Gift cards are supposed to make gift-giving simpler, reducing the need to worry about the recipient’s tastes or which specific items he or she might already have. But not all gift cards are created equal, which might help explain why billions of dollars in gift-card value has gone unused in recent years, despite gift cards being the most popular type of present for the 17th consecutive year in 2023.
In the interest of helping you find the best gift cards for any occasion – whether a birthday, holiday, graduation, etc. – we compared the 50 most popular options across five major categories: 1) how popular the cards are; 2) how much of a discount you can buy them for; 3) how much you can sell them for; 4) how much people like the retailer; and 5) shipping fees. Below, you can check out the resulting top picks.