Here are three Canadian gift card exchange sites that will either convert your gift card to cash or will trade your current gift card for another merchant’s gift card:

Toronto-based CardSwap (www.cardswap.ca) buys and sells verified gift cards at discounted rates of 10 % to 40 %, charging sellers 6 % of the sale price, with a minimum fee of $4.50. The company also buys gift cards directly for 70 % of the value. While the site handles the finances, sellers are responsible for mailing them to their buyers within three days of purchase. All the cards posted on this site are verified and they have had zero losses to date. CardSwap gives users three weeks to report a problem with their purchases before passing along the purchase money to the seller.

Giftah (giftah.com), which was created by three students at the University of Waterloo, also converts gift cards into cash but operates by buying unwanted cards from its users and then listing them for sale at a discount of up to 40 % of their face value. Sellers mail cards directly to the company which verifies the amounts and then issues payment through Paypal.

MacIntyre’s Gift Card Recycle Canada (www.giftcardrecycle.ca) has been set up for trading cards for dollars from other stores. Charging 10 % of the face value of the card, plus GST, users select the cards they would like to exchange, then mail in the cards they are swapping. The cards are verified and those requested are mailed back. The process is safe and secure. No one has to give out their address to a stranger to exchange cards and users have the option of creating an account to track their transaction’s progress.

Please note: Make sure each gift card amount is verified by the company and research their security measures in case of fraud. You should also enquire as to their privacy policies to determine who will have access to your address and make sure that you are comfortable with their options.