What to do with HBC gift card?

[Lemig0s]

So I received $200 worth of gift cards for HBC (La Baie, Zellers) at my work... I went to La Baie today and there's nothing interesting. I know at Zellers they sell pre-paid mastercards, will I be able to buy them with my gift cards? If not, how can I get the best value out of them besides selling for less on kijiji?

[Wingding]

Most Zellers carry groceries, housewares, and drugstore-type stuff at good prices. Why not use the cards there for things you'd need to buy anyway? You might still have a few months to do so before the ones in your area shut down.

And no, you can't use gift cards to buy other gift cards (which is what those prepaid Mastercards are classed as.)

[Snickles]

What about things like socks, clothes hangers, cough syrup, soap, shampoo, dog food, pillows, blankets? Zellers has shelves full of household stuff that anyone can use. I could easily spend a couple of hundred bucks in half an hour.

[iamnotamerican.com]

So I received $200 worth of gift cards for HBC (La Baie, Zellers) at my work... I went to La Baie today and there's nothing interesting. I know at Zellers they sell pre-paid mastercards, will I be able to buy them with my gift cards? If not, how can I get the best value out of them besides selling for less on kijiji?

Just tell your boss you're unhappy with the gift/prize (whatever it was) and you want the cash.

Either that or actually appreciate what you were given - both those stores have plenty of extremely useful items, from jeans to other dress clothes (often on sale at decent prices) to housewares to electronics of some form.

If you don't want to tell your boss that you don't like the little bonus you got, and don't want to sell the card for a reasonable savings on the secondary market (usually 10-20%), then you can hold the card to pay for stuff from time to time. That's the good thing about GCs...you don't have to spend 'em in one go.

[Wingding]

Just tell your boss you're unhappy with the gift/prize (whatever it was) and you want the cash.

Good idea. Don't forget to add in that you think he/she is a real jerk for giving you a GC for such useless stores.

:lol:

[SleepyMcGee]

Seriously, you can't find anything you need at Zellers? I would love a $200 giftcard for Zellers. Housewares, groceries, electronics, bed/bath...

I wouldn't take a loss on something like an HBC giftcard (ie. selling it at a discount) since there's so many options to use it with, not just stores but products IN those stores. If there's nothing you need to stock up on now, save it for when you can use it.

[xbiggz]

Most Zellers carry groceries, housewares, and drugstore-type stuff at good prices. Why not use the cards there for things you'd need to buy anyway? You might still have a few months to do so before the ones in your area shut down.

And no, you can't use gift cards to buy other gift cards (which is what those prepaid Mastercards are classed as.)

Yes actually, you can use gift cards to buy prepaid mastercards/ visas. I had a $100 gc to staples a year back, walked out of the store with a $100 prepaid mastercard, only paying 6$ or so out of my pocket.

[Wingding]

Yes actually, you can use gift cards to buy prepaid mastercards/ visas. I had a $100 gc to staples a year back, walked out of the store with a $100 prepaid mastercard, only paying 6$ or so out of my pocket.


You got lucky because the staff at Staples screwed up (which is hardly surprising given the turnover.) Those gift cards & prepaid "credit" cards are all pretty much distributed through one company these days, and they positively don't allow cross-transfers.