You're staring at a plastic rectangle. Maybe it’s a $50 Starbucks card from an aunt who doesn't realize you quit caffeine three years ago, or a Home Depot credit you'll never use because you live in a rented studio apartment. Naturally, the question pops up: can I redeem a gift card for cash?
The short answer is usually "no" if you're asking the retailer directly, but the long answer is "yes, if you know where to look." It’s a bit of a cat-and-mouse game. Retailers hate giving cash back because they want that guaranteed revenue sitting on their books. It's called breakage. When you don't spend that card, they basically get free money.
But you want your money back.
Honestly, the "official" route is a dead end. If you walk up to a Target cashier and ask for twenty bucks in exchange for a gift card, they’ll look at you like you’ve sprouted a second head. Most store policies—and the fine print on the back of the card—explicitly state "not redeemable for cash except where required by law." That last part is actually a massive loophole most people ignore.
The Legal Loophole: State Cash-Back Laws
State laws are your secret weapon. Most people have no clue that certain states actually force retailers to give you cash if the balance on your card drops below a specific threshold.
If you live in California, you're in luck. Under California Civil Code Section 1789.35, if your gift card balance is less than $10, the retailer must give you cash for it. You just have to ask. It’s not automatic. You have to stand there and cite the law if the manager gets cranky.
Massachusetts has a similar rule, but the threshold is different. There, you can get cash back if the balance is $5 or less (or once 90% of the value has been spent). Washington, Colorado, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont all have variations of these laws, usually hovering around the $5 mark.
It's a weirdly specific way to get your money, but if you have a stack of "duster" cards with $3.42 or $6.15 on them, this is the only way to get 100% of that value back without a fee. It’s tedious. It’s annoying. But it’s the law.
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Why Retailers Fight You on This
Retailers love gift cards. According to data from the National Retail Federation, gift cards have been the most requested gift for nearly two decades. But for a business, a gift card is a liability on a balance sheet. They owe you merchandise.
When you ask, can I redeem a gift card for cash, you’re asking them to turn a "guaranteed sale" back into "liquid capital" that you can spend at their competitor. They hate that.
Plus, there’s the fraud aspect. Gift card scams are rampant. Criminals often buy gift cards with stolen credit cards and then try to "wash" that money by returning the card for cash. To prevent money laundering, stores have locked down their systems. This is why even if you have a receipt, many stores will only offer you "store credit" for a return, which just puts you back in the same loop.
The Resale Market Reality
If you don't live in California and your card has $100 on it, you’re looking at the secondary market. This is where things get sketchy if you aren't careful.
You’ve probably seen those yellow kiosks in grocery stores—Coinstar. Some of them used to have a "Cardpool" or "Gift Card Exchange" feature. Those are mostly gone now. The physical kiosk market for gift cards took a massive hit a few years ago due to high fraud rates.
Now, it's almost entirely online.
Sites like Raise or CardCash are the heavy hitters. Here’s how they work: you "sell" them your card, and they give you a percentage of the value. You will never get 100% of the value. If you have a $100 Amazon card, you might get $85 or $90. If it’s a niche card for a local steakhouse, you might only get $60.
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These sites act as middlemen. They take your card, verify the balance, pay you via PayPal or direct deposit, and then flip the card to someone else for a slight profit. It’s the easiest way to answer the "how do I get cash" question, but you have to be okay with losing 10% to 20% of your money.
Avoiding the "Gift Card Drainer" Scams
I can't talk about redeeming cards without mentioning the risks. There are "Check your balance" websites that are actually just fishing tools. You enter your card number and PIN, the site says "Error," and thirty seconds later, your balance is zero.
Always use the official retailer's website to check a balance. Never, ever give your PIN to a person on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist before you have cash in hand.
Speaking of Facebook Marketplace—that's the "Wild West" method. You can list a $100 Sephora card for $80 cash. Someone meets you at a coffee shop, you show them the balance on your phone, they give you a twenty and three twenties, and you're done. It's the best way to get a high "payout" percentage because there are no corporate fees, but it carries the highest risk of getting scammed or just being put in an awkward situation.
The "Creative" Redemptions
Sometimes, you can't get cash, but you can get "cash-adjacent."
If you have a Visa or Mastercard gift card (the ones with the 16-digit numbers that work anywhere), you can sometimes use them to buy a money order at a grocery store or post office. Then, you just deposit that money order into your bank account. Note that many places have caught onto this and blocked "Prepaid" cards from purchasing money orders, but smaller regional grocers often still allow it.
Another trick? Use the gift card to buy a high-demand item, then return it.
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Wait.
This usually doesn't work. Most systems are programmed to return the funds to the original payment method. If you bought an iPad with a gift card and try to return it, the money goes right back onto a gift card. You’re back to square one.
The one exception is if you have a partial payment. If you buy a $500 item with a $50 gift card and $450 in cash, sometimes—depending on the cashier's training and the POS system—the whole refund might come back as cash or a check. But it’s a gamble.
Summary of Your Options
If you’re sitting there right now with a card you don't want, here is the hierarchy of what you should do:
- The State Law Check: Is the balance under $10? If you're in CA or a similar state, go to the store and ask for cash. Be polite but firm.
- The Direct Swap: Ask a friend. This sounds stupidly simple, but it's the only way to get 100% value. "Hey, I have this $50 Nike card, I know you shop there, can you give me $50 for it?"
- Online Exchanges: Use a reputable site like CardCash or Raise. You'll lose a chunk to fees, but it's guaranteed and safe.
- The Bill Pay Hack: Some apps like Plastic or certain bill-pay services allow you to use a debit/gift card to pay a bill. This is rare now, but worth a look if it's a generic Visa gift card.
The reality is that the gift card industry is designed to keep you from getting cash. It's a closed ecosystem. Breaking out of it requires either a specific legal right in your state or a willingness to take a "haircut" on the total value of the card.
Actionable Next Steps
Check your wallet for any cards with low balances. If you have a stack of them, check your local state's "unclaimed property" website or gift card laws. You might be sitting on $40 or $50 across various "dead" cards that you can legally convert to cash at the customer service desk tomorrow.
If you have a high-value card, don't rush into a sale. Compare the payout rates on three different exchange sites. Sometimes the difference between them is as high as 15%. Also, check if you can trade the card for a different gift card you actually use (like Amazon or Target) on those same sites; often, the "trade" value is higher than the "cash" value, getting you closer to that 1-to-1 ratio.
Stop letting that money sit in a drawer. Every year, billions of dollars in gift card value go unspent. Don't let yours be part of that statistic.