For those looking for an easy and inexpensive holiday gift, gift cards are a great option. To save some money, here are 9 places to buy discount gift cards online (#1 is our favorite).

Gift cards are increasingly popular as gifts because they offer the recipient the chance to choose something that he or she really wants. If you put careful thought into the gift card you purchase, it’s possible to make it personal. A gift card to the recipient’s favorite restaurant or store, or a gift card to the spa or for a unique experience, like skydiving or a helicopter tour, can be a good way to give the gift of experience. These types of gifts are especially appreciated by those who “have everything.”

The difficulty with gift cards is the fact that you are stuck paying “full price.” After all, you just get the gift card in the amount that you are willing to pay, right? Luckily, this isn’t the case. Just as you can get a great deal on the latest gadget, it’s possible to get a discount on a gift card. Here are 5 places to find discount gift cards:

1. Gift Card Granny–Editor’s Pick

This web site aggregates discount gift cards from around the Internet. Gift Card Granny offers you the ability to find gift cards for less than their face values. In some cases, you buy unwanted gift cards from past recipients. In these cases, you might end up buying a gift card with an odd balance, such as 24.13. If you plan to give the card as a gift, you are better off purchasing a gift card that comes straight from the source, or that has the full balance still available. You can save up to 65 percent when you buy through this site.

Gift Card Granny features a tool that allows you to verify a card balance before you buy.

Visit Gift Card Granny

2. CardKangaroo

CardKangaroo advertise that you can buy gift cards at discounts of up to 35%. On most cards the discount is considerably less. The selection of potential gift cards is also quite a bit lower than Gift Card Granny, but it takes in some of the biggest names in retail, restaurants and entertainment.

3. Cardpool

Use Cardpool to help you find the right discount gift card for you. Get cards for up to 35 percent of their balances when you use this site. You can find cards that come in physical format or in electronic format. Some gift cards are even available in mobile format. If you choose a physical card, you receive free shipping, so you don’t have to worry about paying that extra cost. You can also create a wishlist, and sell unwanted gift cards. You can even exchange your old unwanted cards for a different card. This can be a way to avoid spending much cash at all as you purchase a gift card.

4. GiftCards.com

Use this web site to keep track of what’s available in terms of discounted gift cards with alerts. On top of that, you can choose from a variety of discounted gift cards, ranging from accessories to clothing to entertainment to restaurants to travel. As with many other sites, GiftCards.com features a limited number of some gift cards, so you have to buy when you have the chance if you notice that the card is in short supply.

5. Daily Deal Sites

Finally, it’s possible to find discounted gift cards from sites like Living Social, Moolala, and Groupon as well. These daily deal sites don’t always offer these kinds of discounts, but every now and then you can get lucky. Pay attention, and you could get a $20 Amazon gift card for $10, or find some other great deal on gift cards. It’s even possible to get discounted certificates to each of these daily deal sites and then give them to recipients who would love the opportunity to see how far they can stretch their dollars.

6. Raise.com

Raise.com offers discounts of up to 30% on gift cards from more than 1,000 merchants. The offers are presented in a format similar to Gift Card Granny, in which the biggest discounts are the highest offers on the list. Many of the discounts on this site however are the 1% to 5% range, so you might want to check other sites before buying here.

7. RetailMeNot 

RetailMeNot.com is merging with another discount gift card provider, Gift Card Zen. They offer discounts on gift cards to 145 merchants, with discounts ranging from 1% to as high as 27%.

8. CardCash

CardCash.com acquired one of its discount gift card competitors, PlasticJungle, in 2014. The site offers discounted gift cards from many hundreds of merchants, with discounts as high as 35%.

One of the big advantages with this site is that the discounts seem to be consistently higher than what they are on competing sites. For example, they have more discounted cards at rates of 10% higher. That seems to be pretty consistent across the offerings that they provide.

9. ABC Gift Cards

ABC Gift Cards.com looks to be closely related to CardCash, since the two websites are virtually identical, right down to the details. Still, if you happen to be in the neighborhood of ABC Gift Cards, it–like CardCash–is one of the better web platforms to find discount gift cards.

You know that you’re going to buy gift cards for at least some of the people on your holiday shopping list. Before you rush off to the store to buy the cards directly from the issuing merchants, check out one of these sites. You can save quite a bit of money on each gift card, and a lot more if you are purchasing them for several people.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite source for discounted gift cards?

Topics: Smart Spending

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