How to get discounted gift cards

You don’t have to pay full price for gift cards, here’s how

Whether you buy them as gifts, use them to buy as presents or just use them for your everyday shopping, there are several ways to get a discount on gift cards. With Christmas just around the corner, it’s a really popular time to buy gift cards.

The good thing is, you don’t have to pay full price for them – and those savings can add up. Here’s how it’s done.

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Why use discounted gift cards?

Gift cards don’t have to be given as gifts, despite their name. You can buy discounted gift cards for places you shop at (or restaurants you visit) to save you some money. 

You can use gift cards in the place of cash, which can allow you to still make the most of other deals, such as Meerkat Movies at the cinema or Clubcard Prices at Tesco. 

However, you shouldn’t let yourself fall into the trap of buying a gift card for the sake of a good discount or good cashback.

Ways to get discounts on gift cards:

There are five main ways that you can get a discount on gift cards, they fall broadly into two categories: discounts on gift cards and cashback on gift cards, explained more below. 

Here are our best ways to get discounts on gift cards:

1. Cashback apps/sites: You can use cashback sites and apps like JamDoughnut and Cheddar to buy gift cards, where you’ll earn cashback on the value. This is typically between 1% and 5%, though sometimes can be a lot higher
2. Cashback site payouts: You can use the money you earn on cashback apps like TopCashback and Quidco to buy gift cards – and you’ll get a small boost on top
3. Get gift cards in the sales: You can often get selected gift cards cheaper in places like supermarkets, Amazon or Costco – they can offer as much as 15% or 20% off
4. Buy second-hand gift cards: There are sites that buy your gift cards for cash, and then sell them on at a discount
5. Buy gift cards with a cashback card: You can earn cashback on gift cards by buying them with a cashback debit or credit card. You can stack this with other methods in this list – such as buying gift cards that are on sale or using cashback apps

1. Get discounted gift cards with cashback sites

Cashback apps like JamDoughnut, Cheddar and, more recently, HyperJar let you earn cashback on gift cards you purchase through their apps.

They work similarly to a traditional cashback site, except, instead of clicking through to make an individual transaction, you can buy a gift card at your chosen retailer with a set amount of cashback stated for each one.  

2. As a cashback payout 

If you already use cashback sites and apps, it may surprise you that you can sometimes cash out with a gift card. With this option, you will get a bit of a boost on your cashback, so it can be a worthwhile choice if you’re hoping to buy from a specific retailer. 

TopCashback and Quidco both offer this option, with 4-6% boosted for supermarkets and up to 9% with other retailers. Neither JamDoughnut nor Cheddar offer it. 

If you’re a new member of TopCashback, you can get a £15 welcome offer if you spend £15. If you don’t have Quidco, you can get £17 when you sign up for our newsletter.

3. Get discounted gift cards in shops

You can often get discounted gift cards on sale at different retailers, including Amazon, supermarkets and Costco. 

Tesco often offers this promotion on a number of its gift cards. I’ve managed to pick up Pizza Express ones for 15% off in-store before, and at the time of writing, it recently offered 15% off e-Gft cards for Uber, Uber Eats, boohoo and New Look. 

We have a page of gift card deals and offers that we update regularly, so it’s worth having a look to see if you can get a good discount on gift cards. 

Amazon also offers discounted gift cards around shopping events like Black Friday, Prime Day and over the Christmas period. This can include the likes of Apple, Netflix and Airbnb. 

It’s also worth looking on Amazon for boosts to it’s own gift cards or top-up – we’ve a separate Amazon deals page where we share the best ones.

If you have a Costco membership (or have a friend with one), you can also get gift cards at a discount in-store or online. These are typically for higher amounts, but you can get quite a good discount. 

On my latest trip to Costco, it had £100 in Nando’s or Pizza Express gift cards for £83.99, £40 in Vue gift cards for £33.99 and £50 in ODEON gift cards for £42.99.

Of course, the Costco discounts are good, but you have to buy a high value in gift cards and you’ll want to factor in the membership fee if you don’t already have a membership. This is £30 for the year for two people, and you can each take two people in with you. So if you get one, sharing is caring!

You should also keep an eye out for retailers discounting their own gift cards. We’ve seen Costa, Cineworld and more offer bonuses on top when you buy their gift cards or a discount on the face value. Again, we’ll share the best of these on our gift card offers page and in our newsletter.

4. Use a dedicated gift card sale site

There are a handful of sites that sell secondhand gift cards. The idea is that they buy unwanted gift cards, and then sell them at a discounted price. 

You can get fairly good discounts on gift cards, such as 10% off at ODEON and 5% off at Uber, but you sometimes have to buy quite large quantities and stock can be limited.

Cardyard is an example of these sites, though there are loads of other ones. 

Cardyard claims to verify all the gift cards but be careful to check for protections in case you buy one that doesn’t work. 

5. Buy with a cashback card

If you’ve got a cashback card, such as Chase, you can earn money back on gift cards you purchase by using your debit card to make the purchase. In the case of some of these options, you can do this in addition and earn extra cashback.

This could include using your Chase card to make a gift card purchase in a supermarket while they have a sale, in Costco or online to buy them using TopGiftCards. 

However, with JamDoughnut, you’ll earn less cashback by paying with a card than by connecting your bank, while Cheddar only connects to your bank account with Open Banking, so it’s not an option.

Bear in mind if you’re heading to Costco with a cashback credit card that it doesn’t take non-Visa credit cards. 

We have a whole guide on the best cashback debit and credit cards. 

Risks of buying gift cards

Gift cards can often be used in the place of cash, but they aren’t very secure – if you have £50 in a gift card for a retailer that then goes bust, you’ll likely lose the money. 

As well as this, gift cards tend to have expiry dates, however, some retailers are ditching expiry dates on their gift cards. 

Plus, if you have to return an item, you’ll usually get your refund on a gift card. You don’t want to be stuck with a £200 Currys voucher if you need to return a vacuum that sucks (or doesn’t).

To avoid these risks, you can make sure you only buy gift cards you’ll definitely use, and in full. If you’re using a cashback app, don’t keep a lot of cashback racked up in the account. We have more on the risks of gift cards in our dedicated guide. 

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