Many have asked me how to liquidate Amex gift cards. I don’t know what the “best” answer is, but below are a number of options.
Use Amex gift cards to:
- Buy stuff you would buy anyway.
- Buy Visa or MasterCard gift cards (at a supermarket, for example) and then use the gift card PIN to cash out.
- Make Kiva loans.
- Buy merchant gift cards through online portals in order to earn extra points or cash back.
- Pay federal taxes. You will incur a 1.89% fee, but that can be partially or wholly offset by cash back earned when buying Amex gift cards.
Don’t try:
The following things cannot be done with Amex gift cards:
- Withdraw money from an ATM.
- Use as a debit card.
- Load Bluebird or REDbird.