Gift cards are a lame present, but if you need to buy one due to lack of time, you don’t know what to get for a gift, or for some other reason, it’s best to pick out a good one.
Gift cards are the most popular type of present for the holidays for the 19th consecutive year in 2025.
However, some gift cards are better than others.
WalletHub, a personal finance website, compared the 50 most popular gift cards 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.
Here the result of WalletHub’s analysis:
| Best Gift Cards | Most Popular Gift Cards |
| 1. Sephora Gift Card | 1. Visa Gift Card |
| 2. Target Gift Card | 2. Amazon Gift Card |
| 3. Starbucks Gift Card | 3. Target Gift Card |
| 4. Disney Gift Card | 4. Sephora Gift Card |
| 5. Chipotle Gift Card | 5. Disney Gift Card |
| Most-Discounted Cards | Best Resale Value |
| 1. SONIC Gift Card – 22% discount | 1. Costco Gift Card |
| 2. Dairy Queen Gift Card – 22% discount | 2. Best Buy Gift Card |
| 3. Old Navy Gift Card –12% discount | 3. Walmart Gift Card |
| 4. Starbucks Gift Card – 7% discount | 4. Home Depot Gift Card |
| 5. Michaels Gift Card – 6% discount | 5. Visa Gift Card |
Tips from WalletHub on how to avoid problems when buying gift cards include:
- Look for a discount. The best gift cards can usually be bought for less than face value online.
- Avoid card-network gift cards. Gift cards from Visa and Mastercard are actually quite inferior. While retailers make money immediately when one of their gift cards gets purchased, card-network gift cards make money from fees. If you want the versatility of cash, just give cash.
- Don’t confuse gift cards and prepaid cards. Despite often being displayed next to each other in stores, gift cards and prepaid cards are very different. Gift cards are designed for use until the original balance is gone. Prepaid cards are reloadable and designed to serve the same purpose as a checking account with a debit card. Prepaid cards also have fees associated with them, so giving one could result in the recipient not getting as much value as you intended.
- Watch out for loyalty cards with different rules. A loophole in the law allows non-reloadable prepaid cards, or gift cards, that are received through a loyalty, award, or promotional program to expire with no restriction. Normal gift cards can’t expire until five years from the date of issuance. So, read the fine print.
- Resale is always an option. If you don’t use a gift card or the recipient doesn’t like it, you can sell it on a gift card exchange or swap it with a friend or family member.
- Give cash when in doubt. Cash eliminates guesswork and is the most versatile gift. In addition, you may be able to give your recipient more value without shipping fees or shopping trips.
- Tap into unredeemed value. Check your drawers to find out if you’ve contributed to the billions of dollars in gift cards that have gone unredeemed in recent years. Any gift card from the past five years is most likely still good. You have three options when it comes to unlocking the value of unused gift cards. First, you can sell unwanted gift cards for cash. Second, 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 wear from sitting idle for years. Third, most states have programs that allow you to recoup unused funds from expired gift cards under unclaimed property laws.
- Buy gift cards with rewards. Most credit card rewards programs allow you to redeem your points/miles for gift cards from a variety of retailers. In many cases, you can get more value from this than redeeming for cash.
- Buy e-gift cards in a crunch. E-gift cards are gaining in popularity due to convenience and ease of delivery. You can also avoid the shipping fees that many major retailers charge for physical gift cards ordered online.
- Avoid using gift cards as an excuse to overspend. When redeeming gift cards, consumers often spend more than their cards’ face value. You should be careful of your spending when using a gift card, so you don’t overspend.
- Check the card before leaving the store. Make sure the gift card hasn’t been tampered with and the card number or PIN hasn’t 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 hasn’t been opened.
- 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 and even allow consumers to redeem the remaining balance for cash if it’s under a certain amount. So make sure to read the fine print to avoid letting the card lose value.
I hope these tips help with your gift card shopping. As the article points out, there are many ways you could get ripped up.
