Intro
Giving gift cards is a great way to let someone know you care, and it’s even better when you can buy them at a discount. But did you know that you can also buy and use discount gift cards for yourself to save a lot of money? Â
Warehouse clubs, certain retail stores, and resale sites offer major discounts on gift cards all year, and they can be easily purchased online and shipped free to your door or by email. Learn where to find the best discount gift cards and save hundreds a year at your favorite stores!
Costco Gift Cards
Costco has a large variety of gift cards for sale. You’ll need a membership in order to purchase them, but the substantial discounts you’ll get from bulk groceries & gas can easily make that worth your while. Â
Costco’s basic membership costs $60/year and deals can often be found such as receiving a free $20 gift card on a membership via this Groupon offer.
Below are examples of the largest and most popular discount gift cards by category available at the time of writing:
- Entertainment & Lifestyle
- Nutrisystem 20% off – $100 in gift cards for $79.99
- Instacart 20% Off – $100 in gift cards for $79.99
- Topgolf 20% off – $100 in gift cards for $79.99
- Uber 20% Off – $100 in gift cards for $79.99
- DoorDash 20% off – $100 in gift cards for $79.99
- Gaming
- Nintendo eShop 10% off – $50 in gift cards for $44.99
- Xbox 10% off – $100 in gift cards for $89.99
- Sony Store 10% off – $100 in gift cards for $89.99
- Roblox 10% Off – $50 in gift cards for $44.99
- Movie Theatres
- AMC Theatres 50% off – $20 eGift card + 2 tickets for $39.99
- Alamo Cinema 25% Off – $100 in gift cards for $74.99
- Cinemark Theatres 20% off – $50 in gift cards for $39.99
- Fandango 20% off – $100 in gift cards for $79.99
- Restaurants
- Domino’s 25% off – $100 in gift cards for $74.99
- Landry’s Multi-Brand 20% Off – $100 in gift cards for $79.99
- Subway 20% off – $75 in gift cards for $59.99
- Peet’s Coffee 20% Off – $100 in gift cards for $79.99
- California Pizza Kitchen 20% off – $100 in gift cards for $79.99
- Costco also offers discounts on Sports Tickets and Concert Tickets
Sam's Club Gift Cards
Sam’s Club also carries a large selection of gift cards. Like Costco, membership is required, but the substantial discounts you’ll get from bulk groceries & gas can easily make it worth your while.  Â
Even better, you can currently buy a Sam’s Club membership normally priced at $50/year for just $20 via this Groupon offer.
Here are examples of the best discount gift cards available at the time of writing:
- Entertainment
- Topgolf 27% Off – $75 in gift cards for $55.00
- Main Event 25% off – $100 in gift cards for $75.00
- Chuck E Cheese 25% off – $50 in gift cards for $37.50
- Spa Week 25% off – $50 in gift cards for $37.50
- Bowlero 20% off – $50 in gift cards for $39.98
- Gaming
- Sony Store 10% off – $100 in gift cards for $89.98
- Xbox Game Pass 10% off – $50 in gift cards for $44.98
- Roblox 10% off – $25 in gift cards for $22.50
- Nintendo 10% off – $10 in gift cards for $8.98
- Google Play 5.5% off – $100 in gift cards for $94.4
- Movie Theaters
- Movietickets.com 25% off – $50 in gift cards for $37.50
- Goodrich Theatres 25% off – $50 in gift cards for $37.50
- Restaurants
- Cold Stone Creamery 31% off – $30 in gift cards for $20.79
- Domino’s 25% off – $100 in gift cards for $75.00
- Krispy Kreme 25% off – $50 in gift cards for $37.50
- Golden Corral 20% off – $50 in gift cards for $39.98
- Texas De Brazil 20% off – $50 in gift cards for $39.98
- Retail
- Instacart 20% off – $100 in gift cards for $80.00
- H&M 20% off – $50 in gift cards for $39.98
- Banana Republic 20% off – $50 in gift cards for $39.98
- Carter’s 20% off – $50 in gift cards for $39.98
- PetSmart 10% off – $100 in gift cards for $89.98
- Travel
- Southwest Airlines 8.3% off – $250 in gift cards for $229.38
- Disney 4% off – $75 in gift cards for $71.99
BJ's Gift Cards
A BJ’s membership normally costs $55/year, but you can find deals such as a membership for $40 via this Groupon offer.
Here are examples of the best discount gift cards available at the time of writing:Â
- Entertainment
- Topgolf 20% off – $75 in gift cards for $59.99
- Restaurants
- Panera 20% off – $30 in gift cards for $24.00
- Domino’s 20% off – $20 in gift cards for $16.00
- Ruby Tuesday 20% off – $25 in gift cards for $19.99
- Bob Evans 20% off – $25 in gift cards for $19.99
- White Castle 20% off – $25 in gift cards for $19.99
- Â Retail
- Jiffy Lube 25% off – $100 in gift cards for $74.99
- Aeropostale 24% off – $25 in gift cards for $18.99
- Gap 20% off – $25 in gift cards for $20.00
- Build-a-bear Workshop 20% off – $25 in gift cards for $19.99
- Travel
- Southwest Airlines 10% off – $500 in gift cards for $449.99
- Disney 5% off – $500 in gift cards for $475.49
Target Gift Cards
Target has a large variety of gift cards that can be purchased year-round.
Using the Target Circle Card, you can get 5% back on any non-Target brand gift card to popular restaurants, retail stores, & more. BONUS: For a limited time, new cardholders receive $50 off a future purchase of $50+ after approval.Â
The Circle card also gives you 5% back on other purchases at Target in-store and online, making it a great all-around card to keep if you’re a regular Target shopper.
Target also periodically holds events called Circle Weeks where they offer 10% off all Target brand gift cards, making it a great time to load up on gift cards for future purchases. The best way to find out Circle Week dates is to become a Target Circle member (it’s free).
Even better, if you have a card with rotating 5% cashback categories like Discover It and Chase Freedom Flex, keep an eye out for Target entering the quarterly rotation at the same time as a Circle Week. This can allow you to buy Target brand gift cards with one of these credit cards for a nearly 15% discount!
Resale Sites for Gift Cards
Another great source for discount gift cards is through online gift card resale sites. Buying gift cards on these sites is an excellent way to save money. Â
The nice thing about these sites is that you can find gift cards to a much larger selection of businesses and typically at a higher discount than those purchased through the warehouse clubs.
Here are examples of useful discount gift cards currently available on Raise:
- Amazon 5% off – $500 in gift cards for $475.25
- Stack this with a 2%Â cash back credit card for a total savings of almost 7% on Amazon purchases, which beats the 5% back on Amazon’s Prime Visa!
- Walmart 3.9% off – $500 in gift cards for $480.74
- With Walmart recently ending their relationship with Synchrony and their 5% cash back card going away, buying these with a 2% cash back credit card is the next best thing for a savings of almost 6%!Â
- Delta 5.3% off – $250 in gift cards for $236.37
- Buy these right before booking tickets with a 2% cash back credit card for a combined savings of almost 7.5%!
- Groupon 8.1% off – $200 in gift cards for $183.89
- What’s better than a Groupon discount? Getting a discount on a Groupon discount using discount gift cards.
- Lowe’s 5.3% off – $500 in gift cards for $473.74
- Especially useful if you have a big purchase coming up and can use the gift card in its entirety. Smaller value cards are also available at a good discount.
I also recommend checking other gift card resale sites as you can often find even better discounts on certain gift cards.Â
Here are the top sites:
- Raise – arguably the most well known reseller who has been around since 2013, now branded as GCX. You can also earn GCX cash for purchasing gift cards which can be redeemed on future purchases.
- CardCash – a big player in this space that’s been around since 2009
- CardCookie – a newer player
- CardDepot – a newer player
- GameFlip – a newer player with some incredible discounts but also reports of selling stolen gift cards, so be cautious
One caution: while it’s never happened to me, be aware that since these sites sell gift cards purchased from the public, so there is a small risk that the funds on them could vanish.
Luckily, these sites offer guarantees to make it right if reported in a certain number of days after purchase, but be sure to read the policy specifics and keep an eye on your card balances. To avoid potential headaches, I try to use the funds up quickly on any gift cards from these places.
Credit Card Redemptions
Major credit card issuers including Citibank and Chase periodically offer a 10% discount on gift cards purchased with member reward points. Â
The best way to find out about these is through the emails they send out to announce it, so store up those rewards throughout the year and keep your eyes peeled. Also keep in mind that there are often better redemption options than gift cards.
Bottom Line
Buying discount gift cards to your favorite stores and using them for your own purchases can be an excellent way to save money, and you can also save money giving them as gifts to others for holidays and special occasions too.
For our family, buying discount gift cards at warehouse clubs and online resale sites has allowed us to save $600/yr on purchases we were already making.
We hope you found this article helpful to save money on discount gift cards. Got any tips you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments.
Savings
It’s hard to estimate what the average family might save in a year buying these discount gift cards, so I’ve used our own family’s numbers from the latest year.
We estimate we saved around $600 last year purchasing discount gift cards. The bulk came from discount gift cards to Amazon, Walmart, and a variety of our favorite restaurants.
The math behind the savings:
Save:
- +$600/year from buying discount gift cards (our family’s savings)
Time Required:
- +2 hrs shopping for best discount gift cards
- +1 hr entering gift card numbers for purchases
- =3 hrs
Results:
- $600/yr saved
- $600 saved / 3 hrs
- =$200/hr savings rate
2 responses to “Best Places for Discount Gift Cards”
8-22-2024
Good information….thanks!
What a great way to save some money!