Discount Gift Cards | Plastic Jungle
OK, in case you were wondering, Ebay isn't the only place to get discounted gift cards! Plastic Jungle is another great resource to help you save even more purchasing gift cards at a discount!
I heard about Plastic Jungle a while ago (and I mean at least two years ago) from Carrie at Money Saving Methods. It's not a gimmick site, actually it's complete opposite. It's been around since 2006 and you can actually get gift cards at a discount off the face value.
Essentially, Plastic Jungle is an online portal where you can:
- Purchase gift cards at a discounted price.
- Sell gift cards you know you are unlikely to use.
- Exchange a personal gift card for another gift card.
- Donate gift cards.
Purchase Discounted Gift Cards
To purchase cards is easy. Just click on the Buy Cards tab to see all cards listed for sale. You can further query by store, price or % off. For example, as of this posting a $100 Ruths Christ Steak House gift card is going for $86 (14% discount). Now, that isn't huge but if you know that restaurant, than you know it is expensive! Getting a discount on a gift card of 14% is a decent bargain in my opinion. Since dining extravagantly is not something we do frequently, I can better plan in advance to make the purchase.
There are several other restaurant and retail gift cards available. You will just have to peruse the site to see if any interest you.
Sell Gift Cards
If you have gift cards with a balance of at least $25, you can sell them on Plastic Jungle. This is nice since you don't have to mess with the Ebay listing if you have ever done that before. Plastic Jungle will purchase the gift card from you for 85% of the value.
The video above walks you through the steps to sell your unused gift cards. Once Plastic Jungle received my package, I received an email notification stating my check was in the mail!
Exchange Gift Cards
If you have cards with less than a $25 value, you can exchange them to use at other online stores (like Amazon) or even donate them to a nonprofit.
Shipping of your purchase is FREE and all purchases at are guaranteed. If you do not receive your gift card within 2 weeks of the date of purchase, you simply file a claim. Plastic Jungle will attempt to resolve the issue for you or they will credit you with the amount you paid for the gift card. Essentially what that means is if so you can purchase with little risk.
Have you used Plastic Jungle before? What has been your experience?
Disclaimer: This post contains a link to an affiliate. See my Disclaimer Policy for additional information.
I have looked at this site before…
My hesitation is…..what prevents a seller from copying the gift card number, selling it to plastic jungle and then using the number to make an online purchase? I realize they confirm the value before they ship…..but still…..all someone needs is the card number for some retailers (e.g. Walmart).
Karen, I am thinking that the prevention is when/if you get the gift card with a zero balance the guarantee would take affect. I would think that per their guarantee they would offer you a full refund. I know what you mean though because I technically could have used that gift card number I sold to them online.
I have made purchases from PlasticJungle several times in the past few months. I’ve been getting Lowe’s gift cards at anywhere between 6-9% discount. It might not seem like much, but every little bit helps when you are doing a home improvement project. You have to move fast to get in on Lowe’s cards I’ve learned. It helps to sign up for notification of when they have them available and jump on them when they come in stock. I have received the cards promptly, only been properly charged, and never had a problem using them in store. I recommend!
FYI I purchased 2 Lowes gift cards on SAT 4/10 for $188. I received a confirmation email that my order was successful.
I received an email today that said that there were “technical issues” and my order could not be processed and was now cancelled. The charge has been removed from my credit card. No further explanation.
I am not impressed :(
I’m sorry you had a bad experience, I feel badly since I recommended them for Lowe’s in particular too, but I had just placed another order on 4/6 and the two gift cards I ordered arrived in the mail today just fine. I hope your experience was an isolated incident, I’m glad to hear at least they did not charge your card though.
Laura
Please do *NOT* feel bad!
Lowes is one of the few retailers that I would be interested in…..I set up notifications and one for Lowes just happened to come in SAT morning.
I get that “things happen”…but I am just amazed that the essence of their email is that there were technical problems/no gift cards coming/credit card charge removed/tough luck.
When you call the customer service number all you get is voice mail.
I have left a voice mail and sent an email but have not heard anything.
I am glad that you have had a good experience…..but you can imagine from my perspective that I am not all that excited about the company.
Karen, thanks for sharing. I know Plastic Jungle saw this post so hopefully they will see the feedback you have shared.
Laura, what Karen said – please do NOT feel bad at all. I think we each will have different experiences. I am going to order some gift cards soon and will share that. I know that selling my gift card was so easy to do and they paid promptly. Thanks for sharing your experience either way :)
Not to belabor the point, but I had a question about the “transaction history” of my account and sent email……I received TWO separate emails replies from different people not only confirming that my order was completed but that it *had also SHIPPED*.
So. A total of 3 emails confirming order, two of which stated that the cards had shipped.
Guess not.
I’ll let you know if I hear anything back….
I wanted to post a follow up….
I received both an email and phone call. I was offered (and received) a $25 credit on my next purchase.
I ordered a $100 Lowes card and $50 Home Depot card. We have used one of the cards without difficulty.
Of note, they are apparently having problems with the purchase history in the accounts. There is also a “glitch” in their system such that if someone claims a card and is purchasing, it will still appear for sale and other customers can also buy the same card. This is what happened in my case. They told me it is unusual and can only occur for a brief period of time during any given purchase. They are working to fix it…..
In the end, I feel that the customer service issue was resolved to my satisfaction and I would consider using their service again.
Karen, thanks for sharing that! It’s always nice to see companies resolve things for us! Thanks for sharing that back on this post.
I am having a problem with PJ. I sent in 2 cards on 4/15 and have not been credited with the amazon gift card I requested. Their site says the cards have not been received. I initially got a response stating they would look into the issue but have not heard back from them in over a week now. They will not return calls or emails. I suppose the cards could have got lost in the mail but where does that leave me? And Plastic Jungle should at least return my phone calls and emails regardless. I sent one final email letting them know I will contact the BBB if they do not respond. every time I have called customer service I get their voicemail stating they will call me back. Despite repeated messages nobody has done so. Hopefully this will work out in the end.
Joe, if it helps at all I sent a tweet to @PlasticJungle asking them to look into it. I hope it gets resolved to your satisfaction.
https://savingslifestyle.com/Twitter/status/13991132506
Thanks for that, whatever it takes to get them to respond. I put in another phone message and an email with all the transaction info today.
Got a response this time. They are having me sign a form stating I sent the cards but they never received them. They are going to send me a check for the lost gift cards (85% of the value, a bit less than I would have received in amazon credit). I wonder if the cards were truly lost in the mail or just got misplaced on their end. Either way, thanks for the feedback here. Personally I don’t think I will use PJ again but that is based solely on my one and only experience.
Joe, I’m glad they responded at least. My one transaction with them was pretty easy and no issues. I guess they are at least resolving it for you which is always a plus!
I’m concerned that they only have about 100 cards listed for sale. It makes them seem like a small-time operator. But I also read that they just got 7.4m in a second round of financing. That’s a big investment for a company that is basically only carrying about 10k-20k of inventory.
Anita, very good observation. I’ve never had PJ respond to any of my emails. I was interested in doing some very large transactions with them, but never heard a word back from them.