How best to convert Ikea gift cards to money?

June 24, 2021 2:54 PM

I have $400 worth of Ikea gift cards (apparently that's how Ikea does refunds, sigh). I have no use for them, I suspect none of my friends do either, and would prefer to have cash. Supposedly "resale is prohibited" and there are a lot of gift card scams out there, so I imagine a stranger would be leery about just buying them off me; I therefore hesitate to post them on Facebook Marketplace or whatever. How have you, MeFites, dealt with similar situations?
posted by branca to Shopping (4 answers total)

Best answer: I’ve offered them for sale at a discount on Craigslist and then met the buyer at IKEA where we verified the balance and they gave me cash.
posted by homodachi at 2:59 PM on June 24, 2021 [10 favorites]

Best answer: There are sites that buy gift cards/facilitate the sale in what is presumably a safe way but unfortunately they they seem to take 15-20% of the face value as a commission.

As a side note, I've never had that happen when returning things to Ikea--they've always put my refund back on my credit card, at least when I've had my receipt and it's been within the return period. If you met those criteria, it might be worth going in again to see what happened and if they can make it right, because $400 is a lot of money.
posted by needs more cowbell at 3:06 PM on June 24, 2021 [4 favorites]

You might be able to sell to someone in your friend group or professional network. Spread the word and let people know that if they're going to IKEA soon you could give them a few bucks off if they buy your cards. Because you already know them the trust issues aren't a concern.
posted by papayaninja at 3:57 PM on June 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

I’ve been thrilled to meet people at ikea and buy a freshly verified gift card for about 20% off the face value. I did a whole reno off the cards one pleasant scammy guy sold me after I found him on Craigslist. I actually text him every time I make a big ikea purchase just in case he can hook me up again.

I think he was returning old secondhand dressers (they have a loophole where you can claim it’s a child safety risk) or maybe he was working on film sets and returning set decor...he wouldn’t tell me. I saved a ton of money though!
posted by nouvelle-personne at 5:25 PM on June 24, 2021 [4 favorites]