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See This Week's Best DealsFree money sounds too good to be true — and most "click here to claim your $100 gift card" ads are exactly that. But there are real, low-effort ways people actually stack up gift card balances over time. Here's what genuinely works.
Apps like Swagbucks, InboxDollars, and MyPoints pay points for surveys, watching videos, or browsing. It's slow — usually a few dollars a week — but the points are redeemable for real gift cards.
Browser extensions like Rakuten or Honey give a percentage of purchases back as cash or gift cards on things you were already going to buy.
Some banks and credit cards offer $50–$200 bonuses for opening an account and meeting a simple spending or deposit requirement — often the fastest legitimate payout on this list.
Apps like Fetch Rewards give points for scanning everyday grocery receipts, which add up to gift cards over a few weeks.
Many apps and services pay both sides of a referral in gift cards or credit — worth checking if friends already use a service you'd refer.
Trade-in programs (old phones, games, books) often pay out faster and higher in store gift cards than cash.
Retailers occasionally run real promotions — spend $X, get a $Y gift card. These show up directly on the retailer's own site, not on random landing pages.