I’m currently house-sitting in Anchorage, where one of my duties will be kid-wrangling while my niece does the Alaska Run for Women. The first order of the day: Breakfast at IHOP, my treat — and at 8% less because I’ll be paying with a discounted gift card.
Sites like Plastic Jungle, ABC Gift Cards, Cardpool and Swapagift re-sell unwanted gift cards to hundreds of different retailers. A secondary-market aggregator called Gift Card Granny can help you find the deepest discounts.
Discounted gift cards are as good as coupons: They provide a consistent discount of 3% to 30% or more. While I don’t buy a whole lot of Stuff, I do use these cards to save money on haircuts, groceries, movies and more.
Where do they come from? Most often from someone who needs or wants the money more than the card. Since resale sites will pay up to 92% of face value, it’s an easy way to raise some fast cash.
But plenty of cards end up on the market because they were colossal fails. Maybe your well-meaning uncle thinks you’re as interested in fly-tying as he is. Or maybe you unwrapped $25 in plastic scrip to a shop where the cheapest item is $40. (Extra bummer points if it’s an item you don’t particularly want, or a store you’d never visit otherwise.)
Heck, I’ve even heard of a vegetarian being given a gift card to a steakhouse. True story.
- End run around the wedding gift registry. If your BFF is registered at Bed Bath & Beyond and Macy’s, buy a discounted card and use it to pay for your present.
- Pump up PTA attendance. Offer a gift-card door prize at the next meeting. If you don’t see more parents there I’ll reimburse you for the cost of the card.(Just kidding!)
- Black Friday boost. Poised to grab $2 DVDs and $10 smartphones? They’ll be even cheaper if you pay with cut-rate cards.
- A gift in and of itself. If your brother loves a particular store, give him a card and let him buy whatever he wants. Buy it well in advance, though, because there’s a chance you’ll receive a seasonal or special-occasion card, e.g., a card decorated with holly or a wedding cake. (If so, take it to the store and buy a new card with it. If you don’t allow enough time to do that you’re going to look like either a re-gifter or the kind of cheap bastard who buys discounted gift cards. Neither epithet would bother me much, but you might have thinner skin.)
- Something for your kid’s teacher. Trust me: Ms. Smith absolutely, positively does not need another “No. 1 Teacher” mug. However, she might want something to put in the mugs she already has. I just saw Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf cards and Caribou Coffee cards for 10% and 12% off, respectively.
- Giveaway on your website. Nothing gets virtual butts in virtual seats like a giveaway. Put a gift card up for grabs and promote the heck out of your contest. No one has to know you didn’t pay full price. Unless, of course, your card has hearts and Cupids on it.
- Red Robin, 8.9% off. Pricier than I’d like, but the fries and drinks are bottomless and it’s a family-friendly joint.
- McDonald’s, 11% off. The play area is a good place to burn off kid-beast energy when it’s 45 degrees and raining sideways. (This has nothing to do with me and McNuggets. It’s totally, completely about the kids.)
- Regal Cinemas, 15% off. Two words: Summer movies.
I don’t go to restaurants much. But I like to take my niece and her kids out to eat when I visit. So why not do it for 8% less?
Besides, this time around my food will be free. That’s because I have a social media relationship with IHOP, which just sent me a coupon for a free “Rooty Tooty Fresh ’n Fruity” breakfast. The downside? I have to speak the words “Rooty Tooty Fresh ’n Fruity” out loud. In public.
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