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Here is a Black Friday trick most shoppers skip: pay for your sale items with a gift card you bought for less than its face value. The store’s Black Friday price stays the same, but your real cost drops again, because every dollar on the card cost you less than a dollar. It takes a few extra minutes, it is allowed, and on a TV or laptop it adds up. Here is how it works and what to watch.
Quick answer: how do you stack gift cards with Black Friday deals?
To stack discounted gift cards with Black Friday deals, buy the store’s own gift cards below face value (at a warehouse club, a grocery promotion or the store’s gift card sale), then use them to pay for items already on sale. You save three times: the sale price, the gift card discount and your credit card’s rewards.
Our discounted gift cards page lists the live offers by brand and is rebuilt every day.
Gift card stacking cheat sheet
- Step 1: pick the store and add up what you plan to spend
- Step 2: find that store’s gift cards at a discount (check our daily list)
- Step 3: buy only what you need, from the store or a well-known seller
- Step 4: pay for sale items with the gift cards
- Watch: purchase limits, membership rules, how you can pay, and digital vs physical delivery
1. How do discounted gift cards work?
A discounted gift card is store credit you bought for less than it is worth, and the store accepts it like cash. When you buy a $100 Best Buy card for $90, you have paid $90 for $100 of Best Buy money. The store does not care what you paid, so the card works on sale prices, clearance and Black Friday deals.
Discounted cards usually come from four places:
- Warehouse clubs. Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s sell restaurant, entertainment and retail cards below face value. These are often the deepest discounts, but you need a paid membership.
- Other third-party sellers. Delivery apps, electronics sites and gift card websites run their own gift card sales, sometimes as a percent off and sometimes as a bonus card.
- Grocery store promotions. Some grocery chains give bonus fuel points or store credit when you buy a certain amount of gift cards. That is a discount too, just paid back in a different form.
- The store itself. A few retailers run short sales on their own cards. Target, for example, ran a 10% off Target GiftCards event for Target Circle members in early December, capped at $500 in cards per purchase.
Discounts come and go weekly, so our gift card list is rebuilt daily and drops each offer when it ends.
2. How does the stack math work?
Each discount applies to what is left after the one before it. Say a TV you want is $400 on Black Friday. Pay with $400 of that store’s gift cards bought at 10% off, and your cost is $360. If the credit card you used to buy those gift cards earns 2% back, that is about $7 more. The sale saved you money once. The gift card and the card rewards saved you again.
3. How much can the stack save?
The bigger the purchase, the more the gift card layer is worth. These are example numbers to show the math, not current offers. Real discounts change often and vary by brand and seller.
| Sale price | Gift card discount | You pay | Extra saved |
|---|---|---|---|
| $100 | 5% | $95 | $5 |
| $400 | 10% | $360 | $40 |
| $800 | 10% | $720 | $80 |
| $1,000 | 15% | $850 | $150 |
On a small order, a gift card discount is a nice extra. On a big Black Friday purchase, it can beat most coupon codes.
4. Which stores are best for stacking?
Stacking pays off most at stores where you make one large purchase. These are the usual candidates:
- Best Buy: TVs, laptops and headphones are Best Buy’s Black Friday strength, so even a modest gift card discount saves real dollars on one big item. Our TV buying guide shows what a fair TV price looks like.
- Target: good for toys, home and holiday shopping. Watch for Target’s own gift card promotion in December, which needs a Target Circle account.
- Home Depot and Lowe’s: tools, appliances and holiday decor go on sale in late November. Discounted home improvement cards turn up from time to time, and an appliance is exactly where they add up.
- Amazon: Amazon gift cards are rarely sold below face value. Look instead for Amazon’s occasional promo credits and for card-linked offers like the one in our Amex offer guide.
5. What limits will you run into?
Almost every discounted gift card offer has a cap, and caps are what surprise people at checkout. The common ones:
- Per account or membership: many sellers allow a set number of cards per member, sometimes only once every few weeks.
- Per denomination: a limit of five can mean five cards total, across $50 and $100 cards.
- Redemption limits: some brands limit how many gift cards you can use on one order or add to your account per day. Check this before you buy a pile of small cards for one big purchase.
6. How can you pay for gift cards?
Stores restrict how you pay for gift cards, mostly to stop fraud. Expect some of these rules:
- Most stores do not let you buy gift cards with other gift cards.
- Some accept only certain payment types for gift cards, such as debit or cash at the register, or only certain credit cards online.
- Some promotions apply only when you pay with a specific card or are signed in to a specific account.
- Large orders can be held for review, and digital cards can take longer than “minutes” the first time you buy.
Your card’s rewards on the gift card purchase are part of the stack. Our credit card offers page shows current card offers.
7. Should you buy digital or physical cards?
Buy digital cards if you need them for Black Friday itself. They usually arrive by email within minutes to a few hours. Physical cards ship by mail and can take days, so order them early. If you buy physical cards in a store, you can use them the same day.
8. What mistakes should you avoid?
Most stacking mistakes come from buying the card before you know what you will buy with it.
- Buying more than you will spend. A 10% discount on a card you never use is a 100% loss.
- Buying the card first, then hunting for a deal. Decide what you will buy and where, then buy the gift card.
- Forgetting returns. If you return an item bought with a gift card, most stores refund to a gift card or store credit, not cash.
- Skipping the real price check. A gift card discount does not fix a fake deal. Our guide on how to spot a fake Black Friday deal shows how to check.
- Trusting a stranger. The FTC warns that anyone who tells you to pay with a gift card is a scammer. Gift cards are for shopping and gifts, never for paying a bill or a “fee”.
9. What does a real stack look like?
A real stack is a store discount with a discounted gift card on top. In October we posted a Costco on DoorDash stack: a 20% off code plus gift cards, which brought $100 of shopping down to $64. Black Friday stacks work the same way.
More: check today’s discounted gift cards, browse Electronics deals and Home and Kitchen deals, or get gift card stacks as they appear on WhatsApp and Telegram.
Key takeaways
- A gift card bought at 10% off takes another 10% off any sale price you pay with it, because the store treats the card like cash.
- Target has run a 10% off Target GiftCards event for Target Circle members in early December, capped at $500 in cards per purchase.
- Amazon gift cards are rarely discounted, so the usual Amazon stack is a card-linked offer instead.
- A gift card discount never fixes an inflated “was” price, so confirm the sale is real first.
Frequently asked questions
Can you use discounted gift cards on Black Friday sale items?
Yes. A store gift card pays for sale and Black Friday items exactly like cash, and the store never sees what you paid for the card. So a card bought at 10% off takes another 10% off the sale price. The card must be for the store you are buying from.
Where can I buy discounted gift cards?
You can buy discounted gift cards at warehouse clubs like Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s, through some grocery store promotions, on delivery apps and gift card websites, and sometimes from the store itself during its own gift card sale. Our discounted gift cards page lists the live offers by brand, with limits, and is updated daily.
Are Amazon gift cards ever discounted?
Rarely. Amazon gift cards are almost never sold below face value, so stacking at Amazon works differently. Amazon sometimes runs promo credit offers, and card-linked offers, such as the Amex promo for paying with points, can lower your Amazon total instead.
Is there a limit on discounted gift cards?
Usually, yes. Limits can apply per account or membership, per denomination, per day, or to how many cards a brand lets you redeem on one order. A limit of five may mean five cards in total. Read the seller’s terms before you buy, and combine offers from more than one store if one limit is too low.
Can I pay for gift cards with a credit card?
Often, but not always. Some stores allow only debit or cash for gift card purchases, and most do not let you buy gift cards with other gift cards. When a credit card is allowed, it usually earns its normal rewards on the purchase, which adds one more layer to the stack.
Are discounted gift cards safe to buy?
Discounted gift cards are safe when you buy them from the store, a warehouse club, a grocery store or a well-known seller. Avoid strangers selling cards online, check that physical cards are sealed, and keep your receipt until the balance is used. Never buy a gift card because someone asked you to pay them with one, because that is always a scam.
