If you are one buyer from those retails stores who sell gift cards which are mostly offered during the holiday season, then chances are that you are quite satisfied with it because after all, why would you decide to buy it if it was the other way around? These gift cards allow the buyer or the recipient to purchase things without having to spend actual cash in their pockets.
However, gift cards can be a mixed blessing because if you forget that you have one and it can just sit in your pocket or drawers unused. Good thing if the gift cards have no expiry dates, but sadly, there are some of these gift cards have validity dates and if you were not able to use such cards, then you’ll have to kiss the value goodbye. If you receive one from a store that you don’t even bother to go regularly then you might end up buying such even though you really do not see the need of it. There might even be a tendency to overspend because it is already out of your plans to spend money on such things.
So, below are some tips where you can put your gift cards to good use:
- Make sure that you spend it sooner than later
If you really have the intention to use your gift cards, it is better than you spend it now that you still have the gift cards in mind. It is much better to act fast because you might not know that such store which sells gift cards might wind up to go out of business rendering your gift card useless or out of value because you not claim it or have it refunded from other stores.
This one holds true as when consumer shopping habits are continuously shifting and there are already a number of brick-and-mortar store who are closing down. The quicker you spend your gift card, the less likely is the chance that you end up forgetting about it. In fact, in the year 2015 alone, a whopping amount of almost $1 billion represents unused gift cards. This is a significant amount of money just went to waste.
- How do you intend to use it? Do you plan to spend it yourself? Or to have it gifted or resell or donate the gift card?
If you got a gift card from a certain store, and that store has no available location near you, then it might be best to give it to a close friend or a family member who lives nearby that store, or resell it to residents who are near such store, or donate it out of the goodness of your heart.
If you want to resell your gift cards, there are websites wherein you can utilize it to have your gift cards sold online. Although you might not be able to get the full value of what you spent for the card or what the face value of the gift card is supposed to be – reselling it for a certain sum might be a better choice than just leaving it unused and receive nothing in return.
If you consider donating your gift cards, you might have the chance to claim for tax deductions from such donation.
- You must avoid overspend and underspend
There was a study conducted by a certain payments technology company wherein it was found out the 75% of the consumers tend to overspend the value of their gift cards by an average amount of $38. Although this is not a bad thing, especially of the item you bought is really necessary for you because, with the use of such gift card, you can already have the capacity to purchase that certain item where absent such gift card, you cannot afford of buying otherwise.
But, you must still be aware of what they call “gift card creep” that is by spending so much on something that you don’t really need just because it appears that the cards had made purchasing such items to be relatively cheaper. You must establish a plan ahead of time so that you will be able to get the most out of the value of your gift card.
For you to get the best deal from your gift card, you should try to look around for some coupons and try to shop when the retailer of such gift card are offering discounts.
But what if you have come close to your gift card limit and is there is only a small amount left in your card? Well, there are certain states which require such retailers to convert the value of your gift card to cash should your card fall below the threshold. Some store may also provide policies as with regards to refunding gift cards with low values for cash regardless of which state you might live in.
- Try to discover new things from your gift card
Although gift cards can become a burden because you will then be forced to spend money on things that you might not even use, you can also try to opt to push and try to acquire new things. So instead of just leaving your gift card to sit around the corner, it is sometimes better to go out on a limb and utilize the value of what you have. You might chance upon something that you really find the use for.
Chances are you might be getting a gift card which you do not want or one which you have really wished for a long time already. The safest way for you to be able to get the most from the value of your gift card is to assess what you really want to spend it on and be able to maximize what that certain gift card offers. There is no perfect choice here because ultimately the decision rests upon you on whether or not you want to make use of such gift card or not. Whichever choice might that be, at least you now have some hint of the idea of the value that you are trading off.
