What is the benifit of buying and using gift cards

[T music]

Why do people buy their own gift cards then use them to pay for things what is the benefit?

[GAN]

If you buy a Disney gift card at Target, Costco, BJ's, etc. you can get a discount from those vendors. So if you use your Target credit card, they will take 5% off your purchase at the register. So if you were going to Disney and planned to spend $2000 on the trip, you could buy that amount in Gift cards and your actual cost would be $1900. The drawback and catch is that if for some reason you have to cancel your trip or return something you bought -that refund goes back directly to the card used to make the purchase. Many people don't keep their gift cards when they're wiped out ..they would be out of luck. And it does happen to people...

Also -it can be a way of saving up for a trip. If I'm going to Target I'll sometimes just buy a $50 gift card for a future trip -that adds up over time and I'll use that value for drinks, food, etc. With Disney Gift Cards there is a website that you can add the value of a card to an existing card you own ..this way you don't need a bunch of cards, only your main card that you keep adding value to.

[anna.butler]

My husband and I would load some money onto a card with a wrist band for Food & Wine fest and Flower & Garden when we would be hitting up a lot of food booths. They typically had those gift cards available at festival booths! That way we would not have to fumble to get our wallet out, and would conveniently have the gift card on our wrist!

[T music]

If you buy a Disney gift card at Target, Costco, BJ's, etc. you can get a discount from those vendors. So if you use your Target credit card, they will take 5% off your purchase at the register. So if you were going to Disney and planned to spend $2000 on the trip, you could buy that amount in Gift cards and your actual cost would be $1900. The drawback and catch is that if for some reason you have to cancel your trip or return something you bought -that refund goes back directly to the card used to make the purchase. Many people don't keep their gift cards when they're wiped out ..they would be out of luck. And it does happen to people...

Also -it can be a way of saving up for a trip. If I'm going to Target I'll sometimes just buy a $50 gift card for a future trip -that adds up over time and I'll use that value for drinks, food, etc. With Disney Gift Cards there is a website that you can add the value of a card to an existing card you own ..this way you don't need a bunch of cards, only your main card that you keep adding value to.

Awesome thanks I’m gonna look into Target

[Mike]

People put money on them so that they "safely" budget funds for food, souvenirs, etc. while in the parks. By only having x amount of money on the card, it eliminates splurging.

The drawback and catch is that if for some reason you have to cancel your trip or return something you bought -that refund goes back directly to the card used to make the purchase.

This is exactly why I will never budget my trip with gift cards. There are nightmare stories of people who lost/misplaced their gift cards, and that's where Disney returned their money too. This was especially true once COVID hit and the parks closed. Personally, I'd rather keep my money in my bank account and miss out on the potential savings with gift cards.

[T music]

People put money on them so that they "safely" budget funds for food, souvenirs, etc. while in the parks. By only having x amount of money on the card, it eliminates splurging.

The drawback and catch is that if for some reason you have to cancel your trip or return something you bought -that refund goes back directly to the card used to make the purchase.

This is exactly why I will never budget my trip with gift cards. There are nightmare stories of people who lost/misplaced their gift cards, and that's where Disney returned their money too. This was especially true once COVID hit and the parks closed. Personally, I'd rather keep my money in my bank account and miss out on the potential savings with gift cards.

That's a very good point .

[Liquid Ice]

If you use DisneyGiftCard.com you can load your gift cards into the website. If you lose or misplace a gift card you can then see that card's value and transfer it to a different card you do have.

I haven't tried the new version that just launched last week yet, but the old website had a limit of 5 cards per account. The way I worked around that was to create a 2nd, 3rd, 4th account. If you use gmail, you can add a "+" sign along with anything after and gmail will still deliver it to your address. For example, if my email is (which it isn't) liquidice@gmail.com - you could create a 2nd account called liquidice+disneygiftcard@gmail.com and I would still get the emails in my Inbox.

I also put sticky notes on any gift card I use to make an Annual Pass purchase or other large purchase via the phone or online so I'll remember which one will get refunded (if I need a refund). Sometimes you can also ask for a refund to a new gift card, but not everyone will do this for you.

If you combine the gift card purchase with a cash back website like Rakuten or RetailMeNot, sometimes you can save an additional 1 or 2% back. Then if your credit card has a cash back award (mine is 2% back on all purchases), then you can often save quite a bit. Some cards like Discover and Chase will offer 5% back on purchases at Club Warehouses like Sams Club and BJs certain quarters of the year too.

For Black Friday in 2020, BJs had I believe 6% off gift cards and I got 2% Cash Back from a Cashback website. Combine it with my 2% back on Credit Cards, and for a $500 gift card.. I paid $469.99 from BJs or roughly 6% off. Then I received $9.40 back per $500 gift card I bought from the cashback site and $9.40 cash back from my credit card. So $451.19 for a $500 gift card - or about 9% off.

I go to Disney relatively often though, plus I can use those gift cards to buy an Annual Pass and pay off my DVC Annual Dues each year. So it makes sense to me to buy a bunch whenever they go on sale like this.

Considering how expensive Disney is, every little bit helps!

[n7vulcan]

Just seeing what is here, I think it should be noted that there seems to be a $1,000 cap on each Disney gift card. Also, Disney was able to make new e-Gift Cards for us when we had to cancel our trip due to COVID-19, and we only had one of the gift cards left (mistake I'll not be doing again). They were able to refund the money we had paid, which was nearly all of our trip, onto multiple e-Gift Cards--but each had a limit of $1,000. I haven't used the new site, but the old site is easy to combine multiple cards together, and I'm guessing they wouldn't have made it any harder this go around.

As far as benefits--I think it probably depends on your situation.
For the trip I'm planning this year, it is our delayed honeymoon (COVID), and we had some gift cards given to us as wedding gifts, since we already have the essentials for everyday living. We've been planning the trip for a few years--now postponed twice--and our local grocery chain gives crazy gas rewards for purchasing gift cards. So at the beginning of our trip saving, we were putting away a little here & a little there on the gift cards, knowing that we had a while to pay it all off. This gave MANY nearly free tanks of gas, which was the benefit for us.

I think it truly just depends on your situation & what works best for you.

[randyf79]

Lots of good, helpful responses. Whether it is Target, or perhaps other stores that have gift card racks, it may be worth 'shopping' around to find out what their 'deals' are. Example, gas points at Kroeger, come to mind.

We used a few gift cards we were 'gifted' and when we arrived had them posted to our account so we had credit in the system that would go towards paying off our bill at the end. We've also done it later in a visit...again to pay off part of the bill (the rest going on the credit card associated with our visit.)

Hope you have a magical next visit!

[DisneyUpBoilerUp]

I buy Disney gift cards as a sort of savings plan for Disney. When I have extra money, rather than just saving it for my next trip and risking that I might spend it... I just invest in Disney gift cards knowing that I cannot spend it anywhere else before the trip, lol.... well except for Shop Disney, and that can get dangerous, lol.

[The Maher Family]

Wish you could link gift cards to Magic Bands. That would be a great way kids could have their money available when they want it.

[CH-GenX]

Why do people buy their own gift cards then use them to pay for things what is the benefit?

For me it's getting a % off a disney trip as others have already explained.