Who doesn’t love getting free gift cards?
It’s basically one of the best things ever! Anytime someone asks me what I want, I don’t hesitate to ask for a gift card.
You can use free gift cards on date nights with your spouse. You can use them on vacation. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.
Earning free gift cards can help you get all the stuff you want without busting your budget. Like I said, best thing ever.
But how do you come about free gift cards other than simply telling folks that’s what you’d like to receive for the holidays or your birthday?
Well, I have a pretty good idea because I’ve been doing it for almost ten years now. If you want to know how to earn free gift cards, you’ll want to read this. You’re about to get all.the.things and you won’t have to use any of your hard-earned paycheck.
And just in case you’re wondering what I’ve got my eyes on…
Behold…
Yep, I’m doing the following steps just so this bag can come home with mama. Because let’s be real — I’m not dropping $398 on a new handbag. But I certainly don’t mind using free gift cards for splurges like this.
Anywho…let me show you how you can earn free gift cards and get new stuff.
The Top 12 Ways You Can Get Free Gift Cards
1. Take surveys with legit survey companies that will hand over the gift cards.
It’s easy to get suckered into taking surveys online. There are plenty out there that will have you doing hours worth of work for a couple of pennies.
Luckily, I’ve been doing online surveys long enough to weed through the garbage and I have a few faves. I use these survey companies to earn free gift cards and there’s one that even gives you cold hard cash.
Here’s the scoop…
Survey Junkie is a survey company that rewards you with gift cards too. You earn money just by setting up your profile (mine was like $2). Select the surveys that are green (it means available) and start earning immediately. If you don’t qualify, you can earn for those too and you’ll learn upfront how long it will take and how many points you will earn. Points are straightforward and you can cash them out for Paypal cash or e-gift cards.
Pinecone Research is my absolute favorite survey company of all time. There are no pre-qualifying surveys; however, you will have to answer a few household questions every month. Besides that, you will earn $3 per survey. Plus, you can cash out with as little as $3.00 cash into your Paypal account. You can still earn free gift cards too.
2. Search the web with Swagbucks or Inboxdollars.
You can search the web as you normally would through Swagbucks and Inboxdollars. Both of these sites will reward you for your searches. Why? Well, they are doing research and they want to learn more about how users search the web. Not only that, there are quite a few other ways Swagbucks will reward you for being a loyal user…
You can earn Swagbucks for doing some of the following:
- Linking cards
- Shopping
- Watching videos
- Taking surveys
- Answering polls
- Finding Swagbucks codes
You can earn for as little as $1 and up to $100 or more with various restaurants and retailers. With that said my chances of scoring $400 in gift cards for that Dooney and Bourke handbag are pretty promising!
* Almost forgot, receive a $5 bonus when you sign up for Swagbucks and get your first $5 free gift card code for Amazon (or any other company available to choose from)!
3. Use Honey Chrome Extension to save money and earn free gift cards (no surveys!)
Honey is a free Chrome extension that will help you earn free Amazon gift cards. I like this extension because no matter where you’re shopping online, Honey will search for the best coupon codes. You will earn points on your purchases that you can cash out at 1,000 for free gift cards.
If you shop frequently on Amazon, using Honey is definitely worth your while. It will help you save money by comparing the prices of third party listings to the prices available on Amazon. I plan to use Honey when I’m ready to score that cute handbag and you should make sure you use it on your next online purchase too.
4. Save your receipts and earn free gift cards with the Ibotta App.
If you shop for groceries or make any purchases using your mobile phone, you absolutely should be using Ibotta. Ibotta is a free app where you earn cash back on purchases.
When you make an in-store purchase, all you need to do is select the product you’re purchasing and scan your receipt. You can also make purchases on your mobile at online partners like Amazon, Groupon, Jet, and Boxed.
Once you accumulate $20 in cash back, you can redeem it for Paypal cash or free gift cards. After you redeem your first cash back offer, you’ll get a free $10 welcome bonus and you can use that for another free gift card! Be sure to download the app before your next shopping trip.
5. Join and do all of your online shopping through Rakuten.
Earn a free one-time gift card when you do your online shopping with Rakuten. When you make your first $25 purchase through Rakuten, you will receive a free $10 gift card.
After that one-time deal, you can continue to earn up to 40% cash back on purchases made from over 2,000 online stores. If you download the free Chrome extension, you’ll be notified of qualifying retailers. You can also earn cash back from a few brick and mortar stores too when you link your debit card with Rakuten. Check out my Rakuten review for more info on how to maximize your earnings.
Rakuten will send your cash back rewards via gift card, check or Paypal every quarter for cash back balances above $5. And one other thing…you can earn referral bonuses for sharing Rakuten with your friends too.
6. Earn free gift cards with Amazon Trade-in.
I’ve earned quite a few Amazon gift cards through the Amazon Trade-in program. You can trade-in old books, DVDs, and video games. When you’re browsing Amazon, you will see a trade-in box if Amazon is looking to acquire the item.
Amazon will also show you your purchase history and let you know the potential trade-in value of qualified items. But that doesn’t mean you should overlook items you’ve purchased elsewhere though. You can trade-in items you’ve purchased from other retailers, so it’s worth looking up.
Shipping is free for trade-in items. After you send your trade-in and it’s processed, you will receive a payment within 10 business days from the date of receipt. If the item isn’t accepted, you won’t receive a gift card and they will send it back to you at no cost to you.
7. Refer your friends to Amazon Prime
If you use Amazon Prime, don’t forget to refer friends! You can earn a $5 Amazon gift card for each friend who makes their first purchase. Besides, free shipping, unlimited streaming, and discounts are worth sharing with your friends.
8. Enter free giveaways on Instagram.
Usually, on Instagram, I’ll find a giveaway that’s worth taking an extra second or two to enter. All that’s typically involved is following a particular page, leaving a comment, and tagging another friend who might be interested.
I’ve entered giveaways for as little as $25 Amazon gift cards and as high as $100 Visa gift cards. So, if you’re on Instagram, keep an eye out and search the hashtags #giveaway for new opportunities.
9. Participate in Twitter (now called X) parties.
If you prefer X, jump on a X chat! These are hosted often by certain brands or individuals interested in striking up conversations with their followers.
They are really easy to participate in. You typically respond to Twitter Chats using the designated hashtag (for example #LAABChat) for the chat.
Sometimes the host offers giveaways for the participants who use the hashtag and follow their page. To find scheduled tweet chats, check out this site and keep your eyes open on the pages of brands you already follow.
10. Enter blog giveaways.
I’ve entered hundreds of blog giveaways and I’ve won some amazing prizes too. From DVD’s, gift cards, treats, Thirty-one bags — I’ve won a little bit of everything.
The key to being successful with blog giveaways though is to enter the giveaways that don’t have that many entrants. It definitely increases your chances of winning. If you enter regularly, I’m sure you’ll eventually score some free gift cards this way too.
11. Transfer your prescriptions to another pharmacy.
Here’s a great offline way to get free gift cards. Look in your local sales paper or do searches for pharmacies in your area that are giving out gift cards for prescription transfers.
Pharmacies love grabbing business from competing pharmacies and they pay a pretty decent price to gain new business. I’ve received $25 Target gift cards just for transferring my prescriptions from Walgreens.
12. Keep an eye on your junk mail.
Last, but not least, make sure you look carefully through your junk mail. You’ve probably thrown away money and didn’t even realize it.
Once I was about to throw out what looked like a coupon only to discover it was a $10 (no strings attached) gift card for Kohls. Now when I’m sorting out mail, I take the time to make sure I’m not throwing free money in the garbage.
Helpful Tips For Earning Free Gift Cards
I’ve been doing this long enough to know that there are just some simple do’s and don’ts when it comes to your quest of earning free gift cards. Here are a few of my tried-and-true tips…
Use separate email addresses – If you’re taking surveys, do yourself a favor and set up a separate email address. You’re going to appreciate it when you receive 15 survey invitations in one day from just one company.
Keep good records – Websites like Swagbucks have opportunities where you can sign up for free trials and such to earn a huge amount of Swagbucks. Personally, I’ve tried it and it’s not my cup of tea, but if you do decide to score those rewards, keep a spreadsheet of your activities. It will come in handy when you’re ready to cancel before your trial is up. You will also be able to keep up with when you’re supposed to receive your rewards.
Never pay membership fees – If a survey company asks you to pay a membership fee, run in the other direction. All the survey companies I listed above are FREE.
Sign up for multiple opportunities – As far as surveys go, I recommend signing up for all three companies. There could be weeks where Pinecone doesn’t send you any surveys. Likewise, you could receive surveys from Vindale and Survey Junkie every day. Also, I like to juggle as many of these top 13 ways at the same time to increase my odds of scoring a bunch of gift cards in the shortest amount of time.
What is the best app to get free gift cards?
We’ve discussed these three tools above – Rakuten, Swagbucks, and Ibotta. So which one measures up as the best app to get free gift cards?
Hands down, I would have to say that Ibotta is the best app to get free gift cards. Why?
Well for one, they give you a welcome bonus just for using the app. Secondly, you don’t have to go out of your way to do anything spectacular to start earning towards your gift card.
For instance, you can earn gift cards without taking any surveys with the Ibotta app. Simply go grocery shopping and keep an eye out for the things you already plan to purchase. If there is a rebate available, use it! And when you have at least $20, you get a gift card.
Plus, reaching the $20 threshold isn’t all that difficult considering all the bonuses you can take advantage of in addition to the rebates. So, yes, Ibotta wins in my eyes. But certainly, you can still use the Swagbucks and Rakuten app to earn free gift cards as well.
A Quick Recap
Here’s a quick recap of the top 12 ways you can earn free gift cards.
- Take surveys with Pinecone Research and Survey Junkie.
- Search the web with Swagbucks or Inboxdollars.
- Install the Honey Chrome extension to maximize your online shopping savings.
- Install and shop using the Ibotta app and receive a $10 welcome bonus gift card.
- Shop online using Rakuten and receive a $10 gift card with your first $25 online purchase.
- Trade in old stuff using the Amazon trade-in program.
- Share the joy of using Amazon Prime for free 2-day shipping, discounts, and unlimited streaming with your friends.
- Enter free giveaways on Instagram.
- Join Twitter chat parties.
- Enter blog giveaways.
- Transfer prescriptions to another pharmacy that rewards a free gift card.
- Look closely at your junk mail before throwing it out.
Wrapping It Up
So, there you have it. It’s totally possible to not have to pay for whatever thing it is you’ve had your eyes on.
If dropping $400 of your paycheck on a new handbag, shoes, or whatever have you questioning your sanity — don’t stress about it. There are ways to spoil yourself on a small budget.
I’ve proven to myself and others time after time that it’s possible to earn free gift cards. Now it’s your turn! Set a goal of how much you want to earn and start working on this list.
You’ll have whatever it is you want before you know it! Now, I’ve gotta run…that Dooney and Bourke is mine for the taking.