How to get discounted gift cards 

You don’t must pay full worth for reward playing cards, right here’s how

Whether or not you purchase them as items or use them to your on a regular basis buying, there are a number of methods to get a reduction on reward playing cards. And with Christmas simply across the nook, now is a well-liked time to purchase reward playing cards.

The nice factor is, you don’t must pay full worth for them – and people financial savings can add up. Right here’s find out how to get discounted reward playing cards.

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Why use discounted reward playing cards?

Regardless of their title, reward playing cards don’t must be given as items. You should purchase discounted reward playing cards for locations you store at or eating places you go to to save lots of you some cash. 

Additionally, as a result of it’s a technique of fee reasonably than a suggestion in itself, you need to use reward playing cards along with different offers, akin to Meerkat Motion pictures on the cinema or Clubcard Costs at Tesco. 

Nonetheless, don’t fall into the lure of shopping for reward playing cards for the sake of low cost or good cashback — it’s solely provide for those who use them.

Methods to get discounted reward playing cards:

There are 5 major methods that you could get a reduction on reward playing cards, falling broadly into two classes: reductions on reward playing cards and cashback on reward playing cards — we’ve explored the important thing variations beneath.

Listed here are our greatest methods to get reductions on reward playing cards:

1. Cashback apps/sites: You should utilize cashback websites and apps like JamDoughnut and Cheddar to purchase reward playing cards, the place you’ll earn cashback on the worth. That is usually between 1% and 5%, however it may generally be so much larger
2. Cashback site payouts: You should utilize the cash you earn on cashback apps like TopCashback and Quidco to purchase reward playing cards – and also you’ll get a small enhance on high
3. Get gift cards in the sales: You possibly can usually get chosen reward playing cards cheaper in locations like supermarkets, Amazon or Costco – they’ll provide as a lot as 15% or 20% off. That is usually round Christmas and Black Friday.
4. Buy second-hand gift cards: Some websites will purchase your reward playing cards for money, after which promote them on at a reduction
5. Buy gift cards with a cashback card: You possibly can earn cashback on reward playing cards by shopping for them with a cashback debit or bank card. You possibly can stack this with different strategies on this record – akin to shopping for reward playing cards which can be on sale or utilizing cashback apps

The several types of discounted reward playing cards

Reductions on reward playing cards

That is precisely what it feels like — you get cash off the retail worth of a present card. For instance, you could possibly get a £10 reward card at 15% off (usually the case at Tesco), so that you’d pay £8.50.

Boosts on reward playing cards

That is the place you will get a lift in your reward card quantity, so that you may get an additional 4% added to a £50 reward card. This is able to imply that you simply’d pay £50 for a £52 reward card.

That is generally if you purchase from retailers, or for those who switch a cashback payout into a gift card. 

Cashback on reward playing cards

Cashback on reward playing cards earns you a sure stage of cashback for the worth of the reward card. So you could possibly earn 5% on a £10 reward card, getting you 50p cashback on the reward card. The reward card doesn’t price you any much less, however you get cash in your cashback app

1. Get discounted reward playing cards with cashback websites

Cashback apps like JamDoughnut, Cheddar, HyperJar and Airtime allow you to earn cashback on reward playing cards you buy by their apps.

They work equally to a conventional cashback website, besides, as an alternative of clicking by to make a person transaction, you should buy a present card at your chosen retailer with a set quantity of cashback said for each.  

2. As a cashback payout 

When you already use cashback websites and apps, it might shock you that you could generally money out with a present card. With this feature, you’re going to get a little bit of a lift in your cashback, so it may be a worthwhile alternative for those who’re hoping to purchase from a selected retailer. 

TopCashback and Quidco each provide this feature, with 4-6% boosted for supermarkets and as much as 9% with different retailers. Neither JamDoughnut nor Cheddar provide it. 

When you’re a brand new member of TopCashback, you will get a welcome offer for those who spend £15. When you don’t have Quidco, you will get an important enhance when you sign up for our newsletter.

3. Get discounted reward playing cards in retailers

You possibly can usually get discounted reward playing cards on sale at completely different retailers, together with Amazon, supermarkets and Costco. 

Tesco usually gives this promotion on quite a lot of its reward playing cards. I’ve managed to choose up Pizza Specific ones for 15% off in-store earlier than, and on the time of writing, it not too long ago supplied 15% off e-Present playing cards for Uber, Uber Eats, boohoo and New Look. 

We now have a page of gift card deals and offers that we replace frequently, so it’s value taking a look to see if you will get low cost on reward playing cards. 

Amazon additionally gives discounted reward playing cards round buying occasions like Black Friday, Prime Day and over the Christmas interval. This will embrace the likes of Apple, Netflix and Airbnb. 

It’s additionally value trying on Amazon for boosts to its personal reward playing cards or account top-ups – we’ve a separate Amazon deals page where we share the best ones.

You probably have a Costco membership (or have a pal with one), you may as well get reward playing cards at a reduction in-store or on-line. These are usually for larger quantities, however you will get fairly low cost. 

On my newest journey to Costco, it had £100 in Nando’s or Pizza Specific reward playing cards for £83.99, £40 in Vue reward playing cards for £33.99 and £50 in ODEON reward playing cards for £42.99.

After all, the Costco reductions are good, however you must purchase a excessive worth in reward playing cards and also you’ll need to issue within the membership price for those who don’t have already got one. That is £30 for the yr for 2 individuals, and you may every take two individuals in with you. So for those who get one, sharing is caring!

You must also hold an eye fixed out for retailers discounting their very own reward playing cards. We’ve seen Costa, Cineworld and Caffe Nero provide bonuses on high if you purchase their reward playing cards or a reduction on the face worth. Once more, we’ll share the very best of those on our reward card gives web page and in our publication.

4. Use a devoted reward card sale website

There are a handful of websites that promote secondhand reward playing cards. The concept is that they purchase undesirable reward playing cards, after which promote them at a reduced worth. 

You may get pretty good reductions on reward playing cards, akin to 10% off at ODEON and 5% off at Uber, however you generally have to purchase fairly massive portions and inventory may be restricted.

Cardyard is an instance of those websites, although there are a great deal of different ones. 

Cardyard claims to confirm all of the reward playing cards however watch out to test for protections in case you purchase one which doesn’t work. 

5. Purchase with a cashback card

When you’ve bought a cashback card, akin to Chase, you possibly can earn a reimbursement on reward playing cards you buy by utilizing your debit card to make the acquisition. Within the case of a few of these choices, you are able to do this as well as and earn further cashback.

This might embrace utilizing your Chase card to make a present card buy in a grocery store whereas they’ve a sale, in Costco or on-line to purchase them utilizing TopGiftCards. 

Nonetheless, with JamDoughnut, you’ll earn much less cashback by paying with a card than by connecting your financial institution, whereas Cheddar solely connects to your checking account with Open Banking, so it’s not an choice.

Keep in mind for those who’re heading to Costco with a cashback bank card that it doesn’t take non-Visa bank cards. 

We now have a complete information on the best cashback debit and credit cards. 

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Dangers of shopping for reward playing cards

Present playing cards can usually be used rather than money, however they aren’t very safe – if in case you have a present card for a retailer that then goes bust, you’ll seemingly lose the cash. 

In addition to this, reward playing cards are likely to have expiry dates, nevertheless, some retailers are ditching expiry dates on their reward playing cards. 

Plus, if you must return an merchandise, you’ll often get your refund on a present card. You don’t need to be caught with a £200 Currys voucher if it is advisable return a vacuum that sucks (or doesn’t).

To keep away from these dangers, you possibly can be sure to solely purchase reward playing cards you’ll undoubtedly use, and in full. When you’re utilizing a cashback app, don’t hold plenty of cashback racked up within the account. We now have extra on the risks of gift cards in our dedicated guide.

Discounted reward card hacks

When you’re on the lookout for a selected retailer that you really want a reduced reward card for, akin to a reduced Amazon reward card or discounted Netflix reward card, you could possibly as an alternative purchase a reduced one for a retailer that permits you to purchase different reward playing cards, akin to a grocery store.

You possibly can then use this reward card to purchase the reward card that you really want. 

Not all retailers will permit you to purchase a present card with a present card, so it’s value double-checking with somebody on the until. 

Additionally, keep in mind that some retailers are precisely the identical, so you possibly can go for larger cashback or a greater low cost. A Waitrose reward card can be utilized at John Lewis (and vice versa), and Residence Sense and TK Maxx reward playing cards can be utilized at both retailer.