In most cases, gift cards are a fairly good option for gifts – as long as you know the person’s tastes.
But at the same time, gift cards can be an awful gift if you happen to receive one that is totally not your taste, the store or restaurant is out of your way, or you just would have preferred cash over a store gift card. Luckily, there are some gift card exchange sites that can exchange up to 92% of a gift card’s value – for cash!
Read more: 6 smart places to invest your money this holiday season
How gift card exchanges work
Once the gift card exchange company confirms the value of the card, they send you a check for the amount they are willing to pay for that particular gift card. All kinds of gift card retailers are accepted: Gas stations, hotels, department stores, restaurants, supermarkets, movie theaters, and specialty chains.
Consumer Reports has checked out the most popular gift card exchange sites and determined which ones give you the most money for your gift cards. Below are the results!
- Giftcards.com: 82%
- Cardpool.com: 80%
- Giftcardrescue.com: 78%
- Monstergiftcard.com: 65%
To see each individual gift card tested by retailer, check out the chart on ConsumerReports.org here.
Read more: 3 ways to get a grip on your money in 2016
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