Best Gift Cards 2024

By Milvionne Chery Copeland
Fact checked

Gift cards are supposed to make gift-giving simpler, reducing the need to worry about the recipient’s tastes or which specific items he or she might already have. But not all gift cards are created equal, which might help explain why billions of dollars in gift-card value has gone unused in recent years, despite gift cards being the most popular type of present for the 18th consecutive year in 2024.

In the interest of helping you find the best gift cards for any occasion – whether a birthday, holiday, graduation, etc. – we compared the 50 most popular options across five major categories: 1) how popular the cards are; 2) how much of a discount you can buy them for; 3) how much you can sell them for; 4) how much people like the retailer; and 5) shipping fees. Below, you can check out the resulting top picks.

12 Best Gift Card Tips 🎴

There are a handful of things we can count on every holiday season: time off from work and school; an overweight, bearded out-of-towner breaking into homes through the chimney; tone-deaf neighbors singing at your doorstep; embarrassing office-party antics; overeating; and, of course, gift cards. They’re everywhere this time of year, and for good reason: people generally love them.

But you don’t want yours to be just one gift card among many received by your intended recipient(s) this year. You’d probably prefer it to be enjoyed rather than forgotten in a drawer full of clutter. And you certainly want to get a good deal, because who doesn’t?

Given that your gift card strategy can make or break the holiday season, particularly the budget part, we compiled a list of 12 great tips for gift card success. You can find them below. Shop wisely!

1. Look for a Discount. You might assume that sales and savings don’t apply to the gift card market, since gift cards are more like currency than retail products with traditional product margins. That’s not the case, however, as the best gift cards can usually be bought for less than face value online.
2. Avoid Card-Network Gift Cards. Gift cards from Visa and Mastercard might seem like they’re as good as cash, since they can be used anywhere, but they’re actually quite inferior. While retailers make money immediately when one of their gift cards gets purchased, these card-network gift cards make money from fees. So if you want the versatility of cash, why not just use cash instead? It will certainly be cheaper.
3. Don’t Confuse Gift Cards & Prepaid Cards. Despite often being displayed next to each other in stores, gift cards and prepaid cards are very different animals. Gift cards are designed to be used only until the original balance is gone. Prepaid cards, on the other hand, are reloadable and designed to serve the same purpose as a checking account with a debit card.Prepaid cards also have a lot of different fees associated with them, so giving one to someone instead of a gift card could result in the recipient not getting as much value as you intended.
4. Watch Out for Loyalty Cards With Different Rules. A loophole in the law allows non-reloadable prepaid cards (aka gift cards) that are received through a loyalty, award or promotional program to expire with no restriction. For context, normal gift cards cannot expire until five years from the date of issuance. So it’s important to verify that you are indeed buying/receiving actual gift cards this holiday season and to read any applicable fine print.
5. Resale is Always an Option. If you don’t end up using a particular gift card or the recipient doesn’t like it, you’re not out of luck. You can sell it on a gift card exchange or simply swap gift cards with a friend or family member.
6. When in Doubt, Just Give Cash. Cold, hard cash might seem a bit less personal than a gift card, but it completely eliminates guesswork from the equation and is the most versatile gift anyone can give. Plus, you might be able to give your recipient more value without shipping fees or shopping trips to worry about.
7. Tap Into Unredeemed Value. Have you contributed to the billions of dollars in gift cards that have gone unredeemed in recent years? Check your drawers and find out. Any gift card from the past five years is most likely still good.You have three basic options when it comes to unlocking the value of unused gift cards. First, you can sell unwanted gift cards for cash. Secondly, most stores allow you to trade in old, unused gift cards for new ones, which is great news for re-gifting cards that have developed noticeable wear and tear as a result of sitting idle for years. Finally, most states have programs that allow you to recoup unused funds from expired gift cards under unclaimed property laws.
8. Buy Gift Cards with Rewards. Most credit card rewards programs allow you to redeem your points/miles for gift cards from a wide variety of major retailers. In many cases, you can garner more value from this type of redemption strategy than redeeming for cash.
9. E-Gift Cards are Great in a Time Crunch. E-gift cards have been gaining traction in recent years, and increased mobile functionality stands to foster greater use of such products this holiday season. That’s good news for time-crunched shoppers who want to avoid the shipping fees that many major retailers charge for physical gift cards ordered online.
10. Avoid Using Gift Cards as an Excuse to Overspend. When redeeming gift cards, consumers often spend more than their cards’ face value. This is likely due to the same psychological factor that leads consumers to spend more with credit cards than cash: the money somehow seems less real. While gift cards can be quite useful in subsidizing the cost of large purchases, you should be especially cognizant of your spending when using a gift card, so as to avoid unnecessary expenses.
11. Check the Card Before Leaving the Store. Make sure the gift card has not been tampered with and the card number or PIN has not been scratched off or revealed. Thieves could have written down the card number, and all they’d have to do is wait for the card to be activated by an unsuspecting buyer to gain access to the funds. Also if the card is in a package, make sure the packaging has not been opened.
12. Be Careful of Inactivity Fees. Even though the CARD Act prevents gift cards from expiring for at least five years, gift card issuers may still be able to charge an inactivity fee if there has been no activity on the card for a year. However, some states have banned inactivity fees entirely and even allow consumers to redeem the remaining balance for cash if it is under a certain amount. So make sure to read the fine print to avoid letting the card lose value.