It seems that more and more, people are in need of ways to score some free stuff. And that’s why, in this post, we’ll take a look at the best ways to get free Amazon gift cards.
Amazon’s crazy shows no signs of leveling off any time soon. Plus, I started writing this in the midst of the COVID-19 – a time a social distancing.
During this time, many physical stores were shut down. And even if they were open, the recommendation was the “just stay home” if possible, making online purchases more essential than ever.
About Amazon
I don’t think it is even possible for someone to have not heard of Amazon at this point. Unless they enjoy living under a rock, maybe.
For anyone living in areas with access to technology, though, Amazon is more or less ubiquitous at this point.
But, of course, that wasn’t always the case.
Jeff Bezos started the company working in his garage in Bellevue, Washington in 1994. You may remember that, at first, the company was started as a place to sell books online.
This decision to sell online may have been the single biggest decision that put Bezos on the path to success. Hardly anyone was online back then which meant he had virtually no competition.
But, of course, eventually, almost everyone would be online.
And getting in “on the ground” gave Mr. Bezos and advantage that almost no one had other than himself. The rest, as they say, is history.
How to Get Free Amazon Gift Cards
If you’re itching to find out how you can get your paws on a free Amazon gift card, you won’t have to wait any longer! We’ll now jump into all of my best suggestions.
1. Survey Junkie
Survey Junkie is a survey site that rewards you for sharing your opinion about some of your favorite products and services.
All you have to do is answer a few questions, get points, and redeem later. Pretty simple stuff. You can earn up to $75 per survey!
Survey Junkie is one of the top-rated survey sites out there and is extremely popular. The app has a 4.5 rating on both TrustPilot and the Apple App Store.
On Google Play, the app has a 4.2 rating. People praise it for its 1-3 minute surveys, brief wait times to get paid, and more. Needless to say, this is one of the sites I would recommend if you haven’t tried online surveys before.
Read our Survey Junkie review to learn more.
And, if you want more online surveys, check out my complete list of online surveys.
2. Swagbucks
Swagbucks is one of my favorites because it lets you earn in many different ways. It’s not just about surveys on this platform!
Swagbucks has been around since 2008 and is based in El Segundo, CA. As of 2024, the site has paid out over $570 million in cash to its users. Pretty awesome!
Ways to Earn on Swagbucks
You can earn on Swagbucks by doing any of the following:
- Taking surveys
- Shopping
- Watching videos
- Searching the web
- Playing games
- Completing offers
With so many opportunities on Swagbucks alone, you could honestly spend most of your time here if you wanted to. See my full review to learn more.
3. Amazon Trade-In
Shifting gears a bit, I wanted to cover Amazon Tradein (or Amazon Trade-in). This program is exactly what it sounds like: get paid for trading in your used items.
Those items include ” Amazon Devices, electronics, books, video games, and more.” Of course, Amazon hopes you will buy something shiny, new, and expensive with your gift card.
But there is no requirement to do so. All you have to do is search for items that have a trade-in listing, fill out the order, and get a gift card in return!
4. Ibotta
Ibotta is one of my favorite ways to get free Amazon gift cards because it’s incredibly easy. You may know it as the app that makes you scan in your grocery store receipts. These days, though, there are lots of ways to get cashback.
In fact, Ibotta has five ways to get cashback on your groceries:
- Browser extension
- Shopping online
- Using Ibotta to pay in-store
- Linking loyalty accounts
- Scanning in receipts
Any of these methods will earn you cashback through Ibotta, which you can use to redeem for free Amazon gift cards.
If you want to learn more about Ibotta, feel free to check out my Ibotta review.
5. Receipt Hog
Receipt Hog is another service I haven’t covered before on this blog. While it is similar to Ibotta and some other apps, some features set it apart.
What makes this app different? Well, it actually combines elements of other apps out there. The basic way to earn points (coins, on this app) is by scanning in receipts.
However, you can also earn coins by completing surveys. That means you can do your receipt-scanning and survey-taking all in one app.
There is also a slot game where you’ll have a chance to win coins. In addition, Receipt Hog will sometimes give out paid shopping trips.
The app is rated a little lower on TrustPilot, scoring a 3.2. However, it might be worth a look after you have tried some of the more tried-and-true options.
Download the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
6. Opinion Outpost
Opinion Outpost is another very popular survey site, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it here. One of the nice things about Opinion Outpost is that you can redeem your points for gift cards as small as $5.
The site will send you emails that tell you exactly how many points you’ll earn for each survey plus how long the survey will take. Thus, it’s basically a no-frills survey site that pays you between 50 cents and $1.50 per survey.
That’s not a ton, but it’s more than you’d make browsing Facebook or something.
One unfortunate thing about this site is that there are no mobile apps. So, if you want to try it out, you’ll need a desktop computer or laptop.
7. Amazon Mechanical Turk
Amazon Mechanical Turk, also known as MTurk, is an online jobs marketplace similar to Upwork or Fiverr. The tasks here tend to be data and process-driven (hence the name), but a wide variety of work is still available.
While I think people wouldn’t opt for gift cards in most cases, it should be no surprise that being paid with Amazon gift cards is an option.
Unfortunately, its ratings on TrustPilot are quite bad, and The Atlantic seems to agree. I just want to throw that out there – I want to give you ideas, but don’t want to send you somewhere that might lead to a headache.
You can also find more work-from home Amazon jobs by searching Amazon’s Virtual Locations.
8. Honey
If you are shopping online, Honey is a must-have. It’s a pretty cool extension because it gives you a list of retailers along with how much cashback you can earn by shopping with them.
Just click on a retailer that looks good, and then there is a button to start shopping.
You can redeem your points earned via Honey for free Amazon gift cards, Google Play gift cards, and gift cards for many other stores.
If you’d like to learn more about Honey, have a look at my Honey review.
9. Drop
Drop can help you save money automatically while shopping online with its browser extension. For example, look at the pop-up I saw when I visited the Apple store:
As soon as I visit the site, I can see I’ll get 15 points (1.5% cashback) on all purchases. Those 15 points can be stacked with the points you may already get with your credit card, so this is a nice deal.
In addition, you’ll regularly get offers in the app that let you earn points for each corresponding store. All in all, the app is easy and fun to use.
Read my full Drop app review.
10. Microsoft Rewards
Microsoft Rewards will pay you with more than just free Xbox gift cards. Yes, you can get free Amazon gift cards as well.
How it works: There are several ways to earn Microsoft points, including searching on Bing and completing game quests. See the link above for more info about those.
You can earn up to 5 points per day and up to 150 points per month for searching. 150 points are only worth $1.50, so you obviously won’t earn much from this program – but it’s something, I suppose.
11. InboxDollars
Although the site’s name suggests you make money solely by completing offers delivered to your inbox, that isn’t the only way to earn on InboxDollars.
Actually, InboxDollars look a little more like some of the other survey sites on this list. You can earn points by doing the following:
- Take paid surveys
- Watch videos
- Shop
- Read emails
- Play games
You can also find coupons on the site that’ll help you get discounts on your purchases. While I haven’t reviewed InboxDollars (at least not yet), most of the reviews I found did say the earnings per hour are pretty low for surveys.
Nevertheless, it’s another option if you want to earn some Amazon gift cards.
You can access InboxDollars by visiting their website, but they also have apps for Apple and Android.
12. MyPoints
MyPoints is a cashback app that rewards you for shopping at all of your favorite retailers. That includes Target, Best Buy, Walmart – and even Amazon.
You earn points by shopping at participating stores with the links they provide. In addition to Amazon gift cards, you do have the option to get paid via PayPal.
You also earn a $10 bonus just for joining, which is pretty generous. I have typically seen a $5 bonus offered by similar services.
How to Redeem Amazon Gift Cards
Redeeming Amazon gift cards is easy! Just find the claim code, which is usually printed on the back of a card for physical cards.
If you receive an e-gift card via email, you should have the claim code within the message.
Head over to your account, navigate to Gift cards, and click “Redeem a Gift Card.”
And voilà! You’ve got yourself some money in your Amazon account.
Who Sells Amazon Gift Cards?
Again, given how wildly popular Amazon is, you can find a gift card almost anywhere at this point. Besides buying them directly on their site, you can find them at almost any major retailer.
I won’t list them here because there are probably fewer that don’t have them than the ones that do have them.
When Do Amazon Gift Cards Expire?
In general, they do not expire. Anything purchased after 2005 has no expiration at all – I can’t imagine someone having a gift card that old at this point!
So, you won’t have to worry about an expiration date in nearly all cases.
Are Amazon Gift Cards Refundable?
Amazon gift cards are not refundable. Items purchased on Amazon can usually be refunded via cash or gift card, but the gift cards themselves are not refundable.
So, if you purchase one, make sure there is no reason it might have to be returned.
Conclusion on Free Amazon Gift Cards
There are a ton of ways to get free Amazon gift cards. Granted, most of them only give you a few dollars here and there, but many, like Drop, can be completely automated.
And even if they can’t be automated, they don’t usually require a huge time commitment. Plus, the points will add up over time.
Do you have a great way to earn free gift cards I may have missed? Let us know in the comments!
