At EJ Gift Cards, we’re gift card experts – and we think that gift cards are valuable tools that can help you save quite a bit of money. That’s why we have gift cards to sell from hundreds of brands!
But how can you get the most out of your gift cards – no matter where you buy them? It’s a great question, and in this article, we’ll explore the answer! Whether you want to buy a discounted gift card, or you are just interested in maximizing the value of gift cards that you already have, this guide is sure to help.
We’ll discuss how you can take advantage of sales, special promotions, and more – and get the most out of your gift card!
1. Keep Your Eye Out For Special Promotions And Giveaways
First things first – make sure that you know about any special promotions related to gift cards at your favorite stores. For example, over the holiday season, many stores have “Spend $X, Get a $X Gift Card For Free” promotion. If you spend $100, for example, you may get a $20 gift card – for free!
These types of promotions are really common at grocery stores, and at “big box” stores like Target. However, they can sometimes have more strict requirements. Some Target promotions, for example, require you to spend a particular amount of money on items from a certain department – baby wipes and diapers, for example – to get the bonus gift card.
Also, it’s important to note that these types of gift cards are not technically “gift cards”. They’re “bonus cards” – which means they often have different expiration dates and fees associated with them. You should always read the fine print, and make sure that you’ll be able to use these “bonus cards” in a timely fashion. Otherwise, you could be out of luck if the card expires, or you lose some of its value due to a high fee.
It’s also not uncommon for stores to have gift card giveaways. In fact, there’s a great place to look for these giveaways that you probably did not even think about – your receipt!
At many large department stores and grocery stores, the store will ask for feedback based on your experience. As a reward, they will offer you the chance to get a free gift card, or another valuable item. While your chance of winning the gift card is somewhat low, you might as well take a minute or two out of your day, and give it a shot!
2. Sign Up For Loyalty Programs
Loyalty programs are a great way to get gift cards for free. There are a number of different stores that use gift cards as a way to help promote customer loyalty, and reward their most loyal customers.
For example, at CVS pharmacies, you can save money with CVS ExtraCare, and also get “CVS ExtraBucks”, amounting to 2% of your total purchases, which can be redeemed quarterly for store credit. You can save quite a bit of money by choosing a company like CVS with a loyalty program!
Other stores that offer these kinds of programs include AutoZone. AutoZone has a really easy to understand promotion for loyal customers. If you sign up for an AutoZone card, and spend $20 at the store 5 times, you get a gift card or store credit for $20! It’s just that simple – and this amounts to getting a 16% discount every time you shop at the store.
If you do a little digging, it’s easy to find loyalty programs at your favorite stores that can reward you with gift cards, store credit, or huge discounts that you can use on future purchases.
3. Combine Coupons And Gift Cards For Maximum Savings
One of the best things about gift cards is that they are, for all intents and purposes, the same as cash – at least, when it comes to buying items from a particular merchant. This means that gift cards can always be combined with coupons and other sales in order to get maximum savings.
Instead of spending your gift cards as soon as you get them, take some time to wait for special promotional discounts. You may get emails about discounts, see an advertisement for a big sale online, or even get information about sales at your local stores in circulars that arrive in your newspaper, or in your mailbox.
Alternatively, you can search for online coupons using services like RetailMeNot, Coupons.com, and a number of other resources.
4. Buy Discounted Gift Cards Online
If you buy discounted gift cards online, you can save a lot of money. You can often find gift cards to stores like Target and Macy’s, as well as gift cards for local restaurant chains and grocery stores, for a low price online.
The aftermarket gift card resale industry is huge, and today, buying “used” gift cards online for a discount is completely risk-free. At EJ Gift Cards, we sell gift cards online for a significant cost-savings, so you can save money by getting gift cards to your favorite stores – at a discount!
And with so many different gift cards to choose from, it’s easy to save money when you buy gift cards from a company that sells gift cards online. Just make sure to stick with reputable sellers like EJ Gift Cards, and avoid buying gift cards from individuals on services like Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or Craigslist.
5. Use A Rewards Credit Card For Gift Card Purchases
This is a gift card “hack” that many people still don’t use. There are a variety of rewards credit cards available that offer “quarterly rewards”. These include cards like Discover it! Card and Chase Freedom, as well as quite a few more.
These credit cards offer rewards based on each “quarter” of the year. For example, they may offer a 5% cash back discount on gas stations from January-March, and a 5% cash back discount on grocery stores from April-July, and so on. These discounts are not usually unlimited – typically, they limit your spending on each “category” to $1,500 or so.
However, you can use gift cards to get even more for your money – and maximize these cash back rewards. Most grocery stores, for example, sell gift cards to other stores like Target, and even sell VISA and MasterCard gift cards. This means that you can maximize your spending on a particular rewards category – and save money.
For example, if you have spent $1,000 on groceries using your rewards gift card, but have $500 more to spend and the promotional 5% cash back period is about to end, you could buy $500 worth of gift cards to restaurants, retailers, and other stores where you typically shop regularly.
This way, you effectively get a 5% discount – and make the most of both your credit card rewards, and your gift cards!
However, it’s important not to overdo things, and overspend on gift cards. You only want to buy gift cards that you know you’ll use in the near future, to avoid wasting money on gift cards that will only sit around in your junk drawer.
6. Make Sure They Don’t Expire – And That You Don’t Lose Them
One way that you can make sure that you make the most out of your gift cards is by tracking each one – and making sure that you don’t lose their value if you end up misplacing them, or they expire.
You can do this by tracking each gift card that you have in a paper log. You can also take pictures of all of your gift cards. In fact, it’s a good idea to take a picture of the front and back of each gift card that you buy, as well as the receipt, every time you buy one.
This is a good idea because, in the event that you do end up misplacing your card, it may be very hard to recover its value unless you have the transaction information on-hand, and know the gift card number, expiration date, and other details.
Most “mobile wallets” like Apple Pay and Google Pay also allow you to scan and upload your gift cards and their information directly to your smartphone. This is also a great way to keep track of your gift cards.
7. Wait For The “Off-Season” And Clearance Sales
One benefit of tracking the expiration dates of your gift cards closely is that you can plan ahead, and decide when the best time is to spend each one. All stores that sell gift cards today must have a minimum expiration date of 5 years, so there’s no rush – but it’s still helpful to know exactly when each card expires. Why? So you can plan your shopping around clearance sales!
If you got a gift card to Target at Christmas, for example, and you’re thinking about overhauling your winter wardrobe, don’t go shopping as soon as you get the card! Instead, you should wait for March-April – when most Target stores will begin putting winter wear, clothing, accessories, and other items on a deep clearance.
The same goes for just about every clothing store, and any other store that has seasonal sales. For example, you could save a lot of money on a grill at Home Depot if you go shopping in the fall – when they tend to discount most of their summer items, including grills!
By having an awareness of what gift cards you’ve got on-hand, and when each of your stores tends to have their “blow-out” sales, you can save big.
Two more dates you should mark on your calendar are Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you can save your gift cards until these days, you can save big when shopping both in stores, and online!
8. Sell Your Unused Balance
Usually, we recommend trying to use all of your gift card’s balance at once to maximize your savings. However, this is not always possible. But if you have a small remaining balance on a gift card that you don’t want to use, you don’t have to let it sit around unused. You can sell small-balance gift cards using services like EJ Gift Cards.
Then, we simply sell gift cards online to other consumers looking for discounts! Because low-value gift cards are harder to use, they are often available for a great price, and they sell quickly.
Shop With EJ Gift Cards – We Sell Gift Cards Online For Great Prices!
If you are looking to maximize the value that you get from your gift cards, look no further than EJ Gift Cards. We sell gift cards from hundreds of popular brands for much less than their face value.
If you are truly looking to maximize the value of all your gift cards, shopping with us is a fantastic idea. We sell gift cards to top brands like Target, Nordstrom, The Apple Store, GAP, and so much more – and when you buy gift cards from us, you can save big.
So don’t wait. Start browsing the selection of gift cards we sell online now, and get started with EJ Gift Cards today. Questions or comments? Contact us right away to get in touch with a customer service representative.
