If you find yourself holding unwanted gift cards that you may never use, you may be surprised at all the options available to you for turning those unwanted gift cards into cash or exchanging them for other cards at your favorite retail store. There’s also other amazing options to exchange gift cards including playing time on your favorite online game or even paying some of your monthly bills like utilities, mortgage or car payments. No doubt other options will start to evolve as an effort is apparently underway to start unlocking some of the billions of dollars that are left unspent in unused gift cards each year.

Participating in a Gift Card Exchange is a simple and safe process thanks to a handful of reputable gift card exchange websites already dedicated to this cause.

Exchange your Gift Cards to Play Online Games

If you’re hoping to receive the full face value for your gift card, you may be in for a disappointment except if you exchange your gift card through the Openbucks network.  According to a recent article in the San Jose Mercury News, Openbucks has forged agreements with a handful of major chains including Subway and CVS Pharmacy to allow their cards to be spent at participating online game sites such as World Golf Tour and Parallel Kingdom.  In essence, in addition to paying with a major credit card, the participating online game companies now also accept a limited number of gift cards at their full face value as one of their payment methods.  You use the gift card the same exact way you use a credit card. No rules, no minimums, no maximums. This could be a match made in heaven if you’re holding one of the accepted gift cards and you love playing online games.

Exchange your Gift Cards for Cash

With the economy at an all-time low and so many people out of work, exchanging unwanted gift cards for cash may be a desirable option for many people.  Gift Card Rescue, based near Baltimore, is one such company who will buy your gift cards and pay you in cash.  “A lot of people don’t know they can sell their gift cards for cash” Kwame Kuadey of Gift Card Rescue said in a recent article in the San Jose Mercury News.  Selling your gift cards for cash at GiftCardRescue.com is an easy 3 step process that involves giving you a quote, requesting that you mail in your card and once the card has been received and verified, mailing you a check.  Gift Card Rescue currently accepts over 300 different types of gift cards and also provides the option of trading your gift card for a gift card from another retailer or an Amazon gift card.  The benefit of trading for an Amazon.com gift cards is that they never expire and can be used to purchase millions of items at Amazon.com including huge selection of Books, Electronics, Music, DVDs, Software, Apparel, Toys, and much more.  You can sell or exchange your gift card at GiftCardRescue.com if the current value of the gift card is at least $20.00 and not more than $3,000.00.

Plastic Jungle, one of the current leaders in the gift card exchange industry, will allow you to cash in your unwanted gift cards for up to 92% of the verified balance.  The amount you will receive for your gift card will depend on a variety of factors including brand popularity, seasonality, and denomination.   You can also exchange your unredeemed or partially used gift cards for purchasing power at stores like Amazon.com, or even donate them for the benefit of your favorite nonprofit organization. Plastic Jungle pays for shipping, and all transactions are guaranteed.  You can sell or exchange your gift card at PlasticJungle.com if the current value of the gift card is $25.00 or more and up to $9,500.00.

Cardpool.com has become the world’s largest and fastest growing gift card marketplace since being founded in 2009.   You can sell your gift cards for cash and earn up to 92% cash back at their gift card exchange program.  The process is easy.  You can sell your gift cards electronically on select merchants- no mailing required, or you can mail your gift cards using their FREE SHIPPING LABEL as long as the gift card has  a $25 gift card minimum balance.

Giftcards.com will purchase your gift card and pay you cash as long as the balance on your gift card is between $25.00 and $300.00 (without a pending expiration).  Giftcards.com will pay you a percentage of the card balance, based on the Preferred Merchants List.  They have a limit $500.00 per customer household every 6 months.  Just go to their website and select your merchant and enter the amount of your gift card.  Giftcards.com will tell you the redemption amount right away.

Pay Your Bills with Major Gift Cards

You will soon have the ability to apply your unused gift card balances directly to your monthly bill payments.  This capability is going to be offered through ChargeSmart, an online consumer bill payment portal, and Plastic Jungle, the web’s largest secured gift card exchange.  According to the ChargeSmart’s Bill Pay blog, you will be able use unredeemed gift cards to make payments on utility, car and mortgage bills! The partnership will allow you to sell your unspent gift card for up to 92 percent of the gift card value. They boast that this will be a valuable, seamless and instant way for you to use a gift card to pay for these essential bills!  This new feature is expected to become available to the public within the next couple of months.