Sometimes you might have a gift but would like to change it for money in order to use the money for something else. In case you have an American Express gift card and you would to convert it to cash, here is an important article that you will get all the information that you have been looking for about how to convert an American Express gift card to cash. Kindly read to the end.
If you have an unused American Express gift card you probably wondered how to cash out an American Express gift card! Lots of people have unwanted gift cards. $3 billion worth of gift cards go unused each year. This unspent money simply gets sent back to the retailer or bank.
American Express accounts for nearly a quarter of all credit card transactions in the US. Gift cards can be a kind and thoughtful gift. See How to check Walmart Gift Card Balance
If you’ve received one, the giver probably intended for you to be able to purchase something for yourself that you either want or need.
However, what do you do if you need cash for the gift card instead? All you have to do is just to convert the gift card in your wallet to cash and then use it for any other thing.
In this article, I will be showing you all the procedure that is required for conversion of American Express Gift Card to Cash.
Ways to Convert American Express Gift Card to Cash
The following are the ways in which you can convert your American Gift Card into Cash:
1. Cash out an American Express gift card with Prepaid2Cash
There’s an app called Prepaid2Cash that you can use to turn prepaid cards into cash. Using the app, you can scan your prepaid card in seconds, and transfer it to your bank. You can receive the money in as little as 15 minutes.
The app supports lots of different prepaid cards, including American Express gift cards.
2. Sell your gift card on Raise
Raise is a gift card resale platform where people can buy and sell gift cards. You can sell gift cards that are new or partially used.
Here’s how it works:
On the Raise website, find your gift card. You can search for your gift card.
List your gift card for sale. It’s free to list cards for 1,000s of brands, and you get to set the selling price.
Once your gift card sells, you get paid via PayPal or direct deposit.
3. Add an Amex gift card to your PayPal account
An easy option you can try is to add your American Express gift card to your PayPal account.
When you add an American Express prepaid card to your account, you will be able to use it anywhere that PayPal is accepted.
Basically, you pay with the prepaid Amex gift card, just like you would with any other debit or credit card during checkout.
Since so many retailers nowadays accept PayPal, this frees up the cash on your card to use at a lot of different places.
You’ll just need to make sure that the prepaid card has enough balance to cover the total amount to pay.
4. Regift your American Express gift card
Another way that you can get cash for your unwanted gift card is to, well, regift it. Amex gift cards are actually pretty good because they can be used at retailers who accept American Express. So, they can make for a great gift for friends, colleagues, and family members.
You can then keep the cash you would have spent on a gift for them in your own pocket. For example, let’s say planned to spend $30 on a family member’s birthday gift. Y
ou have a $30 Amex gift card. So, rather than spending that $30, simply give the family member your gift card. You can then use that spare $30 for anything you want.
5. Sell your American Express gift card on Craigslist
You could also consider selling your Amex gift card on Craigslist. You can get paid with cold hard cash or opt for PayPal and transfer the money right to your bank account.
What’s good about Craigslist is that it’s free to list items for sale there, and it doesn’t charge you any commission either.
So, you can keep 100% of your profits!
Now, you will likely have to sell the card at a bit of a discount because that’s what people are usually after when they purchase a secondhand gift card.
6. Use your Amex card to reload your Amazon gift card balance
Amazon is a super popular store with millions of consumers shopping there for everything from clothes to books to groceries.
In 2021, it was reported that Amazon was the most visited eCommerce site with about 2.45 billion monthly visits to Amazon.com!
Since most of us shop on Amazon anyway, adding our unwanted gift cards to our Amazon gift card balance can be a good way to free up cash.
Amazon allows you to use prepaid cards to reload your Amazon gift card balance.
Here’s how:
- You will need to add your prepaid card to your Amazon Wallet. Select “Add a Card” under the Choose payment method menu and complete the drop down that follows.
- Amazon says that if your card doesn’t contain your name, then you can put your name in the field labeled “Name on card,” then click next.
- Once your card has been added, you can reload your Amazon Gift Card balance with any amount you have on the card. Visit this page, and click on “Reload your balance” to get started.
This is really handy if you have a few prepaid cards that have a small balance. For example, you might have one Amex card that has $10 on it and a Visa gift card that has $20 on it.
If you see an item worth $30, then you won’t be able to use either of those gift cards to purchase it. But, if you consolidate them by using them to reload your Amazon gift card balance, you’ll have $30 you can spend in one go.
7. Sell your card on BuyBackWorld
With BuyBackWorld, you can sell American Express gift cards for cash.
It’s a legit platform that’s accredited with the Better Business Bureau, where it has an A rating. BuyBackWorld also has 4.2 stars on Trustpilot, which is a “Great” rating.
Here’s how it works:
- Visit the BuyBackWorld website.
- Select the GC you want to sell from the list of dropdown options.
- Enter the value of your GC.
- Select the number of gift cards that you want to sell.
- BuyBackWorld will give you a quote.
If you accept the quote, you need to mail your gift cards to the company. This is free to do as BuyBackWorld gives you a prepaid shipping label.
Once BuyBackWorld receives your GC and verifies the amounts, it will issue your payment through the payment method you prefer.
Payment options include PayPal, direct deposit, check, prepaid debit card, or a BuyBackWorld.com gift card. Payment is issued within 2 business days of verification.
8. Use your Amex gift card to buy a money order
Money orders work like checks, but unlike checks, money orders are prepaid. So, they are only issued once a buyer pays for one. This makes money orders a more trusted payment method compared to checks.
Money orders can be used to pay for lots of different things. Some places let you use an Amex gift card to purchase money orders.
It’s important to note that not all places accept prepaid cards as a payment method for money orders. Call ahead to ask about payment options.
The United States Postal Service, Western Union, and Walmart stores will sometimes accept gift cards for money orders.
Once you have used your gift card to purchase a money order, the money order can be deposited into your bank account and used as cash!
9. Have a yard sale
You could also try selling your American Express gift card at a yard sale. Since you’re not selling through a website or company, you don’t have to worry about listing fees or commission fees. Instead, you can keep 100% of the profits!
That being said, there is a downside to yard sales and that’s the fact that because people mostly attend yard sales to find bargains, you might not always get great value for your gift cards.
Still though, selling gift cards at a yard sale is definitely worth a try, especially if you have other items you want to sell. You could declutter your home and make some money in the process.
10. Sell or trade the gift cards to friends and family
Another option is to simply trade or sell your gift cards to someone you know, like a friend, family member, or colleague.
It’s likely that you know at least one person who’d have use for an Amex gift card.
Since you already know each other too, you’ll likely get a better deal than you would if you were to sell online either to a stranger or a company like Raise or BuyBackWorld.
11. Use the card as payment for services
If you are planning to hire someone, you could give them your gift card in exchange for their services.
For example, if you have a teenage neighbor who mows your lawn, then you could offer them a gift card as payment.
You could use your Amex gift card to pay people for:
- Babysitting
- Dog walking
- House sitting
- Mowing your lawn
- Pet sitting
- Yard work
- Washing your car
Since Amex cards can be used in a lot of places, people may be willing to trade their services for one.
This frees up the cash that you otherwise would have spent on paying people for those services.
12. Sell on GiftCash
Sell your American Express gift card for cash with GiftCash. You can get payouts of up to 92% of the card’s value.
Here’s how it works:
Type in the brand name and balance for each of your cards. So, you will need to type in “American Express,” and the value of your cards. Then click on “Get Offer.”
GiftCash will then make you an offer for the value of your gift card. If you like the offer, you can accept it.
You’ll get paid by bank transfer or cryptocurrency.
13. Use your Amex gift card to pay bills
Some service providers allow you to use a prepaid card to pay bills. Not all of them do, but it’s worth contacting your service providers, like your phone company, utility company, or insurance company, to ask if they will allow you to pay your bills using your prepaid Amex card.
Since prepaid cards work like regular Amex cards, some companies will accept them as a payment method.
14. Get cash from your Amex gift cards by buying and reselling stuff
This one requires a bit more effort than the others on the list but it’s still a good way to convert Amex gift cards to cash.
Basically, you use your Amex gift card to buy stuff at a discount and then resell it for a profit. This is called retail arbitrage.
Since Amex gift cards are accepted at a lot of retailers, you can use them to purchase everything from clothing to furniture to beauty products.
You can purchase discounted products at places like:
- The thrift store
- The dollar store
- The clearance section of any store
- TJ MAXX
- Marshall’s
- Ross
- Garage sales/yard sales
You can even find free items online and resell them for a 100% profit. You can often find free stuff on Craigslist and OfferUp.
Once you have found your discounted or even free items, you can sell them online. See How to Check Visa Gift Card Balance.
There are lots of great places to sell stuff online, such as:
- eBay
- Etsy
- eBid
- Craigslist
- OfferUp
- Facebook Marketplace
- Poshmark
Let’s say you have a $50 gift card. You purchase a pair of shoes for 50% off. You pay $50 for the shoes instead of $100.
Then you resell the shoes for $80, making a $30 profit on the sale. The customer still saves 20% off the RRP.
Not only do you get the value of your gift card back in cash you can spend anywhere, but you also get extra cash!
15. Use it to get another gift card
Here’s another general gift card hack that could apply to this situation as well. Use your Amex gift card to buy gift cards for other brands and retailers.
Then, you could give these as presents to friends and family members. Sometimes, you can even get gift cards on sale.
For example, you could find a gift card for 10% off, which means that you’re getting 10% of your Amex gift card balance for free!
Because Amex gift cards are quite generic, using them to purchase a GC for another retailer, like Starbucks, for example, is a good way to get a gift that’s a little more personal and meaningful for the recipient.
16. Add an Amex gift card to your Venmo account
If you have a Venmo account, you could cash in your Amex card by adding it to your account.
Venmo allows prepaid, network branded cards, like Amex gift cards, registered under your name to be added to Venmo.
Cards may be declined by the card issuer or Venmo for funds availability or fraud prevention reasons. Also, some payment cards may require a zip code to be linked to your account.
Here’s how you can add a card to your Venmo account:
- In the Venmo app, go to the “Me” tab by tapping your picture or initials.
- Tap the Settings gear on the top right and then tap “Payment Methods.”
- Tap “Add bank or card…” and then tap “Card”
- Add your card information manually or with your phone’s camera
- Venmo states that it will accept prepaid, network branded (e.g. American Express, Discover, MasterCard, Visa) cards registered under your name.
Because many gift cards aren’t personalized to you, it means that there’s no name or zip code to enter.
If a gift card doesn’t have a name and address on it, then you will need to register the gift card through the financial institution that issued the card. Sometimes there will be a registration URL on the back of the card.
If not, then simply use this link. Once there, you will be asked to verify the card information, and then you will have the option of registering the card with your name and address. This is also a good time to check the available balance on the card.
If you have a Venmo account, then you could convert an Amex gift card to cash by adding that card to your account.
17. Sell it on QuickcashMI
Another way to trade your gift cards for cash is to sell them on QuickcashMI.
Select your gift card from the dropdown list of merchants, and then enter the current value of your gift card.
QuickcashMI will then give you an offer for your gift cards. According to the site, you can sell gift cards there for up to 90% cash back on select merchants. Payment is sent by check.
18. Use the gift card like a regular Amex card
American Express cards are one of the best gift card types out there because they are so widely accepted by retailers.
Prepaid Amex cards can be used anywhere that accepts American Express.
10.6 million merchants across the United States accepted American Express at the end of 2019.
So, there are a lot of stores where you can use your Amex prepaid card, such as grocery stores, clothing retailers, restaurants, gas stations, and furniture stores.
So, why not see if there’s a way to use your GC to buy something? Then, you can add the cash you saved by using the gift card to your savings account, withdraw it at an ATM, or just use it to pay a bill.
Sure, American Express isn’t accepted everywhere. Many retailers choose not to take Amex because American Express charges stores or merchants higher fees than other credit card networks like Visa, MasterCard, and Discover.
However, it’s still accepted by a lot of retailers, so it’s worth trying to use your Amex GC if you’re looking for a simple way to spend the cash.
19. Sell on GiftCardPlace
At GiftCardPlace, you can compare offers for your Amex gift card across different vendors, such as Raise and GC Spread.
Here’s how it works:
- Choose the merchant name of your gift card from the list. So, scroll down until you see “American Express,” and then click on it.
- You’ll get a list of exchange rates offered by various vendors for your gift card. When I selected American Express, I got both fixed rate offers, and percentage offers from places like Raise and GC Spread.
- If you like one of the offers, click on “Sell Your Card,” under that particular offer to navigate to the vendor’s website.
- Complete the transaction and receive your payout.
20. Get the retailer to cash out the balance on its gift card
If you only have a small remaining balance on your gift card, then one of the easiest ways to get cash for it is to ask the retailer. But, this only works in certain states.
In some states, there are laws that require retailers to cash out balances on the gift cards they issue.
This means that if you have a small balance that you can’t realistically use in the store, that money won’t go to waste.
In order to be able to redeem your GC for cash, its balance must be under a certain amount. This amount varies from state to state.
Here are a few examples of the gift card limit in different states:
- California: Less than $10
- Rhode Island : Less than $1
- Connecticut: Less than $3
- Maine: Less than $5
- Oregon: Less than $5
It’s important to note that not all states have such laws.
This is a good method for using gift cards with less than $10 remaining on the balance. I hope that you have found useful information in this article. In case of any other questions about how to convert American Express Gift Card to cash, kindly make use of the comment
