CoinStar: Turn $40 cash into $50 in gift cards

by crystal on November 12, 2009

Do
you have more than $40 in cash lying around your home? If so, take it into a nearby CoinStar machine (find one here) and you can turn it into a gift card for Lowe's, iTunes,
Amazon.com, or many others. There is no fee for the exchange or the
card. More details here.

This offer is good through December 6, 2009 and would be a great way to get a little more mileage out of your Christmas budget!

Thanks, Pocket Your Dollars!

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{ 20 comments }

1 Carol November 12, 2009 at 3:46 pm: Has anyone done this deal yet as I could use some pointers? I went to do it yesterday, but there was nothing at the start menu indicating a choice for a gift card, only a choice between donating to a charity or converting to a voucher for an 8 percent fee. I wonder if you have to insert the 40 dollars first in order to get an option for the gift card. TIA for any help.
2 marcos November 12, 2009 at 3:46 pm: awesome thanks, I got a big jar of coins.
3 emily e. November 12, 2009 at 3:58 pm: We *just* traded in our coins last week! An extra ten bucks would have been awesome. Oh well….
4 KellyH November 12, 2009 at 4:03 pm: Hello! I was excited that our small local walmart got a coinstar machine. Dh and I went to cash in a bunch of change, until we read on the sign on the machine that there is a 9% fee for using it. Is that typical of all machines?
KellyH
5 Janet November 12, 2009 at 4:04 pm: just so you know- it’s a mail in rebate offer for the extra $10
6 Sara C November 12, 2009 at 4:11 pm: You have to fill out a claim form from the website it looks like. And it has to be $40 in coins only. I suppose you could take cash to a bank and get rolls of quarters??
7 Leann November 12, 2009 at 4:18 pm: hmmm… I’m getting a couple of Itunes GC’s for Christmas presents this year. It might be worthwhile to go withdraw $40 in quarters and head over to a coinstar for the gift card…
8 Finance Girl November 12, 2009 at 4:19 pm: You should be able to select what you want to do before you start loading the money. There should be 3 options – converting to cash (or something like that) for a fee, getting a gift card (no fee) or donating to charity. Then you choose the gift card you want before it takes your money.
Also, just want to mention that while you might not have $40 in change lying around, you can always take $40 to the bank and get some quarters to do this deal.
9 amity t November 12, 2009 at 4:43 pm: @ Carol: From what I have learned and experienced with these machines is that they are not all the same. Some you can get GC and some you cant. If you turn in your change for a GC, the fee is waived. If you just get cash for it than there is the fee. I always turn them in to GC for either CVS or Amazon.com. hope this helps you.
10 nancy November 12, 2009 at 4:48 pm: Hi, yes, you need to check if your location participates in the e-certificates. If you go here: http://locator.coinstar.com/Map.aspx?page=EN and put your information in it will show you locations and what type of products they offer. You need to look for a lowercase e in green bubble font under products under your Coinstar location. Hope it helps!
11 Tracy November 12, 2009 at 5:16 pm: If you go to their website and click to locate a machine near you, it will list if gift cards are available at that location.
12 Alissa November 12, 2009 at 6:13 pm: We tried this five or more years ago because of getting the 8% fee waved when you get a gift card. We picked the card we wanted, dumped our coins, and at the end there was an error in the machine and so we had someone come check it out. Turns out they were out of the gift card we wanted and all the store employee (not a coinstar employee) could do was call coinstar and they said to print out the voucher (that had an 8% fee) and cash that with the store and then send a copy of the voucher in to Coinstar and they’d reimburse us for the 8% fee amount. They never did send us the reimbursement. Quite a disappointment.
13 diane November 12, 2009 at 6:24 pm: I did this today. I had never used a coinstar machine before. First, I went online to find locations near me and to see what they offered. I picked a store that had a gift card and an ecertificate that I wanted. I planned on doing one transaction for myself and one for my mom. Then I called coinstar customer service. The rep suggested I take more than 40.00 just in case the machine rejected any of my coins and explained that the machine would end the transaction if no coin was detected in 30 seconds. She suggested I feed the coins in slowly at the end until I hit my 40.00. She also mentioned that JCPenny’s takes the ecertificate in the store and online. This is also stated on the ecertificate. Everything went exactly as the customer service said it would. With both transactions I got receipt that had a form at the bottom I am to mail in for the extra 10.00.
14 Genevieve (MamaOnABudget) November 12, 2009 at 7:29 pm: I did this last year and it worked perfectly well.
We don’t have anywhere near $40 in change right now, but I use amazon all the time for vitamins and other stuff – so I’m totally going to go get $40 in change from the bank and go do this again!
15 Kristen November 13, 2009 at 5:02 am: I used coinstar for the first time last night thanks to your post! I selected the Amazon GC. I used $44.00 in change and it printed a receipt with a GC code to use on Amazon. I came home and used it right away for a couple things my kids want for Christmas, and my items shipped last night! There is a form on the bottom of the receipt to fill out and send for the $10.00. I hope that part works! If not, I’m not out any money.
16 kristen November 13, 2009 at 7:13 am: leann – I just saw a toysrus ad and they are giving a $5 toys r us gift card with itunes card purchase today and tomorrow (fri and sat)
17 Jodi November 13, 2009 at 8:16 am: I did this last year and it took a very long time to get the extra $10 certificate. They had a big response and were backed up, is what I was told. It probably took 16 weeks to get my $10 Amazon certificate.
18 Crystal November 13, 2009 at 12:24 pm: Hey that is awesome! I have been trying to figure out how to get some cash for Christmas. It is so tight in our budget with DH only working 2 weeks a month.
19 Jenna November 14, 2009 at 9:46 am: If you read the official rules, you have to submit a voucher and it can take 6-8 weeks to get the gift card…kinda cutting it close for the holidays.
20 Ben Hebert November 16, 2009 at 1:16 am: Coinstar is a great service and it’s no wonder they offer gift card credit as $5 billion dollars worth of gift cards ever year go unused! If you don’t want your card you can try trading it in for amazon credit or selling it at http://www.giftcardrescue.com I saw them on the shark tank show on ABC.