Last month I received some Apple Store gift cards as a gift from a friend. Now, some may hate me for admitting this…but I’m not a Mac person. I used to be about 10 years ago but then switched jobs and platforms to the PC. Anyways, I had no use for these Mac cards personally or professionally. As nice as the gift was ($400 in Mac Store Bucks) I simply did not have a use for it…ENTER EBAY.
I took a gander on EBAY to see what Mac Cards were selling for and in general they go for about 10% less than their face value. So, I listed the cards for a buy it now price of $359.99 and they sold within an hour. Now, some of you may be scoffing right now because I gave away about $40 of the $400 value. But, I needed the money way more than I needed the Mac cards. Needless to say, I started to peruse EBAY and found gift cards for sale for about every retail chain on the planet: The Home Depot, Best Buy, Red Lobster, J. Crew, etc. In general they were all selling at about 10-12% less than their face value. It occurred to me that this is a great way to earn extra cash whether you’re a buyer or a seller.
If you’re a buyer and you’ve got a few days before you need to buy something at Home Depot or Best Buy…buy a gift card on EBAY and save 10% automatically. As I said there are cards for sale for about every national retail outlet. If you’re a seller and cold hard cash is more important to you than the gift card you possess which locks you in to a certain store: then sell it on EBAY and ring the register.
I’ll keep digging if you need extra cash!
August 20th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Interesting stuff. I probably try it out. I absolutely agree on selling the gift cards. You need cash and not MAC products.