CHICAGO (WBBM) -- If you're stuck with a gift card that is simply of no use to you, there is now a place to exchange or sell it online.
A northwest suburban couple, Stacy and Arlen Shub, came up with the idea for the Star Gift Card Exchange out of necessity. Shub said they had a stack of gift cards they couldn't use.
Those cards proved to be the "seed money" for the exchange, which went online earlier this year.
"At first I was thinking let's try exchanging our own cards as a test," Shub said. "That worked, and since then, it's grown and grown."
Shub said in the past month, Star's first holiday shopping season since going online, business has "really exploded."
He expects another onslaught of would-be shoppers seeking cards to exchange or sell now that Christmas presents are opened.
"It's a way to get some value out of the cards you've been sitting on," he said.
Shub estimates that 10 percent of gift cards are simply never used, for a variety of reasons.
The exchange buys cards for between 65 and 75 percent of face value, and resells them at a discount. You can buy cards from such retailers as Barnes and Noble, Macy's and Saks for between 12 and 20 percent below face value, or trade for cards from everyplace from Applebee's to WalMart.
All online transactions with Star are secure, and Shub said the value of the cards is verified before they are listed for sale or trade to take the worry out of card exchanges for those doing business with it.
The site also tells how to find out what your card is worth, and has a frequently-updated listing of state laws governing gift cards
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