How to Unredeem Amazon Gift Card [Here’s How!]

Amazon Gift Cards are a neat solution to solve the dilemma of picking gifts. Recipients you send them to can use gift cards to purchase a wide range of services, including streaming movies, music, and e-books, as well as any product on the Amazon web store. Of course, some folks will still find a way to mess things up! 

You cannot unredeem an Amazon Gift Card once you add it to your Amazon account, nor can you transfer the funds on it to another account. Avoid redeeming an Amazon Gift Card until you are absolutely sure you are ready to make a purchase. 

In this article, I will look into why you might want to unredeem your Amazon Gift Card, consider various workarounds to the problem, and explain why holding on to the redeemed funds on your gift card may not be such a bad thing in the end. 

Why You Might Want to Unredeem an Amazon Gift Card?

When you redeem an Amazon Gift Card, the money on the card gets transferred to a specific Amazon account and can only be used from that account. Well, what’s so terrible about that, you might ask? Lots apparently.

1. You Redeemed a Gift Card Through the Wrong Account

Maybe your problems are not with the gift card per se? It’s just that you’ve redeemed your card in one of multiple Amazon accounts in your name. All you want is to get out of the bother of updating one account, especially when you know you’re going to revert to another immediately.

Your most recent account will have your purchase history, payment details, and updated address and contact information. To use your Amazon Gift Card from another account, you will have to update all these details just to use this account once. Quite understandably, this can be a problem.

Moreover, any oversight on your part could cause miscommunication or costly delays. I should know; I’ve had Amazon deliver packages to the wrong address more than once. On one occasion, I even sent a shipment to an address thousands of miles away.

2. You Moved and Need To Use Your Gift Card From the New Location

Sometimes, a move can take you across international borders. An Amazon Gift Card redeemed on an account in the UK is unlikely to be of much use to anyone sitting in the US. Under these circumstances, the money on your card will be of no use unless you want to use it to purchase something for another person in a distant country. 

3. You Want To Purchase Something Not Available via Amazon

Finally, while there’s plenty you can purchase with an Amazon Gift Card, it doesn’t cover absolutely everything (check out all the places to use an Amazon gift card outside Amazon) . Not all of Amazon’s competitors will accept payments via a gift card, especially other offline retailers.

If you’ve got your mind set on something else and the funds on your card are crucial to the purchase, it will be hard to convince you otherwise. 

Why a Redeemed Gift Card Need Not Be a Problem?

Now that you’ve poked around a gift horse’s mouth and found it wanting, it will be awfully annoying to remind you of the virtues of gratitude. So instead, let’s consider why a redeemed Amazon Gift Card may not be such a dreadful thing.

Amazon Gift Cards Do Not Expire

Amazon Gift cards do not expire. This means you do not need to use them soon. Unless you absolutely need the money, you can keep the money in your Amazon account for as long as you’d like to and can spend it years from now when you find a suitable use for it.

You Don’t Need To Claim Your Gift Immediately 

Moreover, once you’ve redeemed your gift card, you do not need to use it to make payments immediately. It need not be applied automatically to the next purchase you make. You can continue to use your regular payment method and retain the funds on your gift card for use at a later date. 

Alternatively, you can use your gift card to supplement your own funds to buy something you want. This can be a helpful solution if you’re looking to buy something more expensive than the amount on your card.

The Range of Things You Can Buy With a Gift Card Is Truly Staggering 

While there are several things you can’t buy with an Amazon gift card–say, pharmaceutical products (legal or otherwise) or books on Audible–there are many, many things you can buy. You can even use it to purchase groceries from Amazon Fresh or buy cryptocurrency. 

How You Can Solve the Problem Through Informal Agreements

While Amazon Gift Cards do not expire, they cannot be unredeemed or transferred to another account once they have been redeemed. Some people online claim that you can unredeem a gift card by speaking to Amazon customer service, but Amazon itself clearly states that this isn’t the case.

You have limited choices if you have already redeemed your Amazon Gift Card. You cannot, for instance, transfer the money on it to your bank account. You are not even allowed to move it to an Amazon-owned payment gateway like Amazon Pay, which might have opened up unlimited possibilities for how to spend it beyond Amazon and its affiliates. 

Your only option at this stage really is to spend the money from the account you’ve loaded the funds to. If you are in a location that the account does not service, you may have to get someone else to pick up your package and ship it to you. 

Alternatively, you could spend the money on someone else and have them pay you in cash. You will have to work with someone you trust, as this transaction would be completely voluntary and based on good faith. It goes without saying that it will not be covered by any legal protections. 

How To Postpone or Avoid Redeeming Your Gift Card 

Once you’ve redeemed a gift card, you cannot unredeem it. So, it is in your best interests not to redeem one until you are ready to make a purchase with it. In fact, you do not need to redeem a gift card right until checkout. 

You can also convert a gift card to cash if that’s more convenient. Let’s take a look at how.

You Can Hold Onto Amazon Gift Cards Indefinitely

As we’ve mentioned earlier in this article, Amazon Gift Cards do not expire. So–unless you need to spend the funds immediately–there is no reason to redeem your gift card. You can hold onto your gift card for many years without losing access to your funds. 

Exchange Your Gift Card for Cash

If you’re unsure what to do with an Amazon Gift Card, you can always convert it to cash. There are a number of sites that will pay you for your Amazon Gift Card. Note that they might mark down the value of your card by anywhere from 10–20% for this service. You’ll also need to be sure of the reliability of the service, so you do not get defrauded of your money.

As I’ve already mentioned, you can also use your Amazon Gift Card to purchase cryptocurrency. Buying cryptocurrency will convert your gift into an investment that can potentially grow over time until you find a suitable use for it. 

Note that crypto markets are subject to the usual risks, and you losing the entire sum is not beyond the realms of possibility. So do your research before you make any moves, and do not take someone else’s word for it when making investment decisions. Your money is your responsibility. Happy shopping!