In 2020, the lockdown year, the naysayers thought the sales of gift cards would plummet but it did the opposite. Stats show that the sales of open-loop and closed-loop gift cards went up by 31.5% and 20.5% respectively. The need for people to shop online increased the use of these prepaid cards. During this period people did not need to step out of their houses to buy or redeem their gift cards. Everything happened online. Even Nigerians abroad sent gift cards back home to help loved ones cushion the financial strains the Pandemic caused. The problem with such an arrangement was that most foreign gift cards can’t be used to redeem items in Nigeria. However, Nigerian gift cardholders could trade them for cash on gift card exchange platforms.
The pandemic seemed to have done more good for gift card trading in Nigeria as sales have continued to increase since 2020. Due to this, there are now a number of sites that buy gift cards for cash but not all are trustworthy.
As a newcomer to gift card trading in Nigeria, one needs to be wary about the sites they choose to trade on because some might be fraudulent sites just trying to get your gift card number. But have no fear I have curated the dos and don’ts you need to know before trading.
Things You Should Know Before Trading Your Gift Cards
Trading gift cards online can be tricky if you are a newbie with no guidance and I am speaking from experience. You have no idea what gift cards you can actually sell or how much you can sell them for. Due to my experience, I have curated a list of things you should know before trading:
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What Brand of Gift Cards Can You Sell in Nigeria?
You can not sell all brands of gift cards in Nigeria because the gift card exchange companies do not buy all brands. So due to this one has to be sure of what brand of gift card they are trying to sell. Check gift card exchange sites for the list of cards they sell to be sure.
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Know the Current Gift Card Rates
Gift card trading prices could drop at any time due to any reason so before selling you should check for the current trading rates to know if the rates are high enough.
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Find Out the Balance on the Card Before Trading
It is important to check the gift card balance before you trade, especially if it’s a used gift card, this is in order to be sure the amount on the body of the card is the same as the actual balance.
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Does The Gift Card Trading Site Have a Customer Support System?
It is no news that sites have occasional downtimes and during these downtimes, traders will need external help. This is why it is necessary for a trading site to have a responsive customer support system.
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Know the Gift Cards that Sell at the Highest Rates
Before going into trading gift cards you should first figure out what brands of gift cards sell at higher rates than their counterparts for maximum profit.
10 Brands of Gift Cards with the Highest Rates
These sets of gift cards are high performers when it comes to reselling value. Here are 10 brands of gift cards that sell at high rates:
- Amazon gift card
- iTunes gift card
- Google Playstore gift card
- Visa gift card
- Mastercard gift card
- American Express gift card
- eBay gift card
- Sephora gift card
- Best Buy gift card
- Steam gift card
How To Check Your Gift Card’s Balance
You can either check your gift card balance offline by calling the brand’s customer care number or online through their website.
How To Sell Your Gift Card Online
Trading gift cards online has become a thing in Nigeria which is why there are a lot of gift card trading sites online. Traders are at the risk of trading with the wrong site due to the lack of understanding of what a good one should look like.
A good gift card trading site should have the following qualities:
- It has to be user-friendly.
- It must have an active customer service number.
- Users should be paid instantly
- The website should have a rate calculator in order to check gift card rates at any time.
- The site should buy gift cards at high rates.
One website that has the characteristics listed above is Prestmit.com.
How To Trade On Prestmit.com
The Prestmit website is easy to use thanks to the properly laid out user interface. Follow the steps listed below to trade on the site:
- Go to Prestmit.com and create an account on the platform if you do not have one already.
- After you have created the account login into the account.
- On the next page click on “START TRADE”.
- It will direct you to a new page where you would have to click on “SELL GIFT CARD”.
- Proceed to fill in the details which will include the gift card brand name e.g Amazon, the gift card subcategory, the amount, the gift card number and pin, etc.
- Choose Naira, Cedis, or the available cryptocurrency you want as your payment method.
- Wait for a couple of minutes and your payment will be confirmed with a confirmation email.
Before trading, you can use the rate calculator on the site to confirm your gift card rates.
How to Use the Rate Calculator on Prestmit
Go to the top right side of the front page of the website and click on the three-striped lines beside “DASHBOARD” then click on Rates. You would be directed to the Rate Calculator page. Follow these steps to check your rates:
- Fill the gift card brand name in the “Gift Card Category”. E.g Sephora
- Choose the “Gift Card Subcategory” in the next space. E.g USA Sephora ecode (300 above)
- State the amount of the gift card you are trading in the space marked “Amount”. E.g $300 Sephora gift card
- Choose what currency you want to be paid in the “Payout Method” option.
After taking all these steps your gift card rate will be displayed in the currency you chose.
In Conclusion
The Prestmit website operates on a 24 hours basis so you can trade at any time of the day you like and at high rates. Now you know all you need to know about gift card trading in Nigeria, it’s time to get to trading.
