What to do with a gift card you don’t need

Every once in a while we celebrate an occasion, birthday, housewarming, baby shower or whatever. Our family and the people who take care of us give us all kinds of gifts and also the occasional gift card.
The card sometimes becomes a burden for us and creates more problems than it would solve. The biggest problem is how to get rid of a card from a manufacturer you don’t care much about or their products. For example, getting an Apple Bees card, when the food at Apple Bees doesn’t get your saliva flowing. Here are some strategies you can use to get rid of the gift without upsetting anyone.

give it back
This is passing it on to someone else with a big celebration like the one you just had. Simply put the card in an envelope or wrap it creatively and present it to someone else. Hopefully, that individual will have a better use for it than you. Never return a gift to the one who gave it to you with the lame excuse that you can’t use it. Always put yourself in the person’s place. I guess you won’t be happy if you get a gift returned no matter what the reason. Show ingratitude.

use it
No matter how much you disdain the gift card issuer, I bet there will be something in their store that interests you. If it’s a restaurant, you should go there and eat the food. There must be something on the menu that you find appetizing.

sell it
A good way to get the monetary face value of the product or something similar is to sell it for that amount. You can do this by offering it for sale to your friends or by going to an auction website like eBay and listing it for sale. An auction site will charge you to list it, but it’s beneficial to you. It’s money you never had, so the few cents you pay in listing fees won’t matter much.