Valuable tips for buying gift cards online

Many people have saved hundreds of dollars by searching the internet for used gift cards that can be bought, sold and traded online at incredibly low prices.

Buying a pre-owned card is expected to be one of the most popular gifts to date and generate around twenty billion dollars in total retail sales during the holidays each year. Many experts expect that a total of sixty billion more will be spent on store-specific cards in the coming years.

However, a rarely known fact is that approx. 10% of dollars on all the cards sold are actually used. As a result, many sellers have suddenly grown up online and created a little-known secondary market for these popular items. Many analysts estimate that this is an additional $ 2 billion more in additional sales.

For all buyers, these private and professional sellers provide a great opportunity to buy one with a saving of anywhere from 10 to even 50 percent of the original face value. All of these cards can be given to friends and family or redeemed for merchandise. For any shopper, this can be a simple way of exchanging an unwanted gift card for a more desirable one from a store that they actually prefer without the original giver ever knowing anything about it. For all sellers, it is a rare quick and easy way to get cash for their unused cards.

As a warning, gift card changers need to be extra careful when shopping for cards. While the majority of online sellers are legitimate, the secondary market is still a business in development. Although there are a number of policies and protections, a transaction is only as secure as the people who mutually participate in it. Moreover, there is still the very real concern regarding stolen merchandise and gift card trades .

Currently, there are many different business models when it comes to buying used cards online. A closer look at this case reveals that there are a growing number of reputable online marketplaces like eBay.

One can also buy these cards online at specific card trading sites, but all of this generally has a price. Although it varies from site to site, these used card-specific sites usually require users to pay a registration fee, usually around fifty cents for a few dollars or a transaction fee of 3-8% of the total value of the gift card. Many of the sites charge a combination of both that can really eat into the overall value of your card.

Another fact to be careful of is that not all gift cards are traded the same. Being aware of market demand will help you in your search for the perfect used card.

First, you need to be careful and consider many things, such as when buying and selling. Many gift card exchange sites are disproportionate in their supply and demand and have significantly more sellers than buyers on any given day. However, during the first few weeks at the beginning of each year, especially in the month of January after the holiday, this imbalance intensifies when the market is flooded with unwanted gift cards. Other peak periods include the weeks following similar popular gift-giving holidays such as Valentine's Day and Mother & Father's Day.

For the wise buyer, this means a much larger selection to choose from and prices that can be 15-20% percent lower than they are at other times in the rest of the year. For potential sellers, it may be a good incentive to wait, but not for too long. Some gift cards that have expiration dates or charge fees when they are not redeemed are prohibited from a majority of online sites to prevent problems.

Second, you need to consider what to buy and sell. While it is not easy to tell from an occasional visit to these sites, frequent used buyers and sellers understand that not all used cards are great deals. Most cards are sold for ten to fifteen percent of their full face value. Note that a reduction of 30 to 40 percent is considered an excellent deal. However, the popularity of the dealer and the condition of the card are crucial in determining if a used card is actually worth the price.