Selling Gift Cards To Pawn Shops: Convert Your Gift Cards To Cash

Many pawn shops buy gift cards issued by popular retailers such as Amazon, Target, Walmart, etc. Pawn shops generally pay 40% to 75% of the gift card’s face value, which means that a $100 gift card could get $40 to $75 in a pawn shop.

We recommend that you use our pawn shop map tool to find local pawn shops near you. Contact pawn shops and ask them if they buy gift cards similar to the one you want to sell, and ask how much they pay as a percent of the face value. Not all pawn shops buy gift cards, so you can save time and money by contacting the pawn shops before visiting the stores.

Pawning gift cards can be different than pawning most other items. Gift cards are not technically used items like most other merchandise pawn shops buy. Pawning gift cards is more similar to pawning gold and silver because there is a known commodity value for the item.

Selling Your Gift Card To A Pawn Shop

Pawn shops have several rules for buying gift cards, and the rules can vary from store to store. Generally, pawn shops will require the following when you sell your gift cards:

• The gift card must not be expired. Some gift cards have expiration dates, while others do not expire. Usually, you can find expiration info on the back of the gift card.
• The gift card should have a value greater than $20. This amount can vary from store to store. Often small value gift cards are not worth the time to process.
• Many pawn shops require that the gift card be unused (the foil covering the gift card’s secret code is intact). If you have already scratched off the foil, make sure you let the pawn shop know when you contact them. Pawn shops often avoid gift cards with the foil scratched off because it is easier for someone to commit fraud and sell a gift card without any value.
• Pawn shops will require documentation and a government-issued ID (read more in this post). Pawn shops may take your picture as well.
• Pawn shops prefer gift cards to large retailers such as Amazon, Target, Walmart, etc. You should always verify the pawn shop will buy gift cards from your gift card issuer before visiting the pawn shop.
• Some pawn shops will ask for proof of purchase or origin. Pawn shops do not want to buy stolen gift cards and merchandise.

We recommend shopping around and getting offers from many different pawn shops. The percent of face value can vary greatly from pawn shop to pawn shop. A $100 gift card could get $50 at one pawn shop, and $70 at another pawn shop. Getting multiple quotes is an easy way to increase the amount of money you get from your gift card. Use our pawn shop locator to find nearby pawn shops.

Remember that pawn shops never offer the full resale value. Pawn shops cannot pay $100 for a $100 gift card because they would not make any money on the transaction.

Tips To Increase Your Offer

We recommend reading our post on negotiating at pawn shops to learn how to increase your offer. Most pawn shops allow haggling, which means that you can usually get more money than the first offer.

We recommend checking the resale value of your gift card online to understand which retailers sell for more. Often gift cards from large retailers like Walmart and Amazon sell for more (as a percent of face value) than smaller local retailers. Read our post on figuring out how much your item is worth.

Sites such as Card Cash feature a liquid marketplace that buys and sells gift cards. You can research the resale value on Card Cash to get a basic idea of how much your gift card sells at the site.

Conclusion

You can get fast cash from your gift card at many pawn shops. Often selling your gift card to a pawn shop can take less than 15 minutes.