GameStop and Atari’s Backyard Baseball are hosting a competition this summer to find GamesStop’s Backyard Baseball Kid of the Year. Anyone can enter on GameStop’s website (click here) before August 16th to be eligible to win. The contest is open to any legal residents of the United States who are 6 years or older.

There are some great prizes available, first place takes home two $1,000 GameStop gift cards and a official MLB baseball autographed by David “Big Papi” Ortiz. There are also 100 additional $30 GameStop gift cards available and 500 trial subscriptions to Baseball Youth Magazine.

The GameStop gift card are obviously the major win in this competition, scoring $1,000 for GameStop could easily net you several of the newer consoles and some games to boot. If you’re not a gamer the contest still could be worth the time it takes to fill out your entry. You can always unload any GameStop gift cards you win for cold hard cash. Giftah the online gift card marketplace lets you sell gift cards for cash.

There are a number of fly by night operations who will offer to take your gift cards of your hands for a ridiculously high price, others sites will gladly sell your card for you and charge you a sky high commission. There is also a large number of sites that will simply take your gift card and never pay you a single penny. While the used gift card marketplace is still cluttered there is one solid reliable option available for selling gift cards online.

Giftah the online marketplace for gift cards allows registered users to sell their gift cards. Although Giftah charges a 5% commission for every successful sale it is much lower then other gift card websites that charge commissions ranging from 10% – 60%. Selling your gift card on Giftah also provides many benefits that will increase the amount of money you receive for your gift card. Giftah has thousands of users dedicated to one thing, buying gift cards. The sites user base will bid up the value of your card so you will receive the highest market value for your card. It also provides a verification service for the cards and offers a 100% money back guarantee to anyone bidding on the cards. This means user bidding on your gift card don’t have to worry about the card being fraudulent, there bids are higher since they know the gift card they are bidding on will arrive with the balance intact.

Don’t be taken advantage of by imitation sites. When you are looking for a place to sell your gift cards online make sure the site has a dedicated user base, verifies the cards, and does not charge unfair commissions. Get the most money for your gift card, sell your gift cards to Giftah.

*Update* You can now get cash for your unwanted iTunes gift cards. Just sell your iTunes gift cards to Giftah.com we will turn you gift card into cash.

When it comes to digital music iTunes gift cards are the top pick. Whether you are shopping for music lover, gamer, or anyone who loves movies the iTunes digital media store has a little something for everyone. The codes on the iTunes gift card are easy to buy and they can even be e-mailed to the recipient or given as a traditional gift card.

There are a number of places online selling iTunes gift cards, many of them are legitimate, but many more are not. If you are going to buy a iTunes gift card there are primarily two locations you can trust. The first is the iTunes online store, they sell physical iTunes gift cards or iTunes gift card codes. Although the iTunes store is a good place to buy iTunes gift cards there is another cheaper option that is still safe and legal to use. The second is a innovative  new site called Giftah.

Giftah is an online marketplace where people sell unwanted gift cards for cash. Many people receive gift cards they do not want to use and sell them on the site at a discount. This means you can buy iTunes gift cards and iTunes gift card codes on Giftah for a big discount. All the cards on the site are verified by Giftah, so you can bid on a gift card with confidence as all the transactions are 100% guaranteed.

Unfortunately checking the balance on your Home Depot gift card is more difficult then it should be. Unlike most companies which offer phone lines and websites for checking the balance on a gift card the Home Depot gift card balances can only be verified in the store. This means you will have to go all the way to the nearest Home Depot and stand in line waiting for a cashier to check the balance.

It’s hard to understand why Home Depot insists on bringing customers into its store. They may think people are more likely to use the balance if they are in the store, but it really just creates an annoyance for their customers. Hopefully in the future the company will offer a website or phone number to check the balance of their gift cards, but for now Home Depot gift card holders are stuck making a trip to the store to check their balance.

If you would rather have cash instead of a Home Depot gift card you can always sell your gift card online. Giftah hosts an online marketplace where you can turn your unwanted gift card into cash. Or if you are going to be making a big purchase at a retail store you can buy gift cards at a discount.

UPDATE: Thanks to one of our readers, Cindy, it seems that Home Depot does have a way (although very hidden) to check your gift card online. Click here to be taken to the page to check your Home Depot gift card balance.

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.

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.