Swap Gift Card On Web Site

CLEVELAND -- Did you receive a gift card this holiday that will waste away in your wallet or remain in your junk drawer?

If so, Troubleshooter Chris Caswell has a solution for unwanted gift cards. It's called certificate swapping.

Caswell said dig through your portable junk drawer, your wallet, and find the unused gift card to a store you don't care for.

"It's just not a place I shop usually, so you put it away and then kinda forget about it," said Kristie Jesionek, a shopper.

Lisa Barron, another shopper, said "I got a couple of Barnes & Noble. I won't use those."

Caswell reported every year, $4 billion worth of gift cards go unredeemed.

Cameron Johnson made it his business to offer a solution. His Web site is www.certificateswap.com.

"We're basically an online gift certificate marketplace allowing consumers to list any unwanted gift certificates for sale for other consumers to buy," said Johnson.

You can post your unwanted gift card and swap it for gift card you know you'll use.

Caswell said if you don't want to swap your gift card for another piece of plastic, there is another solution.

You can also swap it for cash.

Johnson used to sell his own unwanted cards on ebay, but said his site offers more a safeguard on your sale. It takes the buyer's credit card information. The sell has to pay a 7.5 percent fee when the sale is completed, but it may be worth it to make a little money off a piece of plastic or paper that you'll never use.

One person sold a $1,000 Neiman-Marcus card for $900.