Coinstar Gift Card Exchange: What to Use Now That It’s Gone

If you’re searching for a Coinstar gift card exchange, here’s the key fact first: it no longer exists. Coinstar discontinued its yellow gift-card-exchange kiosks on June 26, 2019, and Coinstar’s own kiosk pages now state plainly that its kiosks "do not exchange gift cards." So you can’t bring a gift card to Coinstar and get cash or another card for it. The service those searchers want is gone — here’s what actually replaces it in 2026, including FlipGift Escrow, which pays cash without you ever handing over the card’s code.

One quick disambiguation: Coinstar machines do still let you turn loose coins into a gift card. But that’s the opposite of what you’re here for — it doesn’t help you offload a gift card you already have.

What happened to the Coinstar gift card exchange

• Discontinued June 26, 2019. Coinstar wound down its dedicated gift-card exchange kiosks and no longer buys or exchanges gift cards.
• Coinstar says so directly. Its current kiosk pages state that the machines "do not exchange gift cards" — today’s green Coinstar kiosks count coins.
• The coins-to-gift-card feature is the reverse. You can convert change into an eGift card, but you cannot turn an existing gift card into cash or another card.

Your options now

To get value out of an unwanted gift card today, there are two routes:

• Resale for cash (at a discount). Sites like CardCash and GiftCash buy your card and pay cash, and the Raise marketplace lets you list it for buyers. All pay a percentage of face value, and all require handing over the code before final payment.
• Escrow sale (cash, code never shared). On FlipGift you keep the card, use it yourself to fulfil a real buyer’s order, and are paid from escrow on confirmed delivery — typically 78–89% of face value. How it works.

How FlipGift works as the replacement

FlipGift is a peer-to-peer escrow marketplace: buyers pre-pay below-retail prices for goods from ~198 supported stores, and sellers fulfil those orders with gift cards that never leave their own hands.

• The code never changes hands — you redeem your own card to place the buyer’s order; FlipGift stores no card numbers or PINs at all.
• Money held in escrow — the buyer pays up front; you’re paid on confirmed delivery, not after surrendering anything.
• Flat 2.5% fee, split between both sides — no kiosk-style haircut.
• Online, anywhere, 24/7 — no kiosk to find, no trip to make.

Full transparency: FlipGift also used to run a card-for-card swap, and closed it permanently in July 2026 — in any code-for-code trade the previous owner still knows the number and PIN and can drain the card later, and no platform can prevent that. Why we closed it.

Coinstar (then and now) vs FlipGift

When an instant-offer site is the better choice

If you need cash today and your brand draws a strong offer, a buy-back site is faster — there’s no waiting for a buyer’s order to match your store. You accept the discount and the code handoff in exchange for speed. If you can wait for a match, escrow typically nets more and never exposes the code.

How a FlipGift escrow sale works

1. List your card’s value — store and balance; the code stays with you and is never uploaded.
2. A buyer’s pre-paid order matches your store — their money is locked in escrow.
3. You place the order with your own card and ship it to the buyer’s verified address.
4. Delivery confirms — escrow releases your money, minus your half of the flat 2.5% fee.

Sell without sharing the code