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For Christmas you got four Wal-Mart gift cards and one for Barnes & Noble, but you'd like to get one big present at Pottery Barn. There are a number of Web sites that can help you turn your unwanted gift cards into gifts you want -- or into cash.
"Money is money. If you have three $5 cards, you can trade them for $15," says Bob Butler, the president and CEO of Cardavenue, a 3-year-old Web site where people can buy, sell or trade gift cards.
The gift-card market is estimated to be nearly $60 billion, and experts say 10% to 15% of gift cards go unused.
"A $25 gift card is worth $25," Butler says. "People don't think about it as money. People will have $200 in gift cards lying around. You can sell your card for cash or trade, and most people trade."
The largest market of gift cards for auction is on eBay. There are so many cards available on eBay that they are separated into various categories, even by retailer.
Buying gift cards on a Web site can bring potential savings. It also can give you access to a store or restaurant that's not in your area but is in the neighborhood of the person to whom you're giving a gift. Listed on eBay recently were a $395 Coach store gift card with a $335 bid ($2 shipping), a $466 Pottery Barn/Williams-Sonoma gift card with a $355 bid (shipping fee not specified), a $150 card for the Palace of Auburn Hills, where the Detroit Pistons play, with a $51 bid ($1 shipping) and a $400 Nike gift card with a $280 bid (free shipping).
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Other Web sites, including Cardavenue, Plastic Jungle and Swapagift.com, are devoted exclusively to buying, selling or trading gift cards.
Traders create gift-card wish lists
Cardavenue.com has an extensive inventory of cards of all kinds. "We average 5,000 cards a month," Butler says.If you want to trade a card, you create a "wish list" of cards you will accept. For example, a trader had a $162.56 Tiffany & Co. gift card and would accept a card for retailers such as Armani Exchange, Trader Joe's and Costco.
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Gift cards going unusedIs your gift going to waste? Consumer Reports' Greg Daugherty talks about the magazine's story that said $8 billion worth of gift cards went unused last year.
"Most people combine various gift cards to get one they want," Butler says. "Say they'll have three Target cards and a Borders and a Starbucks totaling $150. They can trade them on our site for one $150 card at Lowe's or someplace."
Continued: Auction unwanted cards
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