Swap Gift Cards For Free at CardAvenue

May 11, 2006 By Jonathan Ping 5 Comments
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone.

Got a bunch of gift cards you haven’t used yet? Sell or trade them the new site CardAvenue.com. For example, you could swap an unwanted $100 Pottery Barn gift card you just got for a $100 Home Depot gift card that you could really use. I’ve already spent my $200 in free Target gift cards, but maybe I can pick some more up at a nice discount. At least for now, the site looks to be supported by advertising, and does not charge any fees to buy, trade, or sell. All you have to pay is postage, which hopefully will lead to better prices for both buyers and sellers.

As with any other person-to-person system, you have to watch out for fraud. CardAvenue try to avoid this in a variety of ways. They are able to check gift card balances ahead of time, and also have an eBay-like feedback system. If something does go wrong, you must use the PayPal claim system (you can only use PayPal), and then their own CardAssure protection system (up to $100). I’d still be careful.

Filed Under: Frugal Living
Last updated: February 25, 2019
My Money Blog has partnered with CardRatings and may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers and may impact how and where card products appear on the site. MyMoneyBlog.com does not include all card companies or all available card offers. All opinions expressed are the author’s alone, and has not been provided nor approved by any of the companies mentioned.

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Comments

  1. Mike says
    May 12, 2006 at 7:37 am

    This is a great website. I recently bought a Dick’s Sporting Goods Card valued at $200 for $141 and finally got those golf clubs I’ve been after.

    Reply
  2. Sarah says
    May 12, 2006 at 1:38 pm

    Even with their precautions, there’s still a lot of potential for fraud. If I were planning to scam someone, this is how I’d do it:

    (1) Purchase $100 gift card. Record serial number and checksum.
    (2) Put it up for sale on the site. Site checks to confirm $100 balance.
    (3) Sucker buys gift card from me. He calls up to check the balance when it arrives, and sees that it’s $100.
    (4) I wait 45 days so that sucker will not be able to file PayPal claim.
    (5) I call to check the balance on the gift card. If it’s not all spent, then I go online and make purchases using the serial number I wrote down initially.
    (6) I abandon my PayPal and Cardavenue accounts, and make new ones to do this again. Profit!

    Reply
  3. Andy says
    May 12, 2006 at 4:26 pm

    I doubt that would work too well. Most people would probably spend the gift card right away.

    Reply
  4. autologic says
    May 13, 2006 at 10:11 am

    If you are going to close your paypal account anyway why wait the 45 days?

    Reply
  5. Jonathan says
    May 13, 2006 at 11:16 am

    I’d say the risk is similar to eBay – what’s to stop someone there from ripping you off either? I know I have been once. It’s just that it’s harder to find a seller with a long feedback record here.

    Reply

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