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We’ve all received gift cards at some point in our lives. Maybe they were a birthday gift from a distant family member, or maybe we won them as some prize.
A lot of the time, however, we’d much rather have the cash value of these gift cards.
Maybe the gift cards are for a store that we’re not that into, or maybe we just have a better use for the cash instead. You might be looking for how you can turn your gift cards into instant cash. That’s where CardCash comes in.
CardCash is a service that will buy your gift cards, which can only be used at certain stores, in exchange for real money. Sounds too good to be true?
There must be some kind of catch, right? Let’s find out if CardCash is legit or a scam.
In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into CardCash and find out whether it is a legitimate business or just another scam.
We’ve done extensive research into the company and looked at many reviews online. Here’s what we found.
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What Is Cardcash?
Did you know that Americans are sitting on about $15 billion in unused gift cards? Sometimes you get a gift card for a store you don’t like, or you simply lose track of them in your junk drawer.
That’s how CardCash can help.
CardCash is an online company that was founded in 2009 by Elliot Bohm and Marc Ackerman. They are based in Brick, New Jersey.
They allow you to exchange your unused gift cards online for cash. Through their website, you can also buy and sell gift cards, too.
How Does It Work?
On their website, CardCash.com, people can sell, buy, or exchange gift cards for real cash.
Gift cards are normally bought from retail stores at a discount, but they can only be used in specific stores.
Many people who get gift cards would prefer to have the money in cash, so that they can use it in any store.
CardCash acts as a middleman between buyers and sellers of gift cards.
Here is an example of how CardCash works.
Let’s say you receive a gift card, and you wish to sell it for cash because you don’t like the store it is for.
CardCash will ask which merchant the card is from, and what the balance on the gift card is. They will then provide you with an offer for the giftcard.
If you decide to accept this offer, they can either pay you with cash, via check, or PayPal.
Otherwise, if you want to buy a discounted gift card on CardCash.com you can browse their list of available cards and choose one that you want.
How Much Will Cardcash Pay For Giftcards?
If you wish to sell a giftcard on the CardCash website, don’t expect to receive the full cash value of the balance on the card.
They pay you 92% of the balance on the card. The amount of cash you get for the gift card is also dependent on the popularity of the merchant.
For example, bestselling gift cards for merchants such as Amazon and Walmart will receive more money than lesser-known merchants’ gift cards.
Despite the fact that this is a way of exchanging gift cards for cash, this is certainly not a stable and viable way to earn money online.
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What Is Cardcash’s Refund Policy?
CardCash has a 45 buyer protection policy for buyers. This protects gift card buyers just in case the card doesn’t work for whatever reason.
Once this 45 day period has passed, the buyers are no longer protected.
CardCash Reviews and Complaints
Now comes the most important part of our review; what complaints do people have about CardCash?
Here are three of the most common issues people have had when using CardCash.
Card Balances Seemingly Disappear
When purchasing a gift card from CardCash, you must ensure that the balance is cleared before the 45 day protection period, as we’ve described above.
There has been a myriad of complaints from users whose card balances disappeared after this 45 day period.
Many customers have had to deal with the lost money as they are not protected after this 45 day period elapses.
You Will Not Get Great Value For Your Gift Cards
CardCash claims to provide their gift card sellers with 92% of the balance of the gift card. In CardCash reviews sellers claim, on the other hand, that this is simply a marketing ploy by the company.
Oftentimes, the amount of money that you will get for your giftcards is a lot less than you might expect.
Some users have reported getting less than half of the value of their gift cards.
There seems to be a lot of luck involved when it comes to getting good value for your gift cards on CardCash.
Average BBB Rating of CardCash
The Better Business Bureau rated CardCash as a B-. This is an average rating, which shows that this service does not provide exceptionally good value to their users and customer base.
Alternatives To CardCash
CardCash does, in fact, have some competitors who offer a similar service to them.
After reading some of the complaints about CardCash, you may want to look elsewhere for a place to sell your gift cards for cash.
Other companies that buy and sell gift cards include CardPool and Gift Card Granny.
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Is CardCash Safe?
Although there are some complaints that customers and users of CardCash have about the way the business works and the amount of money they give for gift cards, they are still a reputable marketplace for buying and selling gift cards.
Despite its flaws, it seems that most sellers are reasonably comfortable with using CardCash services.
Is CardCash A Scam?
Although CardCash may not be the most reliable company to buy and sell gift cards, their operation is not considered an outright scam, despite the many complaints and poor reviews that users have about them.
Seemingly users and customers of CardCash have had mixed experiences with the platform.
Hundreds of customers have complained about card balances mysteriously disappearing. This is enough to put people off using the service entirely.
What’s Good About CardCash?
With CardCash, you can save money when purchasing gift cards for many big merchants including Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Amazon and many more.
This can be a good way to save money on gift cards if you know what you want to buy from a specific merchant, or you want to buy a discounted gift cards to send as a gift to someone else.
When buying a gift card on CardCash, you can get discounts from 1% to 45% off your purchase, depending on the merchant.
If you manage to bag yourself a bargain gift card, you need to make sure that you spend it within the 45 day guarantee period as we already mentioned.
Otherwise, you risk losing out on this money. Once those 45 days elapse, you are no longer covered if there is any kind of issue with the gift card and it stops working.
You will not recieve any kind of compensation from CardCash if the gift card doesn’t work after 45 days after the date of purchase.
If you are planning on buying a gift card to give to someone else, you should ensure that you explain these risks to them. Otherwise, they could end up very disappointed.
This is one of the big negatives about using CardCash.
What’s The Biggest Problem with CardCash?
CardCash is an online marketplace, meaning gift cards are sold by third-party vendors, just like eBay or Amazon.
Therefore, you are relying on strangers on the internet to sell you legit gift cards that are in working order.
From time to time, you may encounter some bad actors on this platform who are taking advantage of customers.
These shady people can take advantage of customers on CardCash by using the PIN number on the gift card before the customer has a chance to use it.
Of course, the value of the gift card lies in this PIN number rather than the card itself. This gives you access to the credit stored on the card.
It seems like most users on CardCash are indeed legit and honest individuals who are selling off their unwanted gift cards for money, but if you’re buying gift cards on the platform, you need to be aware of these risks.
There are always those who want to take advantage of people and scam them out of money, especially on the internet.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Quickly Does CardCash Pay You?
CardCash claim to send the money to their sellers within 2 business days.
They also claim to provide at least 92% of the value of the balance on the gift cards, but don’t expect this to be a reality.
How Does CardCash Make Money?
CardCash, as a company, makes their money by taking a fraction of the sales of the gift cards on their platform.
The amount of the deduction taken by the company is dependant on which merchant the gift card is for.
As we described above, they claim to pay 92% of the value of the gift card, therefore they keep the remaining 8% as earnings for the company.
Is CardCash Trustworthy?
Based on the over 700 negative reviews and counting, many people do not find CardCash to be a trustworthy company.
That being said, they also have many users who have used the platform without issue.
Therefore, we advise that you do your research and understand how CardCash works fully before you decide to use the platform.
Does CardCash Have Good REviews?
As we have already mentioned, there are quite a few bad reviews of the company online. And many complaints. On Trustpilot, they only have a 2.7 stars.
Summary
CardCash is a legit company, but there are many hundreds of complaints about them, as described above.
Because of these complaints, you may feel uncomfortable trusting this company with your gift cards.
They have received a lot of disapproval from many users on the internet. For these reasons, you may wish to look elsewhere for a platform to buy, sell, and exchange gift cards online.
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