Got a bunch of gift cards with a small balance on them? Consolidate them into one!

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Wondering how to combine gift cards? Keep reading!

Do you have gift cards lying around or in your purse or wallet with a small balance left on them?

Have you been carrying them around for awhile unsure how to use them? Wondering how to combine gift cards?

You can’t just take them to the store and use them because you have to know exactly how much is left on them, and often it’s just not worth the effort to deal with using a $2.49 gift card then having to use your credit card for the rest of your purchase.  Not to mention the dirty looks you’ll get from the customers waiting in line behind you.

Well, I have a solution for you if you have a small amount left on a gift card so you can make sure those balances don’t go to waste, you don’t annoy anyone and you don’t waste a ton of time and energy trying to figure out a way to indicate how much is left on each card so you have it easily accessible when you go to the store.

This solution really only works on gift cards with a credit card logo on them such as Visa, Mastercard or American Express.  Basically, any card you can use at ANY store.

How to combine gift cards

Note: You may have to REGISTER the card with the bank in order to use it, especially with American Express. So if the transaction doesn’t go through, you may have to call the issuing service and assign your name, address and phone number to the card. Make 100% sure they match your Amazon account.

• 1: Gather all your old gift cards that still have small balances on them.  No amount is too small.  Get them all!
• 2: If you don’t already have a shopping account, create one on Amazon.com.
• 3: Go to the gift cards page on Amazon.com and select and email gift card.
• 4: Grab one of your gift cards and call the # on the card (or use the web) to check the balance left on the card.
• 5: Enter the amount left on the card into the box labeled “amount” in the Amazon E-mail gift card details box (.50 cents is the least amount it will take).

• 6: Enter one of your own email addresses in the recipient email box.
• 7: Click ‘add to order’ on the lower right.
• 8: Click ‘proceed to checkout’ on the right side.
• 9: Sign into your account when prompted.
• 10: Under “more payment options“, select Add a Card and enter the card number, name and the expiration date for the gift card you just checked the balance of and click ‘continue.’
• 11: Double check all the info and click ‘Place your order.’
• 12: Wait for the email with gift card claim code and copy the code to your computer clipboard.
• 13: Go back to Amazon.com and then select ‘your account’ on the menu at the top.
• 14: In the second area under ‘Gift Cards‘ select ‘apply a gift card to your account‘ and paste your claim code into the box and click ‘apply to your account.’
• 15: Repeat steps 3-14 for each of the gift cards you collected that have small balances on them.

Now you have all of your miscellaneous small balance gift cards added up in a single location and you can easily use it on a purchase at Amazon.com.

Once you receive the email from Amazon.com with your gift card claim code, throw away those old gift cards immediately.  There is nothing worse than having a pile of gift cards lying around that you have to call AGAIN to make sure there is no balance left on them.

I do this all the time.  I’ve redeemed a gift card on Amazon for as little as .50 cents and while it looks complicated with 15 steps, it really is quite easy and is almost like found money!

Now, shop!

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