift Card Zen, Raise, Cardpool and Gift Card Granny.
Look for Gift Card Bonuses
During the holiday season, many establishments, such as movie theaters and restaurants, sell gift cards with special bonuses. A common one is “buy $50 worth of gift cards, get a $10 gift card for free.”
If you take advantage of this deal and you like to eat at that particular establishment, you just got a 20 percent discount. Also, if you have a credit card that offers three or five percent cash back at restaurants, that’s additional savings you can stack on top of the 20 percent.
Use Gift Cards to Pay Your Bills
Some companies that send you a monthly bill, such as Verizon, allow customers to pay their monthly bill with gift cards. This is handy for saving money. That’s because customers can buy the gift card with their credit card and earn rewards through their credit card company. Then, use the gift card to pay their bill. This will save money if the company of the bill you want to pay has a policy of either not accepting credit cards or charging a “convenience” fee to do so.
Stacking Makes Saving Money Using Gift Cards Even Easier
Gift cards are great for stacking on top of other discounts, like sales, promotions, and coupons. Many discounts have restrictions, such as not combining with other discounts. But almost never does a restriction on a sale, coupons or promotion limit the use of gift cards.
Buy the Gift Card Through a Cash Back Website
You’ll get cash back from credit cards when you use them to buy the gift card. Plus, you can get cash back other ways, too. So here is how it works. Before you buy the gift card from a site like eBay, go to a cashback website first. Swagbucks or Ebates would be good choices. After visiting one of these cash back websites, then buy the gift card from a place like eBay. You’ll get a discount.
Plus, you can use a credit card that offers rewards (which you pay off in full every month). So on top of the cash back through your credit card and the discount on the gift card itself? You’ll get one, two or maybe even three or more percent back in cash. This can easily amount to over 10 percent savings on something you were going to buy anyway at full price from a brick and mortar store.
Even if you’re working on saving money using gift cards, you may need a title pawn to help you in the meantime. Come on into Title Tree, and we can help you get the cash you need.