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Cure Your Gift Card Blues With These Sites

Wednesday, December 26, 2007 – updated: 7:31 pm EST December 26, 2007

Did you receive a gift card to Home Depot this year, but what you really need is a new DVD player from Best Buy? No need to worry, there are plenty of Web sites where you can buy, sell or trade your unwanted gift card.

Holiday gift cards have become an increasingly popular gift, with 87.7 percent of shoppers saying they will buy two or more gift cards this holiday season, according to a study by the National Retail Federation (NRF).

But while more and more people are giving gift cards, not everyone is happy to receive them.

Gift cards have become big business, with NRF predicting sales will top 26.3 billion this holiday season, and as a result, buying, selling or trading gift cards has become more and more common.

Of course, like with many online transactions, there is an inherent risk involved, but if you are going to take the risk, the NRF has these tips:

  • You should be able to get reviews of Web sites to find out if customers have had bad transactions.
  • Call the retailer once you get the gift card to be sure that this gift card is legitimate.
  • Exchange contact information with the person you are receiving the gift card from in case something goes wrong with your gift card.

Popular Web sites where you can buy, sell, or trade your gifts cards include swapagift.com, cardavenue.com, and plasticjungle.com.

Registration is free at cardavenue.com and charges sellers 3.95 percent of the card's sale price plus a 50-cent fee. There is no charge to buy a card, and for trades both persons are charged 3.95 percent of the value of the card and a 50-cent fee.

Aside from allowing people to buy, sell and trade gift cards, plasticjungle.com and swapagift.com offers cash for gift cards directly, at a discounted price of usually 60 to 75 percent of the value of the card.

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