Great Article: What to do with your unused and unwanted Gift Cards and Gift Certificates

While surfing around the net we found this great article discussing what to do with your unused and unwanted Gift Cards and Gift Certificates. One option of course is to send them to me, but most people don't like that option :)

There are some great ideas and tips there.

I have one bonus tip for you: Today only eBay has a 10c listing special (today: Thursday December 27, 2007). You can list an item (auction-style or fixed-price) for 10c, regardless of what its price or starting bid. So let's say you have a $100 Starbucks card. You want to sell it at a good price but don't mind keeping it and using it yourself. So here's what you do: You create a fixed price listing, 7-day duration, and put the Buy-It-Now price as the maximum you hope to get (eg $100 or $95 or something like that). Then enable best offers, and mention prominently in your listing that you accept best offers. This will generate a reverse-bidding situation where you can get offers from interested parties and you can make counteroffers as well (up to 3 offers per interested person). If someone makes an offer or buys it at the Buy-It-Now price, that's great! If no one makes a good offer, then you have only lost 10c (10 cents).

On the other hand if you create an auction-style listing, you will have to sell the card to the highest bidder whether it's $99 or $59. In order to protect yourself there you would have to have reserves or high starting bid prices. This really depends on the type of a gift card. If it's a hot item, it will probably do very well in an auction-style listing. But it also depends on supply and demand.