Back in September 2015, Giftcardzen changed gears and put a limit on the amount of gift cards that can be sold to the exchange – we were capped at $300 per week. See the post: Major Changes to Giftcardzen Reselling where we documented this and some other changes that took place at that time.
The goods news is that Giftcardzen has upped the limit from $300 per week to $600 per week. The new rules enable us to sell more, and also allows us to sell higher-denomination cards. Previously, it wasn’t possible to sell a card with a value more than $300, now we can go up to $600.
This is great news and it means that we can end up selling around $2500 per month by splitting it up at $600 per week. As noted in the previous post, Giftcardzen started allowing electronically submitted cards, in many cases, and now, with these higher limits, they are even more user-friendly for real volume.
A negative change cropped up with regards to payment speed. Recently, they switched the payout time-frame from “2-3 weeks” to “3-4 weeks”, and they are indeed taking their time to send out the checks.
Overall, it’s a net positive, in my opinion; they are a solid company, and I don’t sweat waiting for the check all that much. The waiting period is likely just an anti-fraud measure.
We’ve updated The Complete Guide to Selling your Unwanted Gift Cards for Cash to reflect this development.
HT: Diamond Vargas
View Comments (16)
First time I've worked with GCZ so I'm curious how long it typically takes for them to update that they've received the cards. I mailed the cards from the east coast to AZ on 5/27 however 12 days later the status is still showing as "Awaiting Cards".
Hey Chuck,
This is Carlos the CTO of Giftcard Zen. Thanks so much for updating your readers about the change. We're experimenting with those limits with the end result being that everyone is happy. I don't know what that'll end up as, but hopefully we can raise those limits for our great customers especially.
Have an amazing week!
-C
I cannot for the life of me find any breakeven gift cards, let alone money-making gift cards to sell on any giftcard reselling website. How can this be sustainable for all of you? I'm willing to take a slight loss in order to reach minimum spend requirements, but that's about it.
Please advise...
Thanks
just do a google on gift card reselling and you'll see what all your options are. But like chuck said it's about stacking and not just the flat discount you get.
examples of some things that decrease your cost
The CC you use
Buying discounted ebay GC's
using cashback portals
getting targeted for ebay bucks promotion (a huge deal maker/breaker)
knowing if a sale is good or not e.g pass up on $5 off gas cards knowing $10 off sales are common (though not true right now) but you get the idea.
Thanks for the suggestions. I've looked at ebay bucks and i'm enrolled, though i've yet to make my first ebay purchase EVER. Regarding ebay bucks, it says you're only able to receive them if you pay via paypal, though on another travel website I saw someone mentioning using their Ink card to get 5x points back. How can you earn both ebay bucks and 5x UR points?
eBay Bucks are eBay's own "loyalty" program that gives you 2% of your purchase price towards future purchases, regardless of what card you use to pay. Separately, you can sometimes get 5x credit card points on eBay purchases -- for instance using a Chase Ink card to purchase gift cards from Paypal Digital Gifts (which is actually a vendor on eBay, somewhat confusingly). This purchase would also earn eBay Bucks because the programs are completely separate, one within eBay and the other through Chase, and are not mutually exclusive.
There are lots of stacking opportunities on eBay, for example, if you consider eBay Bucks as cash.
I can't get over the 3-4 weeks for checks. The ACH payment companies are much, much faster. I don't think it's anti-fraud. It's anti-money moving out faster than it moves in.
They keep accepting and later canceling a lot of my selling orders due to reasons they can't speak of. None of the other gc selling website does this. It's particularly frustrating if my order gets canceled after the rate drops. Stay away from them.
Currently having this issue with Forever 21 cards.
I had cancelled orders too when TGIF cards we were selling like crazy. And even though it was frustrating I understood their situation of overstretching on inventory. Besides that, they never cancelled my orders. I don't think, they are bad company, they are actually very good in my experience in over 1 year dealing with them.
It's not an inventory issue. They may accept or reject gift cards from the same brand at the same time in my experience. Basically they can cancel any order they consider as showing a slightest sign of 'fraud possibility'.
I guess the issue is that they are being very unfriendly towards people who make use of their website to make money (instead of just cashing in unused gift cards received from others).
Indeed this is great news and thanks for the update as I would have kept assuming it's still $300.
Does gift card reselling generate any 1099 forms?
Why are the bulk seller asking for SSN?
On Raise, yes. On others, no.
Not that I'm aware of (in their FAQ). I'd assume the SSN is for fraud verification. As some point, everyone decided that your SSN wasn't just for social security purposes...