If you’ve lived in the US for a while, gift cards are probably very familiar. Supermarkets always seem to have a rack full of all kinds of gift cards. I also mentioned in my article on “merchant category conversion” that gift cards can be a useful bridge for saving money with credit cards. Besides buying gift cards directly with a credit card, you can also save by purchasing discounted gift cards through secondhand gift card websites. Likewise, if you have gift cards you don’t plan to use, you can sell them to these secondhand sites for cash. Today, I want to introduce one of the gift card marketplaces I use most often: Raise

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【2019.6 Update】Today only (June 28), when buying secondhand gift cards on Raise, use code: SHOP7 at checkout to get an extra 7% off on top of the existing discount, up to $15 off total. This is usually a nice deal for near-cash options like Best Buy and Walmart.

Signup Bonus

There is no signup bonus if you register directly on the official website. If you do not already have a Raise account, you can get a $5 signup bonus to use toward gift card purchases by registering through our referral link.

Note: If you open it on your phone, it may automatically download the APP; after downloading, you can register and use it there. You need to verify both your email and phone number before the $5 rewards will appear. Registering with Google Voice will not qualify for the bonus.

【New User Coupon】New Raise users who sign up now can also use a new-user coupon. On your first order, enter code: RAISE75AF to get a one-time $5 off $75 discount, and it can be stacked with the signup rewards.

Buying Gift Cards

Buying discounted gift cards from secondhand sites is a very convenient way to save money, since these gift cards usually come with discounts of around 3%-10%. Choosing a good secondary gift card marketplace is very important. I use Raise as my main site for buying gift cards for the following reasons:

Instant delivery:

With secondhand gift cards, I always follow the rule of not stocking up—buy only when I’m ready to use them. The reason is simple: these are secondhand cards, so there is always a chance that a bad actor lists a card for sale and then secretly uses it after seeing that it sold. So what I usually do is pick out what I want to buy online first, then go to Raise and choose the gift card I want. I’ve bought gift cards there more than 20 times in total, and I usually receive the e-gift card within about 30 seconds after placing the order. It’s very convenient.

Inventory gets replenished quickly:

Discounted gift cards for popular stores like Target, Walmart, and eBay tend to sell very quickly, and during a good deal they are often out of stock. It’s pretty awkward when you want to buy something but can’t find a discounted gift card at that moment. Raise itself is a marketplace, so different sellers are constantly listing new gift cards in real time. Raise also offers email alerts, so once new inventory appears, you can get notified right away and buy it. For example, if you want to buy a Coach gift card:

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After clicking set alert, you can choose the denomination you want and the discount level you’re looking for. Once new inventory is listed, you’ll be notified immediately.

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One-year guarantee

Raise’s old 100-day guarantee, which was already one of its best features, is now even better: it has been upgraded to a one-year guarantee. If there is a problem with a gift card within one year of purchase, Raise can refund you, so you can buy and use gift cards with more confidence.

I usually buy and use gift cards right away, so I rarely run into fake cards (where the balance becomes $0). But I have seen examples of people buying a bad card, calling customer service, and successfully getting a refund. I’ve also sold gift cards on Raise myself, and after a sale, the money is not available for withdrawal immediately—it only becomes withdrawable after some time has passed without complaints. So as long as you use the card within a few days after buying it, it is generally fairly safe.

Previously, I bought a stolen $400 Target card that was blocked by Target immediately after purchase, and after calling Raise customer service, I got a refund without any issue.

APP Reserve for 5 minutes

The APP now has a reserve feature. After you add a gift card to your cart, it will reserve it for 5 minutes, so you no longer have to worry about someone else grabbing it first.

Raise Pay feature

Raise has added a new Raise Pay feature. In practice, this means you first buy a first-party official gift card and then use it to pay. One nice benefit is that even when buying first-party cards, you can still earn rewards, which are returned to your account in the form of Raise Cash and can be used the next time you pay with gift cards. The rate varies by merchant; details are below. Another advantage of using Raise Pay to buy gift cards is that you can purchase a gift card for any amount—you can buy exactly the amount you need to pay, which is very convenient. There are many merchants offering gift card rewards, and for some of them, the price after rewards is even close to the cost of a discounted secondhand gift card.

Stack with credit card rewards

Most gift card websites do not fall into bonus cashback/points categories for credit cards. However, based on my testing, the Citi AT&T Access More credit card has consistently coded Raise purchases as online retailer purchases, so you can earn 3x ThankYou Points. If you also have the premium Citi Presitige card, that works out to about 5% back.

Cashback portals

Currently, cashback portal Ebates offers 1% cashback on gift card purchases at Raise (only on the first $20,000), which is much better than the earlier $1,000 cap.

What should you buy?

Raise sells a huge variety of gift cards, covering most stores people shop at regularly. The ones I most often buy are for Amazon, Walmart, and Target, because these cards are usually hard to find at very deep discounts. Take Target as an example: if you buy using a Citi AT&T credit card and also go through a cashback portal, then:

  • Target gift cards are usually about 3% off (the best I’ve personally bought was 6%)
  • Using a Citi AT&T credit card earns 3x (about 4.8% back)
  • Ebates 1%

Altogether, that means you can buy a Target gift card of any denomination at roughly 9% off, and Walmart is similar. If you want to use a Target gift card in store, you can download the Target app on your phone and load the gift card into it. The app will automatically generate a barcode, and you can simply scan it at checkout. Very convenient.

Recurring Promotions

  • 【Extra 5% off】Promo code: Take5. All gift cards in the list get an extra 5% off. Discounted gift cards are visible only on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Click here to view the list.
  • 【Extra 1% off】Promo code: Raise1 (extra 1% off on all included gift cards; click here to view the full list)

The gift cards included in Take5 are refreshed each weekend, and each account can use it once. Raise1 is generally available at all times, though it is unclear how many times each account can use it. Promo codes cannot be stacked, but they can be combined with rewards.

Selling Gift Cards

You can also sell gift cards you don’t need on Raise, generally mainly e-gift cards. You just select the corresponding gift card brand and list your own card. The selling fee on Raise was reduced from 15% to 12%. Raise accepts most gift cards for sale, you can set your own price, and they tend to sell fairly quickly.

Below is an example of selling a Target gift card:

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You can set your own price (Raise will also suggest a recommended price). As you can see, if you sell a $50 Target gift card at face value, you would receive $42.5 in cash, which means Raise was taking a 15% fee (now reduced to 12%). So for some more popular gift cards, I usually do not sell them on Raise. That’s because on other gift card buyback websites, we can often find better buyback rates. But for certain niche gift cards—for example, Sabon gift cards from the old AMEX checkout deal—I would sell them on Raise at roughly 70% of face value, because other websites simply would not buy Sabon gift cards at all.

Things to keep in mind

  • No matter how legitimate a website looks, there can always be bad actors, so use your gift cards as soon as possible after receiving them
  • If you are worried about buying “laundered” gift cards (for example, cards obtained through theft → return → gift card), consider buying gift cards with round-number or full-hundred denominations
  • If you are not familiar with cashback portals, see “cashback portal guide”