rocket finance

One way to get more out of gift cards

Some of you may remember my post about how gift cards are a great deal for retailers. Nickel took an even more pessimistic view of gift cards recently.

I think gift cards are here to stay and even though it doesn’t make sense, gift cash is tacky in our culture – gift cards are not. Although you are free to send cash to me anytime, I won’t consider it a tacky gift. Anyway, a great way to get the most out of your gift cards is to use them online at a place like Ebates.

Let’s say you get a $50 gift card to Target, sign up for an Ebates account (takes 30 seconds) then make your purchase from Target through the Ebates portal. You will get 4% cash back from Target plus the Ebates $10 sign-up bonus through the end of December. Other stores offer 5, 7, 10 and even 25 percent cash back.

Beat that with a stick.