I went to Macy's with $100 gift card...

[ScrimpAndSave]

And I left empty handed. I couldn't believe all of the beautiful things that were there. I rarely go to the mall anymore...

I mainly look for kitchen, bedding and wall decor for the house. My fiance and I are helping my dad update and do some little renovations throughout the house (that will hopefully be ours in year or two) and I am always on the look out for something with style and at a great price.

I milled around their "white sale" and looked for bedding. What I wanted was $250...forget that.

Wall art? $75...and it wasn't even exactly what I wanted....the nice stuff was around $200.

I felt really, really poor. The thing is...there were people everywhere...buying tons of stuff. I felt horrible...there were so many things that I wanted in my house. I wondered if everyone else could really afford what they were buying...

[Goldy1]

I tried to find something worth about $45 at Nordstrom or something with a gift card and it was hard.
I am a lover of Kohl's. I pay off my balance each month and keep it just for the percent off coupons.

[disneysteve]

I'd say take that Macy's GC and put it on ebay. It'll sell for between $95 and $100 most likely. You'll net about $85 or so after fees. Then you can spend that money anywhere you'd like.

[gamecock43]

you need to use that card. Aeropostal, Fortuneoff, Linens n things, kb toys, Ann & Taylor are all going out of business or struggling to stay open.

[sakigt]

Id ebay that card.

Stores like Ross or TJMaxx ruin me. We asked for an didnt receive 350 count sheets for our registry. They were $110 or so. Instead of fufilling the rest of the registry we just went to Ross and got 500 count sheets for $35.

I just cant shop at the malls anymore. The deals are too good elsewhere.

[GREENBACK]

Why doesn't everyone that gives gift cards just give a visa or mc gift card? It can be used about anywhere.

[SacredFaerie]

I'd double check and make sure that Macy's isn't one of the stores that is closing many of their locations. It might be difficult to sell a gift card like that.

[gamecock43]

Visa mall cards charge a fee every month it is not used. Simon mall gift cards are a *!%* to use- you must use it for the exact dollar amount of the card- otherwise the card is declined if the purchase costs more than the gift card. Store gift cards are normally the way to go- but not now. I gave grandparents Applebees gift cards and told them to use the card immediately, like, in January.

[GREENBACK]

I get one or two visa gift cards every year and spend them in a matter of weeks but I know most don't.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by GREENBACK

Why doesn't everyone that gives gift cards just give a visa or mc gift card?

Visa gift cards aren't free. You have to pay to get them. Plus they charge a fee if you don't use them in a certain time period.

Originally Posted by SacredFaerie

I'd double check and make sure that Macy's isn't one of the stores that is closing many of their locations. It might be difficult to sell a gift card like that.

Macy's isn't going anywhere. I suppose it is possible that there could be individual stores that may close but there are over 800 Macy's stores in the country.

I did a quick search on ebay. There are 171 active auctions for Macy's GCs. I checked completed auctions and numerous $100 GCs ended yesterday, selling between $90 and $99.95. Some did go in the upper $80s.

[GREENBACK]

[quote=disneysteve;199825]Visa gift cards aren't free. You have to pay to get them. Plus they charge a fee if you don't use them in a certain time period.

It's a gift afterall. If you pay a little extra at least you make the reciever of the gift happy.

[gamecock43]

Why would you pay $99 for a $100 gift card? I understand a dollar is a dollar- but there is time it takes for the card to arrive in the mail/risk from buying a product unseen from an unknown person/ risk its a fraud gift card- I would only buy a $100 gift card if I could get it for $75-$80...but that's just me I guess.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by gamecock43

Why would you pay $99 for a $100 gift card? I understand a dollar is a dollar- but there is time it takes for the card to arrive in the mail/risk from buying a product unseen from an unknown person/ risk its a fraud gift card- I would only buy a $100 gift card if I could get it for $75-$80...but that's just me I guess.

I've asked this question before on a couple of different forums and I've never totally gotten a great answer. Apparently, some people have ways of making it work or getting a discount beyond what you see. For example, if someone has a Paypal Visa card, they get reward points for their Paypal purchases, so they might pay $99 but get something back. Or they may have an ebay coupon. Earlier this month, I had one for 10% of any purchase. So stuff like that happens.

It does seem like it happens way too much for that to be the only answer, though. I sold a $100 restaurant gift card for $99.01 last year. I wasn't complaining.

[kork13]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

I've asked this question before on a couple of different forums and I've never totally gotten a great answer. Apparently, some people have ways of making it work or getting a discount beyond what you see. For example, if someone has a Paypal Visa card, they get reward points for their Paypal purchases, so they might pay $99 but get something back. Or they may have an ebay coupon. Earlier this month, I had one for 10% of any purchase. So stuff like that happens.

It does seem like it happens way too much for that to be the only answer, though. I sold a $100 restaurant gift card for $99.01 last year. I wasn't complaining.

Gamecock, I agree... I might sell a GC online, but never buy one, for fear of getting screwed. However, to sell it for less than it's worth is totally worth it to someone who just wants the cash and could care less about getting anything from the store it's a GC for. I'd lose a couple bucks to turn GC's into cash any day.

[disneysteve]

I've sold and bought numerous gift cards online. I've bought Marriott Bonus Bucks a few times. You can't really go wrong on those because it is a paper coupon, not a magnetic strip card, so as long as you receive it, you're okay. As for gift cards, as long as you stick with sellers with good feedback ratings, I think you are fine.

[gamecock43]

I agree that buying gift cards is very safe. But buying a card for $1 less than the value- whatever. I still dont buy gift cards for myself because once you have a- say- Macys $100 gift card then you go to the mall to use it and then justify the purchase as "free" and then buy other things you like, stop in a few other stores...at the end of your journey you spent $200 above your $100 gift card that you purchased for $98.00...not worth it to me.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

I've bought Marriott Bonus Bucks a few times.

For the record, these don't sell near face value. I can usually get a $50 coupon for about $20, saving us about $30 off a 2-night hotel stay.

[Gjowers]

Originally Posted by ScrimpAndSave

I felt really, really poor. The thing is...there were people everywhere...buying tons of stuff. I felt horrible...there were so many things that I wanted in my house. I wondered if everyone else could really afford what they were buying...

I've experienced this feeling many times myself. For one thing there's just no way to know whether those people can afford what they are buying or not. But when I look at income statistics and then look at what things cost today (clothes at the mall, housing, cars and most everything else) I believe most people really can't afford what they are buying - they're just using credit to get it and/or they are not saving anything. That's why our saving rate in this country is about 4% or less.

One of the nice things about this site is the support you get from others who choose to live in much the same way. Keep your eye on your goals, whether it's a house or a wedding or whatever Buying less "stuff" now is going to make that possible, and you'll do it with a larger down payment, and less or, hopefully, no consumer debt.

[SacredFaerie]

Macys is closing a few stores. I was just saying you want to be careful about where someone is located. You don't want them to come back and say you knowingly sold them merchandise they couldn't use.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by SacredFaerie

Macys is closing a few stores. I was just saying you want to be careful about where someone is located. You don't want them to come back and say you knowingly sold them merchandise they couldn't use.

I believe that would fall under caveat emptor, let the buyer beware. If someone bids on a gift card without knowing whether or not there is a store in their area at which to use it, that's their problem, not the seller's.