I Bought the Wrong Gift Card – Then Broke Even With Points & Raise

My little brother came to visit recently. We went to the mall because he wanted to buy a new pair of shoes – in cash. He’s one of those “sneakerheads” so his purchase was likely going to be around $100.

My little mind started wondering how to get some points out of the whole deal. Then I remembered MileagePlus X!

An app you really need to download

And because I have the Chase United Explorer card (see it here), I knew I could get a 20% mileage bonus on any gift card I purchased through the app – even if I didn’t pay with that card.

We went into a dozen stores – Nike, Finish Line, Journeys, Foot Locker, and a couple of department stores. I’m not much of a mall shopper, so my head was spinning. When he finally decided on a pair of Nikes at Finish Line, I licked my chops and bought a Nike gift card on the MPX app. But realized the second the transaction processed I was in the wrong store. Guh!

My brother paid cash and I… had a Nike gift card I couldn’t use. “It wasn’t that much,” I told myself. But then remembered… I could sell it online. Maybe that would make it OK – and at least break me even – with the points I’d earn in the mix.

I ended up selling the gift card on Raise. Here’s how it went!

My experience selling a gift card on Raise

Link: Raise.com (Get $5 for signing up)

I researched a few gift card reselling sites (CardCash, CardPool, Gift Card Granny, and Raise) and entered what I wanted to sell and my expected payout.

After going through the motions, it seemed Raise offered the highest payout for my gift card and would sell the quickest. I wouldn’t get paid until someone bought the card – and wanted to offload it ASAP, even if it meant losing a buck or two in the process.

Raise had the best combination of payout and sell-ability. They offered me $116.25 for my $140.73 Nike gift card.

That was a loss of $24.48. Dang – a 17% hit! But again, I knew I messed up and had to pay the piper.

Within a few minutes, I had a new account on Raise, complete with payout info. I entered the gift card details (number, pin, and amount) and set it to sell!

I sold my gift card that same evening

I couldn’t believe how quickly it all went. They made it so easy. Here’s the timeline:

7:56pm – Confirmed my email
7:58pm – “Welcome To Raise!” email received
7:58pm – Gift card sale pending
8:39pm – Gift card live for sale
11:15pm – Gift card sold, payout requested

Within a few hours, the gift card was approved, listed, and SOLD! I honestly couldn’t believe it, as I was expecting it to take at least a few days. So I logged back in, requested the payout, and had it in my PayPal account soon after (you can also request a check or direct deposit).

Boom

So despite losing a little cash, I was happy to have most of the money come back to me. It definitely eased the pain of purchasing the wrong gift card in the first place.

The points haul

That day, Nike offered 4X United miles via MileagePlus X. And I got a 20% bonus. So the gift card earned me 702 United miles, which I value for $14 @ 2 cents per point.

My United miles posted instantly

Those were in my account within seconds. And that alone helped to offset Raise’s fees for listing the gift card. Which is fine, because hey, they have to take a cut, too.

I paid with my Citi AT&T Access More card (no longer available for new signups) and earned 3X Citi ThankYou points on this purchase – so 422 ThankYou points. I value those for $8 @ 2 cents each.

In the end, I:

Paid $140.73 for the Nike gift card
Got $116.25 from Raise
Earned 702 United miles = $14
Earn 422 ThankYou points = $8

In effect, I:

Lost $24.48 in value
Gained ~$22 from 1,124 points earned

So while I wouldn’t ordinarily earn points this way, earning a few more was further balm on the mistake gift card. And in the end, I broke pretty close to even. I lost $2 in the process, after selling on Raise and earning some points.

Lesson learned: don’t be so eager to take cash to earn points. And don’t get too excited and buy the wrong gift card!

Can I push it further?

While this is all well and good, it got me thinking… could I buy discounted gift cards from big box merchants and resell them on Raise – all while earning points?

Cuz if I could get 5X AND a discount, then sell at a small profit or at worst, break right even, it might be worth it purely to get some points rolling in.

I haven’t fully researched the options, merchants, and selling sites to suss out their maximum potential yet… but I’m working on it. This could be a cheap way to boost my points stash!