Unused Gift Cards

avi0lpz · August 2014

How do people feel about receiving gift cards?

I'm torn between gift cards being the best gift idea and what do I do with all the gift cards I don't need...

Is it just me?
What do you guy think?

jessica490 · August 2014

I like them for a store that I could use some things at, otherwise I usually just like cash,

avi0lpz · August 2014

I agree with you Jessica.

I love receiving gift cards to stores I visit frequently.

Another of my dilemmas is that I'm left with gift cards with a balance of less than $3. And I tell myself that I will use the card again but now I just have a pile of them with such a small balance.

Does the same thing happen with your gift cards?

jessica490 · August 2014

avi0lpz said:

I agree with you Jessica.
I love receiving gift cards to stores I visit frequently.

Another of my dilemmas is that I'm left with gift cards with a balance of less than $3. And I tell myself that I will use the card again but now I just have a pile of them with such a small balance.

Does the same thing happen with your gift cards?

Same here. I have about $3 left at gamestop, but of course Im going to have to buy a $30+ game at some point just to finish it up lol

hoffse · August 2014

I can always use them from Amazon, Target, etc. H's parents got him an HD gift card for his birthday on Sunday. It will be gone this weekend with all the house projects, so HD is a win for us right now too.

The ones I have a hard time using are Best Buy/Apple store (I'm not gadgety), Bed Bath & Beyond, and restaurant cards unless it's chick fil a or subway or something. I really only use them when I'm buying something from that store anyway. I rarely get a gift card and then go shopping for something that fits the price of that card.

We wound up with a lot of gift cards after our wedding, but I managed to spend them all.

avi0lpz · August 2014

hoffse said:

I can always use them from Amazon, Target, etc. H's parents got him an HD gift card for his birthday on Sunday. It will be gone this weekend with all the house projects, so HD is a win for us right now too.

The ones I have a hard time using are Best Buy/Apple store (I'm not gadgety), Bed Bath & Beyond, and restaurant cards unless it's chick fil a or subway or something. I really only use them when I'm buying something from that store anyway. I rarely get a gift card and then go shopping for something that fits the price of that card.

We wound up with a lot of gift cards after our wedding, but I managed to spend them all.

Restaurant gift cards are tricky to use, but I guess you can never go wrong with food right?

Were you aiming to get gift cards as presents? I'm debating if I should ask specifically for gift cards. Are gift cards easier when shopping for stuff on your registry or is it easier to get the items you had requested?

hoffse · August 2014

avi0lpz said:

hoffse said:

I can always use them from Amazon, Target, etc. H's parents got him an HD gift card for his birthday on Sunday. It will be gone this weekend with all the house projects, so HD is a win for us right now too.

The ones I have a hard time using are Best Buy/Apple store (I'm not gadgety), Bed Bath & Beyond, and restaurant cards unless it's chick fil a or subway or something. I really only use them when I'm buying something from that store anyway. I rarely get a gift card and then go shopping for something that fits the price of that card.

We wound up with a lot of gift cards after our wedding, but I managed to spend them all.

Restaurant gift cards are tricky to use, but I guess you can never go wrong with food right?

Were you aiming to get gift cards as presents? I'm debating if I should ask specifically for gift cards. Are gift cards easier when shopping for stuff on your registry or is it easier to get the items you had requested?

I did not ask for gift cards - people just gave them to me anyway. Honestly I much preferred to receive boxed gifts. They're sentimental and they are items I would normally never buy for myself. Plus we received some really nice things that were picked out by our guests - an anniversary clock from H's uncle, a Lladro wedding figurine from my parents, etc. Most of the nice items we own now were wedding gifts, and it was really nice to be able to set up a household with quality things instead of hand-me-downs from college. But I mean, I'm cheap. If people had given me cash I wouldn't have bought those things for myself.

This is really going to depend more on your circle though and not what you ask for. My circle is largely boxed gift-givers... and mostly dinnerware. We ended up with our entire set of formal and casual china - including all the serving pieces, all of our crystal, a good bit of our silver, etc. It was really overwhelming, but we have some very high quality items that are going to last us for years.

The gift cards we did receive were mostly from people in our age group - and they were to the stores where we were registered so they were easy to spend since we had already picked stuff out there. To be honest, most of our registries were fairly bought out, so we really did just use the gift cards to pick up the few things that were left. There was nothing super crucial left to buy with them. We received very little cash compared to most weddings I think. More gift cards than cash, WAY more boxed gifts than gift cards. Personally, I liked it that way. I might be in the minority though.

avi0lpz · August 2014

hoffse said:

I did not ask for gift cards - people just gave them to me anyway. Honestly I much preferred to receive boxed gifts. They're sentimental and they are items I would normally never buy for myself. Plus we received some really nice things that were picked out by our guests - an anniversary clock from H's uncle, a Lladro wedding figurine from my parents, etc. Most of the nice items we own now were wedding gifts, and it was really nice to be able to set up a household with quality things instead of hand-me-downs from college. But I mean, I'm cheap. If people had given me cash I wouldn't have bought those things for myself.

This is really going to depend more on your circle though and not what you ask for. My circle is largely boxed gift-givers... and mostly dinnerware. We ended up with our entire set of formal and casual china - including all the serving pieces, all of our crystal, a good bit of our silver, etc. It was really overwhelming, but we have some very high quality items that are going to last us for years.

The gift cards we did receive were mostly from people in our age group - and they were to the stores where we were registered so they were easy to spend since we had already picked stuff out there. To be honest, most of our registries were fairly bought out, so we really did just use the gift cards to pick up the few things that were left. There was nothing super crucial left to buy with them. We received very little cash compared to most weddings I think. More gift cards than cash, WAY more boxed gifts than gift cards. Personally, I liked it that way. I might be in the minority though.

Good point! Some people really put a thought into boxed gifts. They end up being more valuable than anything I could've come up with for a registry.

As far as the gift cards, I agree. It might be a generational thing. My struggle with gift cards is that whenever I use them, I'm left with a remaining balance for another trip. And I tell myself that I will use the card again but never do, and end up stuck having a pile of used gift cards with small balances.

How do you manage your gift cards?

Mom987 · August 2014

I love receiving gift cards and depends on who it is if I'm deciding whether to give one.

KatieCutie05 · August 2014

Depends where... I usually end up with a bunch of unused gift cards in my wallet. Have about 5 right now. If they were all to the same place itd be great. Because right now what good is a 5 - 20 dollar gift cards when I need one hundred dollar item - I still gta shell out 80 bucks for the thing so we never get it. Restaurants and a store i specifically ask for a gift card to are good. Visa gift cards are awesome. I know ppl do it because they assume cash will end up getting spent on some bill or something instead of something special. But we plan our money better then that. Granted I always try to use my cash gifts toward debt but my hubby never let's me. He makes me buy something for myself. His cash Its gone by the next morning. Hes got too much stuff he wants. Lol mine ends up sitting there for 6 months regardless.

avi0lpz · September 2014

KatieCutie05 said:

Depends where... I usually end up with a bunch of unused gift cards in my wallet. Have about 5 right now. If they were all to the same place itd be great. Because right now what good is a 5 - 20 dollar gift cards when I need one hundred dollar item - I still gta shell out 80 bucks for the thing so we never get it. Restaurants and a store i specifically ask for a gift card to are good. Visa gift cards are awesome. I know ppl do it because they assume cash will end up getting spent on some bill or something instead of something special. But we plan our money better then that. Granted I always try to use my cash gifts toward debt but my hubby never let's me. He makes me buy something for myself. His cash Its gone by the next morning. Hes got too much stuff he wants. Lol mine ends up sitting there for 6 months regardless.

I'm in the same situation.

I have a few gift cards with about $20 but they're either from a place I don't normally go to or I don't need anything from that particular shop. I end up storing mine for about 6 months too. If only we could trade them in for something fun, like buying games on our phones or something. Lol

als1982 · September 2014

Gift cards and cash seem so impersonal. I'd much rather get something thoughtful, or nothing at all (really, I'm a grown adult, I don't need presents, I'd prefer my friends and family keep their money).

avi0lpz · September 2014

als1982 said:
We did get quite a few gift cards for our wedding, and ended up selling most of those online at giftcardgranny.com.

In addition to the link you gave, I learned that there’s another site starting named KooToro that will be allowing exchanges and combinations of gift cards.

Unused Gift Cards

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