Did you receive a gift card you don't need? Here’s how to sell it for cash

Proper etiquette is to always maintain a smile while receiving gifts — even if it's something you may not want or can't use. That said, hundreds of billions of dollars in gifts are returned each year.

A common offender is gift cards — a present slightly less personal (and less practical) than cash. Wouldn't it be great if you could return gift cards? After all, 47% of Americans have at least one unused gift card, according to a Bankrate study, and the average unused amount is $187 per person.

Fortunately, you can — sort of. If you're willing to give up a bit of value, there are simple ways to turn unwanted gift cards into cash.

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There are many third-party websites that allow you to exchange gift cards for cash. They each work slightly differently, so the one you choose will depend on convenience — and sometimes, the gift card merchant.

Sites like Raise operate as a marketplace with the burden of selling the gift card placed on you. You'll be able to choose how heavily you want to discount your card, and you can view the discounts that others with similar gift cards are offering. You won't receive any money until someone buys your gift card.

Raise imposes a 15% fee for the privilege of using its site to sell your card. In other words, the best possible return is 85 cents on the dollar.

That's a higher fee than many other sites, though Raise's strong reputation can make it worth the price for some. Selling gift cards for the first time can be a bit nerve-racking, after all. Raise offers two payout methods: ACH direct deposit and PayPal.

Other sites, like CardCash, will remove the hassle of selling the card yourself. As soon as they verify your gift cards, they'll pay you and take care of the reselling themselves.

CardCash will give you up to 92% of the cash value of your cards. That's significantly better than the likes of Raise — though the return fluctuates greatly from one retailer to the next. For instance, at the time of this writing, a $100 gift card to Walmart will get you $86.50, the Apple Store will get you $72 and Microsoft a lousy $63.

One of the best features of CardCash (and an advantage it has over Raise) is that it's pretty indiscriminate as to which gift cards it will buy from you. It follows standard practices, such as refusing to sell gift cards with expiration dates or promotional cards that can only be spent in certain areas. But the list of accepted merchants seems to be much larger than that of Raise. So even if your obscure gift cards don't yield a huge return, you'll at least get something.

CardCash also gives you the option to trade in your gift cards for select other gift cards and receive up to 11% more value than had you simply cashed out. Popular trade-in options are Amazon, Target and Wayfair. Trading your current gift card for an Amazon gift card (which has just about everything) could be as good as cash — and a no-brainer way to preserve value.

Just as you can use sites like Raise and CardCash to sell your unwanted gift cards, you can use them to buy other people's gift cards at a discount. If you're planning to purchase discounted gift cards through these sites, be sure to use a credit card that will give you the maximum return for your spending. Gift card marketplaces won't fall into any bonus categories, so the best strategy is to spend on a card that gives you a respectable flat rate on everyday purchases, such as:

• Citi Double Cash® Card — Earn 2% cash back: 1% on all eligible purchases and an additional 1% after you pay your credit card bill.
• Chase Freedom Unlimited® — Earn an additional 1.5% on all purchases on up to $20,000 spent in the first year - that means, you can earn a minimum of 3% on all purchases (1.5% +1.5%).
• Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card — Earn unlimited 2% cash rewards on eligible purchases.

You can easily turn gift cards into cash (or more desirable gift cards) through reputable sites like Raise and CardCash. The site you choose will depend on the ease of sale and the type of gift card you have. You won't get full value for it, but that's still better than letting a gift card go unused.

Next time you unwrap a thoroughly uninteresting gift card, you can display a genuine smile as you scheme to convert it into something you actually want with just a few clicks.

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