Savvy shoppers save money with gift card offers

With each holiday, I see an increasing number of bonus gift card offers. They go something like this: Buy a gift card for a specified dollar amount and get a lesser gift card for free. Savvy shoppers can take advantage of these incentives to save a few pennies.

For Example:

For example, my local Safeway is offering a $10 coupon on my next shopping trip if I buy $100 or more in Visa Gift Cards. Now, Visa gift cards typically have an activation fee. But if the activation fee is less than ten dollars, then I could earn a few bucks just by buying the gift card. But do I need a Visa gift card? Sure. Here is how you pocket a few dollars without buying unnecessarily.

Take Advantage:

• Buy a Visa gift card for your personal shopping–an upcoming vacation or just daily expenses. You’re spending the money anyway. Putting your money on the gift card first simply allows you to get the bonus groceries.
• Buy a Visa gift card to put kids on a budget. Got kids going off to college, in need of spending money, or wanting to do a little back to school shopping?  With a Visa gift card, they can shop anywhere they want, but have to stay within the limit of the funds on the gift card.
• Plan ahead and buy gifts early. Think about upcoming birthdays, weddings, or even holiday shopping. If you’re going to spend the money in the near future, might as well save on groceries while you’re at it.

Expiration Dates?

One word of caution is to check the expiration dates. Thanks to gift card laws changing in August, the gift card you buy will be good for at least five years so you don’t have to worry about shopping too early. But the bonus gift card (in this case coupon), is likely only to be good for a specified period of time. So check restrictions before you buy.

Think Ahead

If you’re buying more than one gift card, you might need to do it in separate transactions so you can get the bonus for each gift card purchased–rather than one bonus for the total number of gift cards you buy. Check with the cashier to see if there is limit so you don’t over strategize.

Wish my iPhone had a flash!

I took my kids to see Toy Story 3 this morning. I don’t normally like the animated flicks, but I chuckled even more than the little ones this time. Toys I hadn’t thought about in years showed up on screen like old friends. (Including a few toys I coveted but never got to make friends with, like that three story Barbie Apartment!) But the best part of the day was using the gift card I found last week to offset the cost of admission.

Saving Money

This little Disney-Pixar flashback would have cost me $45 without the gift card. That’s a lot of money for a matinee, especially when I’m trying to stretch the family budget across a summer’s worth of activities.

While a movie gift card may no longer be the most original gift to give, it’s still a great gift for a kid, teen, family, or anybody who likes to go to the theater. The recipient might not use it right away, but is certain to appreciate it when they do.

Make the Movie Gift Card More Personal

Partner a movie gift card with some movie snacks, popcorn, or something relevant to the movie you think they’re most likely to see. For Toy Story 3, for example, get a slinky akin to the one in the movie. For the new Twilight movie, Eclipse, get a gift card to the movies with some fake blood and vampire teeth. Or, if you’re like me, a movie gift card would go perfect with a purse size salt shaker for the tub of popcorn I’d buy once I got there.

Maybe we could all learn a lesson from these two boys

My 8-year-old son has been stockpiling gift cards all year. From time to time, he’d ask me to buy something non-essential and I’d respond, “You can buy that with your own money.” He never wanted said item badly enough to part with the plastic.

But this morning, he and his little brother burst into my bedroom with a plan–they wanted to pool their money to buy Madden NFL and a new nun-chuck for the Wii. Your money? Yes. Something you really want? Yes. A non-couch activity for the summer? Let me get my keys.

This is just another example of why I love gift cards for kids. Matthew had received enough loot for Christmas and for his birthday that he didn’t want for anything else. So rather than redeem the gift cards frivolously, he saved them for a future purchase. In this world of instant gratification, I’m happy to see that his patience paid off.

Want to help your kids redeem gift cards? Click here.

I started this site because I want to show people how to gift card without feeling guilty. But I discovered that most of us need a little more help than that. We need to know what to do with unwanted gift cards, what to do with the balance left on a card, how to avoid gift card fraud, and so forth.

To meet this need, we added the “Solution Center” to our site. This is where I’ll put advice and information on some of your biggest concerns, such as:

• Gift cards are too impersonal.
• Not sure what to do with unwanted gift cards.
• Givers don’t want recipient to know how much they spent on a gift.
• Gift card fraud, expiration dates, and hidden fees can ruin the gift card experience.
• Kids and gift cards create a new set of problems.

As I navigate the gift card industry, I’ll update this page with ways to help you avoid gift card pitfalls so you can gift card with confidence instead. Check it out: Solution Center.

I just got a check from GiftCardBuyBack.com

I received a $15 check in the mail today for a $20 gift card I sold on GiftCardBuyBack. I’d carried this card in my purse for over three years thinking one day I’d use it. But the store isn’t in my area, and being a specialty shop, I knew I’d have a hard time redeeming the gift card without spending my own money. An article in Entrepreneur magazine prompted me to consider selling the gift card instead. Here are the places referenced in the article that I checked out:

• GiftZip – This site only allows you to buy gift cards, e-gift cards in fact. So this site provides an easy way to buy downloadable gift cards, but you can’t sell one of your own.
• PlasticJungle – I could sell my card on this site for cash, but they only take cards worth $25 or more. My card had $20 on it.
• SwapaGift – Same story. Minimum $25 requirement on cards turned in.
• Three sites all part of the same company, so it’s a little confusing:
  • GiftCardBuyBack – here is where I sold my gift card. After entering the gift card data and committing to sending my card to the company, I received instructions on where and how to mail the card. They promised to send me a check within 10 days…and they did! I got a check for $15 today.
  • GiftCardsAgain – you can buy discounted gift cards that other people (like me) sold on the previous site. Buying discounted cards to stores you regularly shop is a great way to save money. If you’re going to Jamba Juice everday, for example, buy a discounted Jamba Juice card and drink your smoothies for less. The only downside here is that not every card is available–only the ones people turned in.
  • GiftCardDonor – On this site, you can turn into your gift cards and donate the proceeds to charity. I actually started on this site thinking I might do a good deed. But I got confused when the registration form asked me for the month/year the gift card was purchased. I didn’t know. I later figured out that I could leave this field blank…but realized it too late.

You know I love the gift cards and normally I have no trouble spending them.  But $15 cash is signifincantly better than carrying around unused plastic.  I have to tell you – I’m feeling pretty good about this!  For the cost of a stamp and forfeiting a card I’ll likely never use, I received money to spend however I see fit.  Love that.

Love the “Give One Get One” gift card offers all over the place.  For example, CVS pharmacy is offering a free $5 gift card for every $25 CVS electronic (downloadable) gift card purchased.  You can get up to $30 with a $150 purchase. 

That’s got me thinking.  I bet I spend at least $150 at CVS over the course of a few months.  Shouldn’t I just get BOTH gift cards for myself?  It’s basically a 20% savings on anything I buy in the store.  I called CVS and they confirmed there is no expiration date on the card.

So if you regularly shop CVS, you might want to GoGo or just GT (That’s get two!)

These deals are everywhere.  I can’t open a newspaper or get my mail without seeing a new GoGo offer.  I’ve got a coupon for a local mexican restaurant that’s giving away a $20 gift card with every $50 gift card purchased.  I’m seriously on the lookout for offers I can take advantage of for my own personal use as well as for holiday giving. 

P.S. Always a good idea to inquire about any restrictions on the free gift card. Some expire and some can only be used during a certain window.  But I think the window is worth looking into.

CVS GoGo "Give one, Get one"