Guide to Buying Gift Cards Online

Read this before jumping into buying VGC/MCGC online
While there can be many good deals in stores locally - especially when you incorporate Category spending bonuses on many popular credit cards at Office Supply or Grocery stores - sometimes the ease of being able to buy a Gift Card from the comforts of your couch may be the only way some of us are able to Manufactured Spend.

This is not to be confused with Gift Card Arbitrage, the buying/selling of store gift cards for the purpose of profit and/or accumulating points, which is addressed in its own section of the Wiki.

There are a few big things to consider when you buy Gift Cards online:
 * The individual gift cards are usually more expensive than their in-store counterparts
 * Each reseller has a limit (usually $2000 to $2500) of how much they'll sell you per day
 * You're going to need to pay for shipping
 * There's an inherent risk of waiting for delivery of your cards
 * You can, however, recoup some of the costs (or even profit) if you use Portals for cash back
 * The online retailers can be fickle

Let's address each of these in kind:

The individual gift cards are usually more expensive than their in-store counterparts
Staples charges $8.95 for $300 and $6.95 for $200 - but these are the same as in store (except they don't sell the $300 in-store). GiftCardMall.com charges $5.95 for VGC up to $500. Giftcards.com has a more complicated fee chart: This is compared to in-store, where the same gift cards usually sell for $1 cheaper.

Each reseller has a limit (usually $2000 to $2500) of how much they'll sell you per day
Giftcards.com and Staples.com will limit you to $2000 per day per account, Giftcardmall to $2500 per day per account. Note this is per account, so if you say have 2-3 accounts, each with the same name and address, you can have multiple orders per day. These limitations are put in place per these companies due to Federal Anti-Money Laundering rules. Don't try to push it if you value your ability to buy cards online.

You're going to need to pay for shipping
The cards have to physically get to you, and you're going to be the one footing the bill. Your best bet is to maximize your order with the most cards you're allowed to buy so as to limit your shipping costs. While you may be tempted to get only the cheapest form of shipping, best practices really state you should pay for trackable shipping. For GiftCards.com that's the $7.45 option, for GiftCardMall the $10.95 option (which unfortunately requires signature confirmation)

GiftCards.com shipping prices: GiftCardMall.com shipping prices: https://www.giftcardmall.com/shipping-options The real winner here is Staples.com, who has free shipping for large enough orders.

There's an inherent risk of waiting for delivery of your cards
Let's be honest, if you're living in New Orleans or Baton Rouge, you're not immune to crime. Sometimes there are less-than-scrupulous characters working in our Postal Offices and a package of gift cards would be a nice score. Staples and GiftCardMall used to send the pins separately but now, like GiftCards.com they come with a sticker and all you need is the card and access to a computer to active them online. If somebody gets your cards, you're not getting them back without a fight. Buying them in-store has its risks (you could always get robbed if you're stupid and flashy and show you have $15k in gift cards) but there's the immediacy of having the card in your hands right away and not having to wait for the speed of the mail.

You can recoup some of the costs (or even profit) if you use Portals for cash back
The good part of shopping online is that you can use a cash-back or miles/points portal for your purchases, and may of them support gift card sites. Your best bet is to check a portal aggregator like CashBackMonitor. From there, select which Portal you want, select it, make sure you're signed in at the Portal of your choice (and if you don't have an account, make one first!) then you can click through to your desired Gift Card purchasing site. A few caveats:
 * Disable all ad-blockers and anti-tracking software - these portals use cookies/ads to make money and won't track your cash back
 * You may be waiting a while to get your cashback - sometimes it can take weeks to post your cashback and even longer for payment
 * Staples.com isn't going to get you any portal cashback

The online retailers can be fickle
For whatever reason, GiftCardMall will spontaneously cancel some orders. We have no idea what triggers it but be prepared to need to call them when you plan your first order. If a good promo shows up Staples has been known to randomly cancel big orders with no rationale given. Caveat emptor.

If that hasn't scared you away, read up on where to buy VGC online or MCGC online.