Trade your unwanted gift cards for value in retail stores

If you have a stash of unwanted gift cards, here’s away to possibly deal with them: Take them to certain Target stores to trade them for a Target gift card, which you can use to shop at its store or Target.com.

The idea is that you’d make the trade at the “Target Tech” kiosk in the electronics department at participating Target stores, including Greenacres (5900 LakeWorth Road, 561-963-3382), Delray Beach (1200 Linton Blvd., 561-265-3500), Deerfield Beach (3599W. Hillsboro Blvd., 954-333-5214) and Hollywood (Hollywood Mall, 954-963-1200).

The designated Target Tech person “will assess your gift card and provide you with a quoted value. If you accept, you’ll receive a Target GiftCard in the amount of the quoted value,” according to TargetTrade-in.com. More than 150 types of gift cards appear to be candidates for trades including those for Best Buy, Bed Bath& Beyond, Dillards, L.L. Bean, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Petco, PetSmart, Sam’s Club, Starbucks, Toys “R” Us andWalmart, according to Targettrade-in.com, though it’s possible your store’s listmay vary.

Don’t expect to get face value for your trade, Iwas warned. Popular gift cards — likeWalmart’s— trade at higher value than, say, Pottery Barn’s. Some aren’t accepted at all, as in the case ofmy Ross Dress for Less gift card.

Before you make a trip to Target, you might check tradingwebsites like Cardpool.com and GiftCardGranny.com to get a sense of what your gift card is worth and possibly go that route instead. Examples: If you sold a $50 Best Buy gift card directly to Cardpool.com, you’d get a $44.75 check or $47.44 to use instantly at Amazon.com. For a $50 Pottery Barn gift card, Cardpool.com offers a $41.25 instant check or $43.73 credit to use at Amazon.

Cellphone service for $1: VirginMobile through July 31 is offering one year of cellphone service for a buck. The deal requires buying an iPhone and using Sprint as your carrier (get details at VirginMobileUSA.com). The “Inner Circle plan,” as it’s called, includes Virgin-related perks such as 20 percent discounts on Virgin America flights. Another is a free companion ticket when buying a round-tripVirgin Atlantic ticket to theU.K. “Virgin is essentially betting on the fact that customers will stick around when the regular plan pricing of $50 per month (which requires AutoPay) later kicks in,” TechCrunch.com reports.

Meanwhile, Sprint has extended through July 31 its deal offering new customers free cellphone service for one year. Read details at sprint.com/1yearfree.

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