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Jan 6, 2006 5:48 pm US/Pacific
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Call It A Swap Meet: Trading Gift Cards
by Randy Paige
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
Gift cards were one of the most popular gifts this holiday season.
Now that the presents are open, it's time to redeem them. Most merchants won't trade them for cash -- only merchandise. And what if you don't want anything from that particular store?
At swapagift.com you can trade that unwanted gift card for one from a store with something you DO want.
The Web site is the brainchild of M.J. Kelly.
"It started because my husband and I had so many gift cardly lying around that we knew we'd never use and we wanted a way to be able to exchange them."
Here's how it works. You pay $3.99 to list your card on the site. You can swap your card with another person, or if you'd rather hace cash, you can sell it on line to another person or to the company (swapagift.com) itself.
Says Kelly, "We offer a cash for your card program where we actually purchase your gift card."
The company will pay 60-75% of the remaining balance on many of the cards. The amount varies depending on the merchant.
Cardavenue.com is another site which lets you swap or sell your gift cards with others, and they don't charge a listing fee.
I can't independently vouch for these Web sites, but I can tell you the Better Business Bureau shows only one complaint for swapagift.com that was resolved. The Better Business Bureau has no listing for cardavenue.com.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)