It can be scary if you’re sending gift cards through the mail since they spend like cash. But what if your envelope gets lost in the mail? What if the person opening it has butterfingers and misplaces one of your cards….or sticky fingers and misplaces it in their pocket.
I’ve done this with ABCGiftCards and CardKangaroo a number of times (last year’s epic Sam’s Club Amex Offer left me with a lot of gift cards). For example, if you buy physical gift cards, you may have to send them through the mail to your chosen marketplace. While this may sound like roses and sunshine and blue skies all day long, there are some potential problems. So much so that it kind of makes you wonder why you didn’t think of that, right? The private gift card resale club makes money, the club’s customers receive legitimate/unused gift cards, and the miles & points enthusiast gets rewards. For a miles & points aficionado, it enables one to sometimes buy a gift card and resell it at a break-even point (thereby earning “free” rewards) or sometimes even a small profit + rewards. By keeping membership private and only buying firsthand gift cards, they can ensure that their cards are “clean” (not stolen or purchased with stolen credit cards) - and therefore theoretically the private club can resell the gift cards for a higher rate to their customers (who in turn can trust to receive clean cards). cards you purchased directly from a merchant or from something like PayPal Digital Gifts on eBay). Presumably, clubs like this operate by buying large amounts of firsthand cards (i.e. While I’ve never sold with GCW Trading Club, I understand it to be a private club. While you’ll see familiar names on the list - like Raise, CardCash, and CardPool, you’ll also note that the market with the highest payout on Best Buy gift cards, at “92%+” of the face value, is something called “GCW Trading Club”. There are many avenues by which to resell gift cards - Sites like and list the rates at which you can sell your gift cards on a number of different marketplaces:Īs you can see, the “buy” prices vary by face value of the card, physical vs eGift, and also based on the market where you sell. Gift Card Resale: Public vs Private Marketplaces It’s a good reminder to spread your risk, be cautious, and go slowly if you are dipping your toes into Manufactured Spending. But I’ve also been in touch with a reader whose check bounced and some people who have heard very similar stories in their extended networks. I’ve personally sold gift cards to The Plastic Merchant without issue and have been in contact with a number of members who have recently sold gift cards and received payment as expected. While Mike Dean, the owner of The Plastic Merchant, tells us that these problems were temporary and have been resolved, we have received some conflicting reports about exactly what happened. There have been reports of some people having problems with checks from gift card resale site The Plastic Merchant in recent days.
If I can offer one tip with regard to all methods of MS, it would be this: Always be cautious how much you choose to float - whether reselling gift cards, merchandise, or buying Visa and Mastercard gift cards.
One popular method of manufactured spending is gift card reselling, whereby you purchase merchant gift cards (at a discount or with a strong enough category bonus) and sell them for a break-even amount or even a small profit, thereby earning what feels like “free” rewards. Our Manufactured Spending Complete Guide lists many ways to increase your credit card spend with the intent of getting most of it back, and the inherent risk varies from one method to the next.