The first step to follow while checking a gift card balance is reading the back of the gift card. Usually the information necessary to check the gift cards balance will be located on the back of the gift card. After reading the instructions on the back of the card you will be asked to perform one of the following tasks:

Check Gift Card Balance By Phone – Some companies have a toll free number customers can call to check the balance of their gift cards. Most gift cards will list a number on the back of the card that you can call. Have your gift card available when you call. The operator may ask you to provide the gift cards serial number, pin number, or access number. In some cases you may have to scratch of a grey protective coating to be able to view a gift cards pin number. Some company’s numbers will direct you to an automated service where you can enter the gift cards serial numbers and it will provide the balance. This is one of the most common and easiest techniques for determining the balance of your gift card.

Check Gift Card Balance Online – Many retailers also offer the option of checking your gift card balance online. If this option is available a link will usually exist on the retailers website that will take you to the area of the website where you may check your gift cards balance. The website will have fields for filling in the serial number and/or pin number and access code. Enter the information the website requests and it will provide the cards balance for you. If you have multiple gift cards it is easiest to check their balance online. Many retailers’ websites will allow you to check multiple gift cards balances at once.

Check Gift Card Balance In Store – Every retailer offers the option of checking gift card balances in their stores. Unfortunately this is not very convenient for consumers and few stores still provide this as the only method for checking gift card balances. However, if you are in the neighborhood and wish to know your gift cards balance any retailer will provide a gift card balance check.

If you have had a gift card long enough where you do not remember the balance chances are the card is from a store you do not frequent. Luckily there is a way to get cash for your gift card. Now instead of sitting on gift cards for months at a time you can sell your gift cards online. The best site for selling gift cards online is Giftah. The website provides a fun and easy way to turn gift cards into cash.

There are a number of websites that allow you to swap your old electronics for a gift card. Since most old electronics end up sitting in a desk drawer somewhere or being thrown out trading electronics for gift cards is an excellent way to get some value out of your junk. You can trade in your old electronics and buy some new ones with the electronics gift cards you receive. The newer the electronics are the higher the value of the gift card will be, the value of your old electronics is also determined by the popularity of the device. The gift cards offered vary with each website, but we have listed some of the more popular sites for swapping electronics for gift cards below.

1) Next Worth: primarily deals with old iPods and iPhones but has recently branched out and begun collecting video games, consoles, cameras, laptops, Blckberry, and GPS. Next Worth offers Amazon gift cards, online or in store J&R gift cards and Target gift cards for your used electronics.

2) Gazelle: buys used cell phones, laptops, GPS devices, gaming consols, camcorders, satellite radios and video games. In return the company provides Amazon gift cards. They also recycle any electronics item even if it has no value.

3) RadioShack: accepts trade in electronics for certain mp3 players, game systems, cell phones, cameras, GPS units, car audio systems and laptops. In return for sending in your electronics you receive a Radio Shack gift card.

4) My Bone Yard: accepts mp3 players, cell phones, desktop pc’s, flat screen monitors and laptops. For exchanging your electronics you will receive a Visa gift card.
Since most used electronics end up in a landfill, these sites are great for recycling your electronics and receiving gift cards.

If you would rather get cash for your gift card there is another website that can facilitate that. You can always sell your gift card online. Just go to Giftah the online marketplace for gift cards and list your card in an auction or sell your gift card directly to Giftah. It’s a easy and fun way to convert your gift cards into cash.

Nestea is running a new promotion that offers consumers $25 prepaid Mastercard gift cards if they collect a certain number of Nestea proof of purchases off of specially marked products. To cash in on the deal collect one of these sets of products:

1) 12 x 473/591ml bottles of Nestea, Nestea Cool, or Nestea Vitao and receive a $25 prepaid Mastercard gift card.

2) 10 x 10 (200ml) tetra packs of Nestea and receive a $25 prepaid Mastercard gift card.

3) 10 x 2 bottles of Nestea Cool and receive a $25 prepaid Mastercard gift card.

4) 8 x 1.89L cartons of Nestea

5) 4 x 12 (341ml) can packs of Nestea, Nestea Cool, or Nestea Vitao.

The proof of purchases will be available on specially marked Nestea products until the all the packages are sold or August 31, 2009. After purchasing the products the proof of purchase and receipts must be mailed in to Nestea. Each household is limited to claiming 3 $25 prepaid Mastercard gift cards. For the full details of this promotion check out Nestea’s Refresh and Redeem website.

The caffeine wars have heated up with McDonalds offering free samples of its coffee to its customers every morning for the next month. McDonald’s has long had its eye on the business of coffee chains such as Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. To help promote the McDonald’s McCafe franchise the company is sponsoring a “McCafe Your Day” contest. The grand prize is a $50,000 Visa gift card and a $500 McDonald’s gift card. That’s a lot of cash, not to mention hamburgers.

To enter head on over to the McCafe mini site and let McDonald’s know who you think would benefit the most from winning the competition. You can upload your story along with photos to the site anytime before June 21st, 2009. All finalists will receive a $1,000 Visa gift card and a $50 McDonald’s gift card. Winners will be determined by an online vote held between July 13th and July 26th.

There are also weekly gift card draws available for users of the site. McDonald’s will be giving away 130 $1,000 Visa gift cards and $450 McDonalds Arch Card gift cards. The massive amounts of gift cards and money being given away make this the largest current gift card promotion happening online. With thousands of gift cards being given away there is a good chance you may be able to get your hands on a card. If you end up with one of the McDonald’s gift cards but would prefer cash, sell you gift card online with Giftah the online gift card marketplace.

Gift cards are an easy gift to give, and as long as the store is alright people love to receive them. Yet almost everyone who has ever received a gift card has let the card expire, lost it, or still have it sitting around the home somewhere. Why don’t people use their gift cards quickly, why do so many gift certificates expire without being used?

In a 2006 report consumer electronics retailer Best Buy revealed they had profits of $43 million from gift cards that went unused. The value of the entire unused gift card market in the United States is over $8 billion a year. Over 27% of consumers surveyed that year had cards they had held onto for over a year, they cited not having time to shop or not being able to find what they wanted as the reason for not using the gift cards.

The real reason can be found by scientifically examining human’s behavior, a study was conducted where two test groups received gift cards, one group’s gift cards had an expiry date of three weeks and the other groups gift certificates expired in three months. The group with the gift cards expiring in three weeks was five times more likely to use their cards. The expiry date on the card gave the group a sense of urgency, while the other group felt they had all the time in the world, they kept putting off using the card until it was expired. This is the reason many gift certificates do not carry expiry dates, people are less likely to ever use them.

So what can you do as a consumer? How can you fight your own behavior? Being aware of the condition is the first step to freeing yourself from it. Now that you know what happens to gift cards without expiry dates you can make more of an effort to use them quickly. If you get a card for a store you are not going to be shopping at soon it is much better to sell the gift card online then risking its loss or expiry. The best site for selling gift cards online is Giftah. Giftah offers an online marketplace that connects buyers and sellers of gift cards. If you want to sell your gift card online head over to Giftah and get cash for your unwanted gift cards.

Saks Fifth Avenue is offering a one day promotion that lets shoppers receive Saks Fifth Avenue gift cards in return for shopping at the store.  The offer is only available for one day, May 2oth, 2009. The offer can also be used online and in combination with free shipping (use code SHIPSPR9). Here is how the offer works;

Spend $250 to $499 and get a $25 Saks Fifth Avenue Gift Card.

Spend $500 to $999 and get a $50 Saks Fifth Avenue Gift Card.

Spend $1,000 to $1,999 get a $100 Saks Fifth Avenue Gift Card.

Spend $2,000 to $2,999 get a $300 Saks Fifth Avenue Gift Card.

Spend $3,000 or more and get a $450 Saks Fifth Avenue Gift Card.

The promotion is called spend$some get$ome and the code May9 must be used at checkout. Pre-order items are excluded and certain designer exclusions apply. Gift cards balances may also be deducted for returned merchandise. Since you need to drop ahuge amount of cash just to get one of the gift cards you may want to recover some of your loses and sell your gift card on Giftah.

If  you have an unused Future Shop gift cards lying around gathering dust its time to do something about it. The first thing you need to do is check the balance of the gift card. A Future Shop gift cards balance can be checked by using one of the following methods:

1) Check Future Shop Gift Card Balance By Phone, Call 1-866-787-7995

2) Check Future Shop Gift Card Balance By Online, Click Here.

3) Check Your Future Shop Gift Card Balance At Any Future Shop Customer Service Desk.

After you figure out if that old Future Shop gift card is worth anything you can use the card to score some new electronics or sell the gift card on Giftah. Giftah lets you get cash for your unwanted gift cards. Either way don’t risk losing your card or having it sit idle for too long.

Ikea Canada is having a promotion right now for customers looking to buy some new bedding. The Ikea Bedroom Event gives consumers 20% of their spending back on a Ikea gift card when they buy any Sultan mattresses or box-springs.  The promotion runs from May 11 – 31, 2009 which leaves a couple weeks to get in on this promo.

Many companies have been offering promotions involving gift cards this spring, Canadian Tire and Shoppers Drug Mart have similar gift card promotions happening now. However, Ikea gift cards are much more valuable then many of the other promotions. If you end up with a Ikea gift card you don’t plan on using sell the gift card on Giftah. Ikea gift cards are very popular and always command a high selling price.