Ok, don’t take this the wrong way…but I’m a sucker for a deal. Case and point, I spent about an hour trolling the aisles at DSW earlier this afternoon. So how psyched was I when I found out there are sites to buy discounted GIFT CARDS…yep, you read that correctly. Gift cards. Apparently it’s a whole amazing exchange system that I won’t go into (but I do link off to resources that will tell you more if you’re interested) which can result in some serious savings if you do your research right.

The other part of the process, which I’m not going to focus on because its not the bent of my blog but file under “nice to know” is that you can sell those gift cards you’re never going to use on most of these sites and get cashola back in your possession for stuff you really want. Ok, moving on…

Plastic Jungle
Plastic Jungle was the first of these gift card exchanges I found. Here you can buy, sell, swap exchange, or if you’re feeling generous, donate gift cards. They had a pretty impressive selection–I saw American Eagle, Macy*s, Pier 1, Claire’s, GAP and The Children’s Place–some at 20% off (they say they go as high as 35%) and shipping is always free. To check out their selection go here and to find out how it works go here.

Giftcard Rescue
Giftcard Rescue was my next stop. They say saving on gift cards can be anywhere from 4% up to 30% (although most of the offers I saw were in the 10-15% range–still a pretty good deal) and they boast 350 national merchants. Selection here was again pretty impressive–Build A Bear, Sports Authority, B&N, H&M, Michael’s, Pac Sun and JC Penney (27% off btw)– GiftCardRescue has a transaction guarantee which is also nice. To check out their selection go here and to find out how it works go here.

Cardpool
Another service with a Purchase Guarantee Program is Cardpool. In principle it’s the same as the others–buy (or sell) gift cards for a discount, free shipping is included. They definitely go more into the process on their How It Works section, which is a nice confidence builder if you’re feeling weird about this at all. What that amounts to is the knowledge that Cardpool buys gift cards directly from people who want to sell them, they verify the authenticity and balance of every card, and hold them until they are purchased (or not), which would be their loss, it would seem. Again, selection was great–Tiffany’s, Sephora, Williams Sonoma, Wet Seal, JCrew, Pottery Barn. To check out their selection go here.

eCardExchange
Last but not least, and bear in mind the principle remains the same, eCardExchange takes the same tact as Cardpool with a Purchase Gurantee and they give you a good deal of info about the ins and outs in their How it Works (also very similar to Cardpool). Selection and navigation not as impressive though–for example, there are lots of redundancies within categories and results don’t populate in a way that make them easy to scroll through. Best way I found to search was to go to “Buy Gift Cards” and select from a category and tab through.

Related Links
What I Bought With My Gift Cards And Other Presents
6 Really Cool Stationery Sites
Housewarming Gifts: Movies, Monograms, Maids & More
First Time Gifts: Buying For A New Boyfriend or Girlfriend

Free photo courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net.