Complete guide to Sears gift cards

Sears gift cards can often be purchased at a discount from a variety of outlets. This guide is designed to help explain exactly what value these discounted gift cards provide and why they can be a good purchase.

Where To Purchase Discounted Sears Gift Cards

From Sears via Portals

Sears is one of a few merchants who used to payout through portals for the purchase of both their physical and e-gift cards. As of August, 2015 many portals added language stating that gift cards no longer earn portal rewards. Some portals still don’t have that language, so it may be possible to earn rewards, however that most likely won’t happen.

More on Sears Gift Cards & Portals:

Note: As of August, 2015 many portals added language to their terms barring gift cards from earning portal rewards.

• Physical gift cards purchased through Sears are sold by Kmart and may not earn department or home improvement store category bonuses.
• Sears e-gift cards are usually sold by Sears directly.  Some people have reported that e-gift cards have shown on their statements as Kmart purchases.  In those cases, they had selected card designs that included Kmart in the image. It may be that selecting card designs that are specifically Sears will keep the charge as a Sears charge (but we have not been able to verify this yet).
• You cannot purchase Sears gift cards online with other Sears gift cards.
• Some portals feature language stating that they will not pay out when you use a non-approved promotional code. In my experience they do pay out even when you use a non-approved code, however this could change at any time.
• You can double dip and earn miles/cashback when purchasing the gift cards and then again when purchasing merchandise online from Sears.
• IMPORTANT: If your gift card isn’t approved immediately, call 1-888-396-5299 to expedite your gift card order.

Click here for tips to ensure success when using portals.

In Third Party Stores

From time to time brick and mortar stores run promotions for the purchase of Sears gift cards. A good example is this recent Office Depot promotion.

Gift Card Resellers

There are a number of companies that buy and resell gift cards online. These companies almost always have discounts on Sears gift cards. They often run promotions with even deeper discounts several times each year.

Gift Card Granny is one service that will search all of the resale sites to find the lowest current prices on Sears gift cards. Their results don’t always show promotional discounts.

eBay

eBay is another great resource for the purchase of discounted gift cards. Gift Card Mall has been the most reliable source of discounted Sears gift cards on eBay. They have run several 20% off promotions in the past year.

When purchasing gift cards on eBay it is also possible to go through a portal to earn additional cashback. You also earn 2% back in eBay Bucks on the purchase.

Stacking Deals

It is often possible to combine credit card rewards, shopping portal bonuses (current portal payouts for Sears)  and deals to achieve an even greater savings. Here are a few examples.

Buying at Office Supply Stores

During the Office Depot deal mentioned above, it was possible to buy a $100 Sears gift card at Office Depot for $80. By utilizing the 5X office supply store category bonus on the Chase Ink, you could also earn 400 Ultimate Rewards points on that purchase.

Another example is Staples. They sell Sears gift cards online and also qualify for the 5X category bonus on the Chase Ink. Purchases at Staples quite regularly pay decent returns through a variety of mileage portals. By stacking the 5X earned with the Chase Ink and miles earned through a portal, you can achieve a significant savings.

Recent 20% Off Deal on eBay

When purchasing Sears gift cards on eBay it is possible to both go through a shopping portal and to earn eBay Bucks. Additionally, some purchases may earn 5X points with the Chase Ink card. (See: A new way to increase rewards beyond 5X.)

Recently Gift Card Mall had a 20% off sale on Sears gift cards via eBay. During the sale, the Ebates portal was paying back 5% on the purchase of gift cards. The purchase also earned 2% back in eBay Bucks and 5X Ultimate Rewards with Chase Ink. Here is how the math breaks down:

• Cost of Cards: $160
• Cash Back Earned: $8
• Total Cost: $152
• eBay Bucks Earned: $3.20
• Ultimate Rewards Points Earned: 800

By stacking deals, it was possible to purchase $200 worth of gift cards for $152 and earn $3.20 to be used on a future eBay purchase and 800 Ultimate Rewards points.

What To Do With Sears Gift Cards

There are several things you can do with Sears gift cards bought at a discount:

Purchase other merchant gift cards in-store

Sears stores carry a variety of merchant gift cards. While it is not company policy to allow for the purchase of merchant gift cards with Sears gift cards, many stores allow it.

Note that merchant gift cards mentioned on Sears.com are actually sold by GiftCardMall. You cannot use a Sears gift card to purchase merchant gift cards at GiftCardMall and purchases from GiftCardMall will not earn Sears portal rewards.

Purchase Visa gift cards in-store

Some Sears stores sell $200 Visa gift cards for $206.95. Just as above, it is not policy to allow for the purchase of these cards with Sears gift cards, however some stores allow it.

Visa gift cards sold by Sears are issued by Bancorp and are pin enabled. These cards can be loaded to Bluebird/Serve at Walmart.

Sell Them

If you can purchase Sears gift cards at a significant discount it is sometimes possible to turn around and sell them to a gift card reseller for a profit.

For example, during past 20% off deals, several resellers were paying up to 85% of face value for Sears gift cards. A $100 Sears gift card purchased for $80 could then be sold for $85 resulting in a $5 profit, plus credit card rewards, portal cashback and eBay Bucks if applicable.

Buy Merchandise

You can also use these gift cards to buy merchandise at Sears or Kmart for your personal use or to possibly re-sell. Sears has a rewards program call Shop Your Way Rewards which can be quite lucrative.

Some people wait for generous Shop Your Way promotions to purchase merchandise at a discount with the already discounted gift cards. This enables them to resell at a profit. Sears gift cards can be used at Kmart, Lands’ End, Crafstman, Kenmore, PartsDirect, Sears Outlet, and even with My Gopher for online grocery purchases.

Conclusion

Sears gift cards are often available at a discount from a variety of sources. They can not only provide significant discounts when purchasing merchandise from Sears and its sister brands, but they can also provide opportunities to make money and manufacture spend.

If you have any questions about this topic feel free to leave a comment below.