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 ($1.00 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 $1.00 and while it looks complicated with 15 steps, it really is quite easy and is almost like found money!
Now, shop!
Amazon's gift card updates
I try to keep this article updated with Amazon changes. Please let me know if anything changes and I'll update this article for the next reader.
MHC
Thanks, Works great! I just bought the first card, linked to my account and then added about 10 more balances to it on the "reload gift card" option.
me
Your instructions didn't worked for me, so I RELOAD a giftcard and added all of my giftcards into one.
730 Sage Street
How is this different than what I'm doing? I consolidate my gift cards into one.
Gift_Card_Guy
Thanks for this article. Very helpful! I just went through it for several cards that had small amounts. It worked well, but the first time I tried they did a 10 cent "pending transaction" prior to allowing, so the amount I reloaded was declined as it was short 10 cents. Just a heads up, seems like they change their proceeses over time. You'll want to do one card first, check the pending transactions on the card to see what Amazon does (these days its 10 cents apparently), then transfer 10 cents less than your balance. Hope this helps!
Jenny
This makes me so happy. Was so easy and satisfying to combine them and throw them away. I'm your biggest fan! Thank you for posting!
Gissela Martinez
Awesome! You are welcome 🙂
Michael
It seems like it would be easier to just click "Reload your balance," enter the amount, click "Add a card," enter the details, then click Reload. That's five steps and the minimum amount is still 50 cents vs emailing a gift card to yourself, which is $1.00 minimum. 🙂
Chris
works like a charm!!! i had about a half dozen cards with $2 here and $4 there and combined them all onto my amazon account. using them to buy myself a birthday present!!!
btw. real person here. this is no scam.
Bob
Still works but minimum is now $1
Jeff
Thank you for mentioning this. I had a couple of troublesome gift cards that I was able to move to Amazon. Now I can finally use the value and get rid of them! I am always happy to see people like you who value their kids such that they alter their lives to be with them and still be successful. Good luck!
Barry
I have a question. My company wants to allow employees to buy gift cards and then donate them to victims of the Hurricane Harvey. Let's say I get 250 gift cards of varying amounts and I want to take the gifts cards and consolidate them into 50 big gift cards. Can I do this? if I can and I consolidate the cards into these "50" big accounts, can the gift cards be used at department stores, grocery stores, etc.?
Kim
I'm not sure if you can use an Amazon gift card to buy another Amazon gift card. You CAN use a Visa or Mastercard gift card and buy an Amazon gift card. So I don't understand why you would buy the 250 then want to consolidate them into 50. Just buy the 50 up front. And Amazon gift cards can only be used on Amazon.com. You *may* be able to buy other store gift cards on Amazon (I've seen them at times) but you'd have to look and see if they have any currently. Also, what makes Amazon's gift card program unique is that you can buy a gift card for random amounts like $27.56. Most gift card programs have set amounts - $10, $25, $50, etc. Good luck, that's a great thing to do!
Kriss
Thanks Kim! Amazons pages have changed a bit since you posted this but it worked great! Thanks! Hope you still get credit. I used your link.
Al Black
Wait, so...just so that I know before I do all these steps..it will only work on amazon?
Kim
This method is for Amazon because Amazon lets you buy a GC of ANY denomination, not just set amounts.
carmen
For step 3 it says "Go to the gift cards page on Amazon.com and select and email gift card." I can't seem to find the thing to select email gift card?
Tyler F
This is brilliant! I was going to use google wallet, but since they charge 3%/30c (minimum) and I have mostly cards with <$2 on them, I wasn't looking forward to losing a significant proportion of my money. Its not much, but it was going to add up over several cards. Thanks!!
Samantha
Awesome! Worked Great!
DK
totally works. thanks!
By far the best solution to combining the gift card balances I've seen yet.
Hope
I had four card that I wanted to add. It worked the first time, then the second time the email said my banks couldnt provide them with information, which was weird because technically it not involved with the bank
Dan
Some of the gift cards require you to register at the gift card company's website, so that you can enter your information and the card will validate when you use it to check out.
Dee
I've done this and you're right, those odd dollars and cents add up and even if I only get a $1.99 Kindle book it's worth it to me.
jasmine
thank you so much for this!!!! you are amazing
Nadia
Hi there, hopefully I'm made a reversible mistake.
I was able to do step 12, but when I received the email I have no "claim code", just an order number: "116-********-0294654".
Please help me :S
Kimberly Grabinski
You will receive 2 emails. The first will be a receipt for your purchase, the second will be the claim code. If you don't get the claim code, they will send you an email telling you there was a problem.
nadia
Hi Kim. They told me they couldn't process order. Thanks anyway.
FYI: I'm doing this with my Spanish Gift card and Spanish Amazon account. So European customers, don't try this.
Rachel R.
Awesome; thank you! I don't have a smartphone, so all of those other "credit card payment" consolidation options don't work for me, but Amazon I can do. 🙂
nadia
thank you!!
Henrietta
You rock, Kim! I just cleaned out my purse and found some gift cards, so I Googled "consolidate gift cards into one" and your site popped up! I was able to add $28.31 from 4 different cards to my Amazon account. thanks so much for the easy tutorial, I never thought to use the Amazon gift card service this way!
yeshu
This works, but I have read on some forums that amazon might ban you if you abuse this too much
Jen
You. Are. A. Genius!
Misha
This is an awesome idea and it worked for me flawlessly! I had a stack of American Express gift cards from over the years with balances from $9 to .89¢. Its a bit tedious but its also fun and worth it!! After consolidation my balance was $138.02! Just a note, whenever I receive a gift card I always call the number on back to register it with my name and billing address so I can shop online with no problems. Thanks so much for this amazing idea!
Kimberly Grabinski
I'm glad it worked for you!
Cara
This was the BEST advice ever!! I was able to use up all of my balances and ended up with about $18...sweet!! I read another article that gave this same advice but said amazon.com gift cards started at $5.00. Maybe they changed it to .15 cents. Amazon has made it soooo easy for people to shop with them. It's amazing other large companies don't catch on because they sure are missing out. This worked out fantastic for me because I often shop with amazon so the money will def not go to waste. THANK YOU!!!!
Jay
Worked Great !! Had these cards forever - some getting charges. Wish I found this sooner. Thank you very much !!!
4AD
This was perfect and easy. A little time consuming, but no issues! Thank you for sharing!
Helped tons!
Tami
I can't seem to get this to work. Amazon keeps rejecting the purchase. I tried to register the cards on the individual sites but they only allow you to register a zip code. Amazon requires a "name on card". What are you entering in this field?
Jay
I don't know about the first part but for the name, I just put
in my name - even though it wasn't on the card - and it worked fine.
Marirose
This is so helpful, wish I had known about it before I've thrown cards with $0.86 left (for example). No longer! Extremely useful! Thank you 🙂
Owen
Great idea but I tried to register three cards all from Wells Fargo. I successfully registered the first one with .64 on it and proceeded to register another for $3.43 and $21.15, respectively. The second and third registrations appeared to work but then I received and email stating that Amazon was having trouble with the payment, privacy would permit disclosure of why it was declined and that my order had been cancelled. I tried each twice more and, in each case, they failed. Amazon insists on a "name on the card". I wondered if the literal Your Gift Card was a problem but it was the same with the first card. So far. I have only succeeded to the tune of 64 cents.
Beth
This is the same problem I am having. I had 3 gift cards all with under $5 on them and only one of them (an AMEX gift card) worked. I have two others with MC logos and Amazon will not accept them. This is very frustrating.
Kim
Did you register them? They should have info on the back from where they were bought. Then you call them or go to their website and add your personal details.
Kim
I'm sure they messed up the registration. I would call them again.
ficklefrannie
You are a genius! I've only been using my bank's gift cards to curb my holiday spending. So I have quite a few cards of random values. And sadly, this never occurred to me although I did most of my shopping online.....
Seneg
Problem is when you add a new card to your Amazon account they charge $1.00 to the card first before they charge the gift card amount. The transaction is denied because you are short one dollar. You then have to wait a few days for the dollar charge to come off and do the whole thing over again. Amazon shouldn't charge the $1.00 the second time. So it can be a little more difficult than stated.
Kim
Actually it doesn't. I have done this 100 times or more for amounts as small as 22 cents and it works every time, the first time.
Rose
Thank you so much for posting this. I had three gift cards all with small balances under $5 taking up space in my wallet for about a year. I refused to throw them out because I am the type of person who doesn't even pass a penny on the sidewalk without picking it up. I was able to **finally** use them. Your suggestion worked perfectly - and then I applied my new amazon balance towards the purchase of two books that I had been meaning to buy. Thank you for your in-depth instructions.
Mama B
wow, this is awesome! thanks for sharing 🙂
Mandy
Wow...I never knew you could do that. I'm so glad you posted this...I have several small balance gift cards just taking up space in my wallet. I love shopping at Amazon, so this was really helpful. Thanks Kim!
Crystal @ Simply Being Mommy
That's awesome Kim! Thanks for sharing.