Buy cards at a discount
- Using Restaurant.com gift certificates can save you a decent amount of money. They have offers like buying a $25 gift certificate for just $10. I used this at a local steak house we enjoy and it worked fine. This is a simple and easy way to save $15 off a nice dinner out. If we go out for steak monthly and use these gift certificates then I can save myself an additional $180 a year. The site is pretty easy to use, first search for restaurants in your area. I found 27 within 10 miles of my house including 2 that we eat at normally. Then just buy a certificate online and print it out to use when you dine out.
- Citydeals website is an online retailer that sells gift cards at a discount rate. Their cards are mostly 10% off. But they seem to sell out on cards.
- Buy direct from the restaurant. For example it seems Red Robin has a deal every fall to get $5 extra when you buy a $25 gift card.
- You can also sometimes find discount gift certificates for sale at stores. For example Costco has been selling two $50 gift cards for $80 like this offer for McCormick and Schmicks they have right now. That's 20% off! I've also seen them selling similar card sets usable at Stanfords and some other restaurants. If you search the Costco website for 'gift certificate' you can find a few more similar offers.
Buy cards second hand
- The site Gift Cards Again has second hand gift cards for sale at 6-7% discount.
- eBay has a gift certificate category where individuals will sell their unwanted gift certificates & cards. The cards vary in price of course but typically they seem to go for 5-20% below face value. But you can find some great deals if you are lucky. I bought two $20 off coupons for McCormick and Schmick's for just $6.5 saving me $33.5 over 2 meals.
- The Plastic Jungle site sells cards too generally at a 5-10% discount.
- Card Avenue also has cards for sale