SAVING MONEY BY BUYING DISCOUNTED GIFT CARDS

Buying gift cards at a discount instead of directly spending on a brand. 

Good

• Decent value
• Purchase and redemption process on the partner is surprisingly streamlined

Bad

• Limited selection of brands
• May have to fiddle with gift card numbers
• Annoying to manage gift cards unless the brand allows you to load the gift card balance on your account
• May compete with credit card cash back bonuses on certain categories

Expected Results

• 1%-10% extra value for your money is do-able, more on some brands

Platforms

• Gift Card Exchange (Results Below)

We've all gotten gift cards we don't end up using, so there are a lot of services out there where gift cards can be sold or exchanged. You can take a hit on the value to sell your gift cards, or for the purposes of this article, do the reverse. You can purchase gift cards at a decent discount for your own uses.

This can be low effort but low impact as it needs to pair well with your spending habits. Plus if the gift cards are inconvenient to use with your preferred brands, this may not be as worth it. If there is something that clicks well for you, it's a chunk of change saved for minimal effort.

For me, I consistently find Uber gift cards for a decent discount, and those can be loaded directly onto an account balance. Netflix and Amazon also allow loading balances, though I haven't personally found as high of a discount on those options. 

Don't forget about cash back though!

Notably you need to consider how the discount compares to cashback bonuses from your cards. You may get a standard 1% cashback from buying the gift card. However, the Amazon Prime Visa gives 5% cashback. If you're getting an Amazon gift card for 8% off, you're really only saving 4% (8% discount + 1% cashback, minus the 5% cashback you would have gotten) which overall may not be worth the consideration. So you need to figure out what cashback you get purchasing the gift cards as well as what you would get on the brand itself to consider if it's worth it.

For me this one lands a lot closer to coupon cutting and being a savvy shopper than hobby money, but it is fairly easy to set up and take advantage of if you like any of the gift card options.