SMART LIVING: What to do with gift cards

ORLANDO, Fla. (IVANHOE NEWSWIRE) - Experts are sharing their opinions about gift cards during the holidays.

One report reveals that nearly half of Americans have $21 billion in unused gift cards in their wallets, desk, or junk drawers. On average, one person has $175 in unspent gift cards, vouchers, and stored credit. That’s a $61 jump from 2021.

According to experts, the easiest way to put an unused gift card to good use is to re-gift it.

You can also sell off an unused gift card. Giftdeals.com advertises that it will get you the highest price for your gift cards. Once on the site, enter the store to see which exchange site will offer you the most money. A $100 gift card from Target will fetch as much as $90.

There are also gift card exchange websites like CardCash, CardHub, Raise, and Junkcard. They allow you to trade the cards you don’t like for ones you do.

You can try returning the gift card to the issuing retailer. However, they may only refund 90% or less of the card’s worth.

A better choice is to donate the gift card to charity. The gift card will be tax-deductible for the face amount of the card. If you have a combined federal and state marginal income tax rate of 35%, you’ll get a direct tax benefit of $35 on the donation of a $100 gift card.

Whatever you decide to do with your unwanted cards, the worst thing to do is nothing at all.

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