When you are not able to decide what to give for Christmas, you keep it hassle-free with gift cards.

A gift card is the easiest option when someone doesn’t want to put much thought into gifting. However, not every receiver feels happy about what they have received as a gift. It’s important to understand that gift cards are not equivalent to cash. It’s similar to store credit. The store writes the rules to handle the credit and the recipient of the card. Also, any financial trouble with the store means the gift card loses its value.

Users or receivers may not be very fond of their gift cards, but retailers are crazy about them. The reason is simple – they get the value upfront. Apart from that, they know that some cards get forgotten, some expire, and some get lost. The value of unused gift cards goes into billions of dollars! Do you even realize how profitable it is for retailers?

What do those unused gift cards mean?

It means free money for stores! Both partially redeemed and unused gift cards bring a lot of money to stores. (So, you can decide to sell your gift cards in the UK and sell gift cards for cash in the US.)

Some consumer reports reveal that not all gift cards get redeemed. Almost a quarter of all cards go unredeemed for a year, and some never get used at all. Those unused gift cards bring billions to the retail industry.

In that light, it’s time to get smarter. Even if buyers of gift cards like to spend on gifts, recipients can change their perception of receiving. It’s time to understand that not all gift cards are created equal. Not all gift cards allow online and offline purchases. Some are redeemable in the store while others are online. E-vouchers or e-gift cards also follow the same trend and share similar stories.

What recipients can do?

As a recipient of gift cards, you may have some unused cards or partially redeemed gift cards. You can put that to use by selling your gift card for cash.

There are many popular gift card exchange websites or marketplaces allowing you to sell your gift cards in the UK and sell gift cards for cash in the US online. The process is simple: put your card for sale at a discount and get paid in cash after someone buys that card. Remember, the card you have may not be useful to you, but there may be people around who are looking for the kind of gift card you have.

Alternatively, you can also buy discounted gift cards that you can use and save money by shopping with gift cards.