Welcome to my Gift Card Granny review. Today we’re going to be taking a look at a website with a name that conjures up images of a sweet old grandma sitting in her rocking chair giving out gift cards to her grand kids
I’m pretty sure that’s not what this is and by the end of this review you and I will know exactly what you have to do and if you can actually make any money with the Gift card Granny website or if it’s just one big scam.
One of things I never get tired of doing is finding new ways to make money, but with so many people out there now that just want scam you it can be difficult to know what’s legit.
Well, you’ve come to the right place cause what you’ll get here is an honest breakdown of the whole system so you can then make a better, more informed decision about using this the GCG site.
NAME: Gift Card Granny
PRICE: Free
OWNERS: Wolfe, LLC
WEBSITE: https://www.giftcardgranny.com/
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What Is Gift Card Granny About
This site has been around since 2009 and has over 15 million users each year. What I found a bit disappointing was it ins’t clear when you get onto the site either what this is or what the first step is.
It’s a very busy website and by that I mean there’s a lot going on and your eyes are bouncing all over the place.
It’s not until you reach the bottom of the page that there’s a section that tells you what this is.
They claim to look for different ways to save you money and make your budget go that little bit further. they do this by way of tools like Otto their chrome extension that finds discount gift cards and coupon codes as you shop.
They also have rewards and eGift cards as well as a dedicated app that is available on both iOS and Android. Having the app allows you to find the highest bidder for any Gift cards you want to sell and completing the whole transaction on your phone.
Now, I must point out that Gift Card Granny makes use of what they call secondary market partners, I’ll give you a quick example:
I saw a Netflix gift card which has 33% off, so I thought I’d click on it. You then come to this screen:
So, we’re going to get a $30 card for $20, sounds fine, but when you click on view deal you get taken to eBay where it says it’s no longer available.
While I’m here I decide to have a look at the profile of the seller. They have been a eBay member since 2013, 6 years ago and has got absolutely no feedback as a seller and only a handful as a buyer which I find a bit strange seeing as Gift Card Granny says they are trusted partners.
Anyway, they haven’t got the card so I’m not sure why GCG are advertising it, but guess what? The higher priced one is available.
So, that’s how it’s meant to work, they just act as a middleman.[su_divider top=”no”]
Selling Your gift Cards
This is a big part of the whole site and to be fair they make it extremely easy to do. You just look for the name of the card you want to sell from the drop down list, enter the remaining amount on the card and get offers.
Say, for argument’s sake, I had an Adidas gift card with $50 on it, I would be shown a list of companies I could sell it to. The highest price I found for the card was $39.25 so you would be losing close to $11 on it.
I think it would be better just going and buying yourself something from Adidas.
i can see where this would come in handy and that is if you got some obscure card as a gift and just didn’t like what they sold.
When I went through some of them they didn’t have any buyers, the only option was selling it on eBay which is something you can do yourself.
They reckon you can get up to 92% back on the value of the card, of course this depends on what the card is for. Their stats for 2017 show iTunes, Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and Target as their most popular cards for selling.
The 3 options for selling your unwanted gift cards are:
- Find a location – sell your card at a gift card exchange
- Sell it Now – Sell to gift card websites
- Name your price – Best chance for a better price, but you obviously only get paid once the card is sold and delivered.
I actually couldn’t find anywhere you can name your price so I can’t tell you how to go about that I’m afraid.[su_divider top=”no”]
What I Liked
- Lots of choice
- Diferent ways to earn
- Tips for getting the best deals from individual companies
What I Didn’t Like
- Hard to know where to start on first visit to the site
- Any problems you have with any cards they don’t deal with, you have to go through the partner which could be problematic
- Low sell prices on less well-known brands
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Can It be Trusted
As I’ve touched on already they don’t handle any problems you may have, they are solely a intermediary, a go between. so, the site itself has an A rating from the Better Business Bureau, they do have 4 complaints on there, but when you consider the amount of people using it 4 complaints really isn’t that bad.
I don’t think it’s a case of the site being trusted, it’s more a case of trusting the “partners” they are who you’re going to be getting your cards from.
Gift Card Granny admit themselves that the secondary gift card market is a potential target for fraudulent activity, so, it would be a good idea to read the partners TOS before dealing with them so you don’t end up out-of-pocket.[su_divider top=”no”]
Referrals
When you register with GCG you get your own unique code that you can use to share it with everyone you know. If someone decides to sign up to GCG you get $5 in Granny rewards, but only after your referral has spent $50 or more on gift cards.
What are Granny rewards? They are where you earn points to go towards gift cards, 1,000 points = $5 gift card.
So, the more people you refer the more you can earn. I think this is a pretty cool feature, I know a lot of other platforms have a similar thing, but a $5 gift card just for referring a friend is actually quite awesome.[su_divider top=”no”]
Complaints
Although there are only 4 registered complaints on the BBB, one I found was a bit worrying. It concerns one of the sites that GCG sends you to.
Cardflip has an F rating on BBB and also an alert. Amongst the claims being made against the company are failure to honor refund policy, failure to respond to customer concerns, failure to address BBB complaints and inquires, denying consumer refunds despite selling cards with $0 available.
so, make of that as you will, but it doesn’t really say much about GCG looking out for you.[su_divider top=”no”]
Final Thoughts
My first thoughts about GCG was “where the hell do I start“? The site itself is pretty big with a lot going on which can lead to a bit of confusion.
There is a good amount of choice including a section called ‘Secret Deals’ and what with the referral section you have a lot to go through.
This is the first time I’ve come across a site like this and apart from not immediately knowing where to start I was pretty impressed with it as a whole.
The problem is there are a lot of complaints on both iOS and Android stores, but I will say this, GCG does respond to the complaints which shows they at least interested in what people have to say.
What I think they should do is take a bit more responsibility and not just palm people off to the partners, they are earning money from this after all.
I’m not sure this is the best example of a gift card site and as such I won’t be approving it, I’ll keep looking at these types of sites and I may revise that decision depending on what else is out there, but for now it stands.
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So, What Else Can You Do
You could carry on looking for ways that save/pay you a small amount in gift cards or you could spend your time doing something that would earn you money for years to come.
What I am talking about is Affiliate Marketing. Now I know you probably haven’t a clue what that is, I didn’t either before I got involved in it, that was over 4 years ago now, probably a bit longer than that actually.
Did you know that with Affiliate Marketing you have a fantastic opportunity to turn a hobby or something you’re passionate about into a full time income.
The main thing you need is a website and the training to go with it.
Don’t know the first thing about building a website or how to make money from one? Don’t worry I didn’t either when I first started, but if I can do it then anyone can do it, believe me.
The good thing is you don’t even need to pay anything to see if it’s for you.
Click here to read a bit more about it.
I hope this review of Gift Card Granny has helped you out in some way or you may have already used it and want to let everyone know how you got on with it.
Drop a comment below ?
