Cash for cards: Best online sites to sell UK gift cards

Do you have some gift cards sitting around your home that you’ll probably never use? Then why not get some cash for them? Take a look at the best places to sell your gift cards online.

The best places to sell gift cards online

Ah, gift cards. Nothing says “I had no idea what to get you’ more than a gift card. Although I jest (probably), gift cards are a popular option for gifting, with the market estimated to be worth £7bn. Plus, it makes It look like you’ve gone to a bit more effort rather than giving cash.

Of course, how useful a gift card is depends on where you can use it. It has been known for people to send me book vouchers when I haven’t bought a book in over 20 years (I’m hoping they won’t read this). So then, I’m left with two choices. Give it to someone else or sell it.

And for some reason, I feel guilty if I give it to somebody else as a gift. So, I am looking at selling.

And, as luck would have it, I had four gift cards that I wanted to sell

• £20 Amazon gift card
• £10 Love2shop
• £10 National Book Token
• £15 Vue Gift Card

But which site would give me the most for my unwanted gift cards?

Zapper

Zapper labels itself as a ‘trade-in’ platform. If you have CDs, DVDs, books, games or phones and electronics to get rid of, Zapper will probably take them. And they will take gift cards too. Selling is quite a simple process:

1. Visit the Zapper website and enter your gift card’s barcode. Or download the Zapper app and scan the barcode. You’ll then receive a valuation.
2. Find your local CollectPlus point and send your gift card to Zapper.
3. Receive your money via PayPal or bank transfer.

How much you can expect to receive depends on the popularity of the voucher. But for vouchers worth £15-£20, Zapper will usually offer you around £5 under their value.

Value of my gift cards

So, as I said above, selling with Zapper was a simple process. None of mine was recognised when I scanned my gift cards with Zapper. So, that’s a big fat 0.

Zapper

Cardyard

Cardyard is an online marketplace allowing you to buy and sell gift cards. Rather than scanning barcodes, you can use a calculation tool to tell you how much your gift card is worth.

1. Get your valuation from Cardyard
2. Depending on your gift card, you may be able to upload it electronically. This may be a photo, or if it’s an electronic gift card, a forwarding of your original email. But if Cardyard needs the physical card, you must send it by post (and pay for postage).
3. You will then receive your money by bank transfer, PayPal or Cardyard credit*.

*Credit can be used to pay for gift cards through Cardyard.

Value of my gift cards

• £20 Amazon – £16.20 cash or £17.01 account credit.
• £10 Love2Shop – not accepted
• £10 National Book Token – £6.50 cash or £6.83 Cardyard credit.
• £15 Vue Cinema – not accepted.

Cardyard

Cards2Cash

This is a fairly new site to the UK market and offers a simple way to buy and sell gift cards. You can opt for cash or receive a slightly higher amount for account credit, which can be used to purchase other gift cards.

1. Have your gift card valued by Cards2Cash.
2. List it for sale.
3. When somebody purchases it, you’ll receive your money via bank transfer or account credit.
4. This can take between seven and fourteen days.

Value of my gift cards

• £20 Amazon – £18 cash or £18.60 account credit.
• £10 Love2Shop – £8.50 cash or £8.80 account credit.
• £10 National Book Token – not accepted.
• £15 Vue – £10.50 cash or £10.95 account credit.

Cards2Cash

eBay

Okay, so eBay seems to be moving away as a good place for individual sellers (take a look at my eBay alternatives), but it still has plenty of potential buyers. And because of this, there’s a good chance you can get a reasonable price if you sell your unwanted cards here.

Using eBay can be as easy as the sites above… as long as everything goes well. But, you always run the risk of selling to somebody who is not 100% honest and may claim that your gift card isn’t valid. It will then be down to who eBay believes. If you want to use eBay, then

1. Create your eBay listing. This could be an auction or a Buy it Now price. Or, you could even allow best offers.
2. Once your listing has ended and your buyer has confirmed that the purchase has gone without a hitch, eBay will send you your money.

Value of my gift cards (using average historical prices)

• £20 Amazon voucher – £17.90 (£15.75 after fees).
• £10 Love2Shop – £8.40 (£7.48 after fees).
• £10 National Book Token – £7 (£6.16 after fees).
• £15 Vue Cinema – £12 (£10.56 after fees).

eBay charges a fee of 12% on completed listings.

eBay

Facebook and Gumtree

If you don’t want to pay a fee to eBay, you could use an alternative like Facebook and Gumtree. They’re free to use, although you’ll find fewer buyers. And if something goes wrong, you must sort it out yourself, as neither of these companies will step in.

Which is the best site to sell gift cards?

As you can see, I had difficulty getting a decent comparison for all my gift cards. But Cards2Cash consistently gave me the best price.

But don’t discount eBay completely. There are some strange buyers out there. I have seen gift cards go for more than their value before, so you could strike it lucky.

Important to note

Gift card expiry dates

When you receive a gift card, check the expiry date. These can be anything from 1 to 10 years. If a gift card expires, there’s a good chance it will be worth nothing. In extreme circumstances (such as, maybe a pandemic), some retailers may extend the validity of a card. But this is generally an exception, not the norm.

Remember, gift cards go down in value

Even if your gift card has a long expiry date, don’t sit on it too long. Because of inflation, shops put their prices up every year. That means your £20 voucher will buy you less next year than it will now. So whether you will use or sell it, try and do it as soon as possible.