How to Earn Free Gift Cards and Cash While Barely Lifting a Finger

If earning free gift cards sounds impossible, think again. With the right cashback apps and credit cards, you can line your pockets with gift cards to your favorite stores or extra cash that you can use to spoil yourself.

Learning how to earn free gift cards is easy, and once you get the hang of it, honestly, it’s a bit addicting.

How to earn free gift cards and cash

There are several strategies you can use to get rewarded in gift cards or save money shopping online and the best part is, these opportunities require almost no effort on your part. Once you download the required apps or visit the necessary sites, you’ll be well on your way to earning free gift cards.

Use rewards apps and sites

Several rewards money savings apps pay you for shopping. Some require that you scan your receipts or activate offers before shopping, and others automatically help you save by transferring money to your savings account that they deem available for savings.

Some help you earn free gift cards, while others pay you in cash. What do they have in common? They’re all super easy to use and offer generous rewards.

Ibotta

Cashout threshold: $20 for cash and $25 for some gift cards

With Ibotta, you can pay directly with the app to earn cash back or gift cards at over 30 retailers. You can shop in-person or online to earn free gift cards. Here’s how:

• In-person shopping: Head to the Ibotta site or app and look for offers at the store you plan to visit. Activate any offers for items you think you’ll purchase and shop like you normally would. After paying, upload a copy of your receipt or you can link the store’s loyalty card to your Ibotta account for automatic credit.
• Online shopping: Head to the Ibotta app and click the store you want to shop. Read the terms of the offer and click “shop” to visit the store you are purchasing from. Throughout the process, be sure never to leave the app until you’ve completed the purchase to get credit for it.

Ibotta often runs sign up bonuses too, for example, you may earn $10 just for signing up and making your first purchase.

See all the ways Ibotta works to help you earn cash back in our Ibotta review.

Rakuten

Cashout threshold: $5.01

Rakuten (formerly Ebates) is an impressive site because it’s affiliated with more than 3,500 stores, and that includes major retailers like Amazon, Macy’s, Kohl’s, and Walmart. You can get up to 40% cash back at popular retailers. While you can’t earn free gift cards directly because Rakuten only pays via PayPal or paper check quarterly, you can use the money to buy gift cards to your favorite stores.

Rakuten offers several ways to earn cash back:

• Mobile app: Link your most used credit card to the Rakuten app and before you shop, find the best deals. Activate any offers you will use and check out like normal. If you use the linked credit card you’ll automatically get credit.
• Online shopping: You can shop through the Rakuten website at your favorite retailers by first activating the offer and then completing the sale through the Rakuten site (you’ll check out on the retailer’s site but through Rakuten to get credit).
• Browser extension: Download the free browser extension so you never miss a cashback deal or opportunity for coupons and promo codes.

Rakuten also runs sign up bonuses. They currently offer 10% back on all purchases made within the first seven days of signing up.

Check out our Rakuten review to learn more about how it works.

Dosh

Cashout threshold: $15

With Dosh, you just link your credit card on the app and shop as you normally would, in-store or online. It’s that easy! You can earn up to 10% back at thousands of retailers and restaurants and even travel with Dosh and cash back on hotel stays. Like Rakuten, Dosh doesn’t pay in gift cards, but you can cash-out via PayPal, Venmo, or transfer money into your bank account. You can then use the funds to buy your favorite gift cards.

Check out our Dosh review to learn more about how it works.

ShopKick

Cashout threshold: $20

When you use ShopKick, you can earn points (called kicks) for doing a number of shopping-related activities, some of which don’t even require you to purchase anything. Once you collect enough kicks, you can redeem them for free gift cards for stores like Target, Starbucks, and Amazon. Here are some of the things you can do to earn kicks:

• Visiting stores
• Scanning barcodes
• Watching videos
• Making online purchases
• Linking a credit card and shopping in store
• Shopping in store and submitting a receipt

The amount of kicks you earn depends on the task and the retailer.

Interested in learning more about how to earn money with ShopKick? Check out our guide to earning money on ShopKick.

Swagbucks

Cashout threshold: $3

Swagbucks is a get-paid-to-site that pays you for various activities. They pay members in Swagbucks or SBs which you can redeem for free gift cards or cash.

You can earn a $10 bonus for signing up, and a 300 SB referral bonus for every friend you refer that earns 300 SBs in 30 days. Plus you earn 10% of the referral’s lifetime earnings.

To earn cash or gift cards on Swagbucks, you can:

• Watch videos
• Take online surveys
• Shop online
• Play games

The points you earn depends on the activity. Redemption values start as low as 300 Swagbucks for gift cards, a $3 value, so you won’t have to wait too long to be rewarded.

Check out our Swagbucks review to learn more.

MyPoints

Cashout threshold: No minimum amount required

MyPoints is one of the most popular get-paid-to sites that pays you to do things like shop online, take surveys, and play games. You’ll earn the most points for shopping online through their portal, though, as many offers pay as much as 20 points per dollar spent. The points are worth an average of $0.006 per point, so it’s not a huge amount, but the points add up and you can redeem them for gift cards to major retailers.

What I like about this site is you can supplement your cash back from shopping with other small tasks, like answering surveys or playing games.

Check out our MyPoints review to learn more.

Take surveys

Taking surveys is a fun way to earn free gift cards. In exchange for your opinion about products or services, you can earn points to redeem for gift cards to your favorite stores and restaurants.

You won’t earn a ton of money taking surveys, but even a few dollars here and there adds up to some pretty great rewards.

InboxDollars

Cashout threshold: $15

InboxDollars pays users for many tasks including taking surveys, shopping online, and playing games. They claim each survey pays $0.50 to $5 and takes 3 - 25 minutes to complete.

I like that InboxDollars shows your earnings in dollars, not points, so you don’t have to worry about redemption value; however, you cannot cash out until you earn $15, which can take a little while depending on how many tasks you do.

The good news is that they give a $5 sign-up bonus to help you get on your way to your first redemption.

Check out our InboxDollars review to learn more.

Survey Junkie

Cashout threshold: 500 points ($5.00)

If you don’t want to do things like play games or shop online, Survey Junkie offers strictly online surveys that pay quite well. They claim their average member makes $40 a month, which isn’t bad when you’re only providing your opinion.

Here’s an example of what you could earn on Survey Junkie from the start:

• Earn 25 points for selecting your survey preferences
• Earn 25 points for confirming your email
• Earn five points for taking a five-step tour of how the service works (which only takes a few seconds)
• Earn 50 points for completing your profile.
• Earn various points for taking surveys

Point values vary by survey, with some surveys worth as much as 750 points for an estimated 45 minutes of time.

Here’s a quick list of survey-based sites offering rewards in the form of free gift cards. To really maximize how many gift cards you earn, consider signing up for a couple (or all) to build this into a decent income stream.

• Survey Junkie
• InboxDollars
• SwagBucks
• MyPoints
• Opinion Outpost
• Harris Poll Online
• YouGov

Check out this Survey Junkie review to learn more.

Opinion Outpost

Cashout threshold: 50 to 100 points ($5 to $10)

Opinion Outpost is another survey-only site that pays you to provide your opinion. They work with some of the largest retailers, paying you for your opinion while helping shape their products.

Opinion Outpost pays 10 to 250 points for each survey. The amount you earn depends on the company requesting it and the survey length. Most surveys take 20 minutes or less to complete.

What I like is that if surveys aren’t your thing, they also offer other ways to earn gift cards, including:

• Product testing
• Reviewing advertisements before they go live
• Keeping a diary of your lifestyle habits
• Focus groups
• Targeted surveys based on your location
• Ad survey studies, providing your opinion on Google ads

Learn more in our Opinion Outpost review.

Win gift cards

While I wouldn’t recommend relying on the ability to win gift cards, it can be a fun way to supplement your side cash, as long as you use legit sites.

PrizeGrab

PrizeGrab offers a variety of prizes that include gift cards to some of the most popular retailers around, along with other tangible prizes ranging from cash to Bose earbuds to refrigerators. It’s fun and easy to participate and you can play several times per week.

Sign up for PrizeGrab here.

Refer a friend

Companies are often willing to reward their current customers who refer friends or family to their products or services. Here are some examples:

• T-Mobile: Customers can earn a $50 Prepaid Mastercard Card for a friend referral. Up to 100 referrals are allowed under the program.
• Sam’s Club: Members receive a $10 electronic gift card when referring a friend, up to five per member for a total of $50.
• TurboTax: When TurboTax customers invite a friend, they’ll receive a $25 gift card when their friend completes their taxes. You can refer up to 20 new customers.
• AncestryDNA: Referring a friend to AncestryDNA earns a $10 Amazon gift card and gives referred friends 15% off their first kit.

How to get discounted gift cards

If you can’t get free gift cards or need to earn more gift cards than you’ve had the chance to do, here are some ways to get discounted gift cards.

Bulk-item warehouses

If you’re a member of a club warehouse, like Costco or Sam’s Club, or know someone who’s willing to purchase gift cards for you, you can find bulk gift card packages at varying discounted rates.

For example, Costco sells a set of five $20 Peet’s Coffee & Tea gift cards for $79.99, which gives you 20% savings. The clubhouse also offers a 10-pack Cinemark movie prepaid package for $84.99, or about $8.50 per ticket.

Company gift card promotions

Some companies offer free gift cards to learn more about consumer preferences or use it as an opportunity to woo you as a prospective new customer. Here are a couple examples of what these online gift card promotions might look like.

A common way to earn gift cards can be found at the car dealership. Many dealers offer free gift cards to encourage you to test drive one of their cars. You don’t have to actually purchase a vehicle to claim the offer.

You can find more gift card promotions in community forms, such as the "freebies" subreddit on Reddit.

In-store free gift card promos

Stay on the lookout for in-store free gift card promotions, says veteran personal finance writer and author of Your Playbook for Tough Times books, Donna Freedman.

“Target does this a lot. For example, ‘Buy $30 worth of [a product or category] and receive a $10 Target card,’” said Freedman. “But if you were going to buy [specific items] anyway, why not get $10 for doing so?”

I recommend downloading the Target app to stay on track with the latest gift card promos.

Gift card exchanges

According to the most recent Credit Summit survey, $21 billion in gift cards go unused, but sometimes you can find some of this money sitting in third-party gift card exchange sites that offer retail gift cards for less. Below are a few places where you can buy, sell or trade unwanted gift cards at a discount:

• Gift Card Granny
• Raise
• CardCash

Beware of free gift card scams

The appeal of free money is hard to deny but it’s worth watching out for a few red flags so you can avoid risks while earning your gift cards. Before signing up for a free gift card offer, consider what you’re giving up in exchange.

Is this safe and legit?

Your personal data is valuable, not just to legitimate marketers, but also to scammers looking to steal and sell your information to spam networks without your consent.

“Just about everyone has [received] an email or [been] startled by a pop-up telling us that we just ‘won a FREE GIFT CARD!” said Freedman. An easy way to minimize your risk is to simply use a secondary email address when signing up.

Free gift card scams take different forms, like fake apps or pop-up offers, and can also go both ways. Remember the IRS asking for payment via gift cards? That wasn’t real.

If you’re ever asked to pay for a service in order to earn free gift cards or enter highly-sensitive information, like a bank account number or Social Security number – don’t. It isn’t worth it.

Don’t overspend

61% of consumers usually spend more than the gift card value, which is great for retailers but could be troublesome for you if you’re struggling financially and working on how to manage your money. Don’t let the game of hunting for free gift cards lead you down a path of overspending on things you could’ve purchased elsewhere for less or not even bought at all.

Be mindful of your time

With each of the gift card earning methods above requiring varying degrees of your time, you’ll need to decide whether the time is worth what you’ll get. Everyone’s answer will be different, of course, but it’s good to consider how long it will take to earn them.

Bottom line

Earning free gift cards is possible with various money saving apps and cashback credit cards. I encourage you to find the ones that maximize your rewards, especially if you’re trying to learn how to save money.

Using various credit cards and apps can help you maximize your rewards and either earn cash back that you use to purchase gift cards or to redeem for gift cards directly. Just make sure you get the highest redemption value for your rewards.