If you’ve amassed a large gift card balance within your Amazon account, you may be wondering if there’s anyway to convert into cash.
After all, there’s only so much you can spend on Amazon, and there are plenty of reasons you may wish to withdrawal it.
So, can you transfer your Amazon gift card balance to your bank account, and what other uses could you have for the balance?
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know!
Can You Transfer Your Amazon Gift Card Balance To Your Bank Account?
Unfortunately, there is currently no way to transfer your Amazon gift card balance to your bank account.
Amazon gift cards are intended to be use on Amazon or on Amazon-owned services. Therefore, they have not included any way to withdrawal your funds.
However, there are things you can do to maximize the value out of your Amazon gift card, and convert into cash indirectly. While there are a few extra steps involved, they are a guaranteed method that works.
Note: While researching Amazon gift cards, I noticed other websites mentioning a service called Amazon Pay. Although they claim you can use Amazon Pay to withdrawal your gift card balance, this is false. Amazon Pay is focused towards merchants who are collecting funds for sale of their own goods and services. It cannot be used to redeem Amazon gift card balances. However, you may be able to purchase items at other merchants that accept Amazon Pay.
How To Transfer Your Amazon Gift Card Balance To Your Bank Account – Indirectly
It’s unfortunate, but there’s no way to directly deposit the funds into your bank account. However, there are still some things you can do to make the most of your gift card balance, that will still work even if your balance is very large.
Let’s look over some of these ideas now!
1. Buy Something With A High Resale Value
This is one of the most straightforward options, if your ultimate goal is to have cash in your bank account.
Simply buy something on Amazon, and turn around and sell it for most of what you paid for it. Some examples of items with a high resale value include consumer electronics, photography equipment, and musical equipment.
You should ensure all items are in perfect condition and unused, in order to maximize their resale value.
Unfortunately, finding a buyer can take some time, and you are unlikely to receive the full price that you paid for the item. However, this can be one way to get back most of your gift card balance back in cash.
Note: Buying something with the intent of returning it won’t work. All Amazon refunds are processed to the original payment method you use for the order, meaning that it will simply be returned to your gift card balance. This is true even if you use multiple gift cards.
2. Buy Household Items
Amazon is called ‘the everything store’, because they seem to sell just about everything.
This includes common households items that you’re already paying for, such as food, toiletries and clothing. Best of all, these items are sold for around the same price (or sometimes cheaper) than you’d find them in store!
Therefore, you can effectively save money by purchasing these items on Amazon instead, rather than using cash or debit / credit cards to purchase them in retail stores.
You could then use this saved cash to purchase anything else off Amazon that you may wish.
If you take a look around, you’ll find that you really can buy just about anything on Amazon, so there’s no harm in letting the funds sit within your Amazon account for a while!
3. Save The Balance For Gift Purchases
Even if you have no desire to purchase anything for yourself, carrying an Amazon gift card balance can still be useful when it comes time to purchase gifts for others.
With millions of different gift items available for purchase on Amazon, you will no longer have to worry about them if you have a high gift card balance.
This means you can be much more generous without having to stress about finances during the holiday season, or when shopping for someone’s birthday.
Ultimately, any money that you save while using your gift card balance amounts to saving the equivalent amount in cash. So, although it may take a little bit longer to spend, you still end up with the same amount of cash in the long run.
4. Buy Something For Friends And Have Them Repay You
This is another indirect method that can work incredibly well, provided you know someone else that wants to order on Amazon.
Simply order the item on their behalf using your gift card balance, then have them give you the cash after the order has been placed.
With services such as PayPal, Cash App and Venmo being so popular these days, friends and family can send you money almost instantly without high fees being involved.
So, this is a great workaround to get some of that gift card money into your bank account – even if you can’t withdrawal it all at once.
5. Check Out Some Of Amazon’s Other Services
Amazon is so much more than just a store that sells physical goods. Being one of the largest companies on Earth, they’ve expanded to many different areas that many people don’t know about!
Therefore, you may consider exploring some of these options if you need a way to spend some of your gift card balance.
Some examples include:
Amazon Prime Video – For renting or buying movies and TV shows. Note that Amazon movie rentals can be watched an unlimited number of times during the rental period.
Kindle Unlimited + The Kindle Store – The world’s largest collection of eBooks and other reading material. Amazon gift cards can be used for Kindle purchases, so this is a great option!
Amazon Luna – Amazon’s cloud gaming service.
Amazon Photos – Store and organize all of your photo and video in one place, backed up securely on the cloud.
Audible – Amazon’s platform for audiobooks.
These are only a few examples. Amazon’s marketplace is huge, so don’t be afraid to think outside the box! Again, they don’t call Amazon ‘the everything store’ for nothing!
6. Use A Gift Card Exchange Service
Lastly, this is an excellent option if you have a physical gift card, and it hasn’t yet been redeemed to your Amazon account.
Gift card exchanges allow you to exchange gift cards for other gift cards, or even redeem them for cash.
While there is a slight fee for most gift card exchanges, it’s still a nice way to get money for instead – especially if you received a lot of gift cards as presents, for example.
Two popular gift card exchanges include CardCash and Raise.com.
Remember, these services will only work for gift cards that have not been redeemed yet.
Once the funds are added to your Amazon gift card balance, the card is considered redeemed and can no longer be traded.
Frequently Asked Questions About Amazon Gift Cards
Let’s look over a few other questions regarding Amazon gift cards, and transferring the balance.
Can You Buy Other Gift Cards Using Using Amazon Gift Cards?
Unfortunately, the answer is no. You are not able to use Amazon gift cards to purchase other gift cards on Amazon’s website.
However, if you have a physical gift card, you can exchange it for other gift cards using a gift card exchange.
Can You Convert Your Amazon Gift Card Balance To PayPal?
No. Unfortunately, you are not able to transfer, redeem or convert your Amazon gift card balance to PayPal.
Once a gift card has been redeemed, it can only be spent on Amazon.com or other platforms that Amazon owns or supports, with the exception of other merchants that accept Amazon Pay as a payment method on their websites.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, there is no way to transfer your Amazon gift card balance to your bank account directly.
However, by using one of the workarounds listed above, you’re sure to gain the most value out of your gift card balance, and get roughly the cash equivalent in the end.
I hope that you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any other questions about Amazon gift cards, please ask them using the comment form below.
Wishing you the best,
– James McAllister
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