How can you get cash from a gift card

Do you have a Visa gift card that you wish to exchange for cash? Here are several easy methods you can use to convert gift cards to cash.

Visa gift cards are a great way of saving on shopping. Most are sold during promotions where stores offer incentives for shoppers to buy and use them. However, sometimes people need to convert a Visa gift card to cash.

Well, no cause for alarm.

If you wish to convert your gift cards to cash, there are numerous ways to do it.

In this article, we will explore the most feasible ways available to convert that Visa gift card to liquid cash.

But why would you want to convert your Visa card? Well, there are a number of reasons why someone may wish to do this.

If you are like me and check your net worth on Personal Capital daily, you likely think gift cards are a waste of time and space. Why carry virtual money when you can have cold hard cash to invest or pay down debt?

Gift cards are great, but why not get some liquidity for investing? Click To Tweet

These Visa gift cards cannot be used to withdraw money at an ATM, which therefore makes them somewhat inflexible.

Preferred Method for Converting – Plastiq

Our preferred method to use to convert a Visa card is with Plastiq. It's completely free to join and you can pay for anything with credit cards. Even where credit cards aren't accepted.

Plastiq Offer:

Free

You might also be using any of a handful of awesome ways to get Visa gift cards for nearly free:

1. Opinion Output – Use my link and get $10 free when you sign up. It's 100% free to join.
2. Swagbucks – Get $5 completely free if you join using my link. This is also 100% free to join and use.
3. Rakuten – Get $10 completely free if you use my link.
4. Drop App – Link your credit and debit accounts and get $5 free when you use my link.

It's so easy to get free money from these sites, all you need to know is how to turn the gift cards that you get into hard cash.

Regardless of how you've acquired the gift cards or why you want to convert them, you can then use the below methods to convert Visa gift cards into cash. You can then use the cash to invest or pay down debt!

Table of Contents

• Easy Ways to Convert Gift Cards to Cash
  • 1. Use the Visa Gift Card to Pay Your Bills
  • 2. Sell the Gift Cards
  • 3. Buy Money Orders
  • 4. Emergency Disposal Options
  • 5. Trade-in Your Card at a Gift Card Exchange Kiosk
  • 6. Give out the Visa Gift Card as a Gift
  • 7. Jour Cards Store
  • 8. Buying Products to Resell
• How to Get Cash from a Gift Card
  • How to Get Money Off Your Gift Card (Instead of Using It)
  • Can you get money from selling your gift cards?
  • Can you take money off a gift card?
• Conclusion on How to Convert Gift Cards to Cash

Easy Ways to Convert Gift Cards to Cash

1. Use the Visa Gift Card to Pay Your Bills

The next method, which is as good as getting liquid cash, is using the gift card to cover your bills. This can be done with the free service called Plastiq as mentioned above.

You can do this in the following ways:

• Pay large bills like your mortgage, car payment, and more

Since you would have used cash to pay for the installments of loans like your car loan or mortgage, using the card is as good as cash.

Some companies, such as Plastiq, allow clients to settle certain bills through credit cards.

And, since Visa cards are perceived as credit cards, you can use them with companies that allow payment by credit.

However, you should know that since the company will treat the card as a credit card, the card will incur slightly fees. It's completely free to sign up and try.

Plastiq Offer:

Free

• Pay everyday bills

Besides using the cards for larger bills, you can also use it to settle regular bills or, better still, make some local purchase with the Visa gift card.

This is possible since, in most cases, Visa gift cards are acceptable in stores that accept normal Visa cards.

Also, billers who accept the use of credit cards will, in most instances, take the gift card as payment.

See Related: 10 Ways to Get Money

2. Sell the Gift Cards

The most common method you can use to convert your Visa gift cards to cash is through selling them.

You can sell the card in any of the following ways and make money.

• Through a website

Some websites – such as MyGiftCards+, Prepaid2Cash, Giftcard Zen, and Cardpool – will buy your Visa gift card in exchange for cash. In some instances, these websites will even send you prepaid postage that you can use to send the gift card to them.

Better still, if your gift card is a digital one, some websites will buy it instantly from you.

However, make sure you search for reviews about the website before making a deal with them.

These websites will likely give you just a part of the amount the Visa card is worth, but it's a good percentage if you need the cash.

Here is the ultimate guide to help you sell gift cards efficiently and effectively.

• Using an app

Several buying companies also offer mobile apps from where you can sell your Visa gift card. For example, Raise has a mobile app on which you can simply sell your gift card.

All you need to do is download the app and send your card.

Then, you can choose the mode of payment you most prefer, either PayPal or check. However, the company will take 15% of what the card is worth as their commission.

Check out Prepaid2Cash to instantly liquidate Visa gift cards.

• List it on eCommerce websites

Besides selling your Visa gift card through buying websites, you can also list it on eCommerce websites like eBay.

This way, you can sell the card at the same price as its value, unlike the other websites which take a considerable cut of the total value. However, if you want to sell it fast, you can consider making the price slightly lower than the value.

One thing you should keep in mind is shipping cost if you will have to send the card.

Also, these eCommerce websites charge a small percentage as commission, although not as much as other websites.

• Sell to a friend

If you have a friend who can buy the Visa gift card directly from you, then this might be the easiest way to get cash for the card. You can ask around in your groups of friends, who can also check with their friends.

Through this, you will evade the commissions you would have incurred if you sold the gift card online.

See Related: 36 Apps to Make Money

3. Buy Money Orders

Some stores, including Walmart as well as various other grocery stores, allow you to purchase money orders using Visa gift cards. You can then deposit the money orders into your account and use the cash the way you desire.

Generally, money orders can be deposited in a bank account as a form of money.

However, although this seems like a simple method, you must proceed with caution. Numerous banks are known to close down accounts if they notice too many money order deposits.

Therefore, be careful if you use this method.

4. Emergency Disposal Options

If it’s not possible to liquidate the Visa card through the above methods, you can use these two options, though with a fee.

• Send money through services such as PayPal

Some service providers, like PayPal, are built to enable users to send or receive cash from other people with a fee.

Usually, PayPal charges a fee for transfers that is equal to 3% of their value. The good thing about this is that you can use prepaid Visa gift cards to send money in this manner.

This will solve your need of getting cash from the card, although at an extra fee.

• Mobile payment solutions

Several mobile money service companies have payment readers that will allow you to accept payments from credit cards.

Through this, you can pay yourself with the Visa gift card and pay a certain fee to a merchant. Some caution though: this is not as easy as it sounds.

You have to be very careful to use this as an emergency option, as some companies will shut down your account if you abuse it.

In addition, if you use the merchant method to pay yourself, tax implications might occur. For this reason, its wise to consult a financial adviser before doing this.

5. Trade-in Your Card at a Gift Card Exchange Kiosk

A great option you can use to convert Visa gift cards to cash is a Gift Card Exchange kiosk. These counters are usually located in grocery stores, and you can identify them with their bright yellow color.

Here, you just need to insert your gift card’s data into the kiosk, wait for an offer, and decide whether to accept or not.

If the offer is favorable, you can accept and receive a voucher that you can take to a cashier and receive cash.

To find the kiosk nearest to you, just search online and you are sorted.

6. Give out the Visa Gift Card as a Gift

Sometimes, you may be required to give a gift to a friend or a family member for special occasions such as weddings.

Since the prepaid Visa gift cards are usually bought in denominations of $100, $200 or $500, it can be an excellent gift and will essentially serve as cash.

Instead of giving a check, a Visa gift card is just as good.

See Related: 20 Best Side Hustle Ideas

7. Jour Cards Store

Jour Cards Store is an online payment and games e-shop. One of the many services available in the Jour Cards Store is the exchange of Visa gift cards for liquid cash.

Since many people struggle to find a simple to exchange these cards, this is a significant relief for many.

The store incorporates a brand new idea of trading e-currency through various platforms such as Bitcoin and PayPal.

Jour Cards gives you 80% of the total value of the Visa gift card, and they take the other 20%. The company wires the 80% either to your purse or account email.

The whole process will take around 24 to 72 hours to complete. This is because their exchange department has to first test your gift card.

8. Buying Products to Resell

I know you’ve probably heard about this method, but if you haven’t, here is how it goes.

The technique not only offers you a chance to get cash out of your Visa gift card, but you can also make some extra money. In essence, it’s about taking advantage of great deals.

Platforms like PayPal allow you to pay for products through prepaid gift cards, and various retailers accept online payments.

Therefore, you can make an online or in-store purchase using Visa gift cards through PayPal.

If you spot a deal that is ideal for a product you can buy, you can do so and then resell the product at a profit or at a breakeven price to get your cash.

This can be a great option if you are able to get cheap deals for useful products that you can later resell.

See Related: Highest Paying Survey Sites to Make Money

How to Get Cash from a Gift Card

Gift cards have been the preferred present or gift of choice for nearly every occasion, including holidays, birthdays, Valentine's Day and… you get the point.

Gift cards seem to be the king of gifts when you don't know what to get that special someone.

But what if you don't get the right gift card?

That money shouldn't have to go to waste now, should it?

What if I were to tell you that you could get cash off of that gift card? Don't worry, this is perfectly legal and rather simple.

How to Get Money Off Your Gift Card (Instead of Using It)

Here is how to get money off a gift card.

The process is easier than you think. First, you have to check the balance on the card. This is so that you can determine if this is worth it or not.

Next, you are going to want to take your card to a gift card exchange kiosk. Follow the directions on the screen. Check over everything before you hit accept.

Take the receipt to the cashier and get your cash. It's like going to the CoinStar.

Alternatively, to get money from your gift card you can do the following:

• Sell your gift card.
• Use the gift card to buy an in-demand product and then sell the product.
• Buy money orders directly to pay yourself. 
• Trade your gift card for something else. This is similar to selling but you can get a different product for it in exchange.

Can you get money from selling your gift cards?

The answer is yes. The first consideration is that you may want to sell your gift card to friends and relatives first. If they don't want it, you can turn to a number of websites like Prepaid2Cash or MyGiftCardPlus to sell your gift card.

Just make sure that the site is legitimate so that you don't end up getting scammed out of more money or lose your gift card.

Also make sure that by the time you do sell your card, that it hasn't expired. The last thing you want is to sell your gift card to someone and have it be completely expired.

To ensure this doesn't happen, list your gift card weeks before the expiration date to ensure you have enough time to sell it. 

Can you take money off a gift card?

Sadly, probably not. You can't simply take a gift card to an ATM machine and get cash immediately. 

Why? Just for the simple fact that it is a gift card. However, there are plenty of options that you can do to get money in exchange for the value of the gift card.

You can likely get money off of a reloadable prepaid card. But that's not the question. We are talking about gift cards. Based on our research, the best option to get cash in exchange for a gift card is to simply sell it for a discount instead.

Conclusion on How to Convert Gift Cards to Cash

Sometimes you may have that Visa gift card, and you don’t want to go shopping with it. All you want is to get liquid cash from it to cater to some other bills.

Well, I hope that from this piece you can find an ideal way for you to convert Visa gift cards to cash.

Use Personal Capital to monitor your cash flow and assets. You can link up your checking accounts to ensure you are tracking your income and assets for free.

Have you found a method that suits your needs? Please share your views by contacting me directly. I am here to help.

Can I convert a gift card to cash?

Can you take money off the gift card and get cash?