Every gift card has exactly one safe place to check its balance: the brand's own website. This page collects the official links for all 20 brands we buy — what to tap, what each card needs, and the honest truth about the five brands that have no checker at all: on those five, entering your code anywhere is spending it.
Lookalike "balance checker" sites are a business of their own — GiftCards.com has documented spoof pages that imitate real balance portals to harvest card numbers and PINs. That is why a coalition of 14 US state attorneys general put the safe rule in one line: only ever check your balance at the official retailer site. This directory is built on that rule — every link below is the brand's own domain, nothing else.
Why check before you sell at all? Two reasons. You want to know the card is alive and the exact amount on it before anyone quotes you a rate — and if a buyer ever tells you your card came back empty, the first thing you do is check it yourself, on the official site, before accepting any story.
Before you check: the ground rules
- Type the brand's address yourself, or tap the links on this page. Never use a "balance checker" link someone sends you in a chat — that link is the whole scam in our guide to selling without getting scammed.
- Skip the sponsored results at the top of search pages. The fake checkers buy those slots precisely because the real one is free.
- Have the card in hand. Most checkers want the card number plus a PIN, security or access code — usually under the scratch-off foil. Keep the foil on until the moment you check or sell; a bare code is spendable cash.
- Match the site to the card's country. A US card checked on a UK site returns "invalid" and starts a panic for nothing.
Check without an account: the 10 easiest brands
These ten check balances for any visitor — no sign-in, and checking never touches the card. Ordered by how often Nigerians search for them.
Vanilla Visa gift card balance
Vanilla's checker is balance.vanillagift.com — the 16-digit card number, expiry and CVV, nothing else. Vanilla is so widely held that its balance page is one of the most-spoofed on the internet, so read the domain twice before typing. Holding one? We buy Vanilla Visa — see today's rate.
Sephora gift card balance
Check on Sephora's gift-card page with the 16-digit number and 8-digit PIN, or call 1-888-860-7897. Today's Sephora rate.
Walmart gift card balance
walmart.com/account/giftcards/balance takes the 16-digit number and 4-digit PIN, no sign-in. A card with no PIN can't be checked online — call 1-888-537-5503 instead. What Walmart cards pay today.
Macy's gift card balance
macys.com/giftcards — card number and PIN, no account. Macy's cards carry no expiry and no fees. What a Macy's card pays.
Amex gift card balance
balance.amexgiftcard.com wants the 15-digit number, expiry and 4-digit CID from the front. Checking never moves the funds — and the "valid thru" date is the plastic's life, not your money's. Amex rate page.
Nordstrom gift card balance
nordstrom.com/giftcard/balance — card number and access code, or 1.877.283.4045 by phone. The same card works at Nordstrom Rack, and Nordstrom publishes its own scam warning right on the page. Nordstrom (and Rack) rates.
Best Buy gift card balance
bestbuy.com/giftcardbalance — card number and 4-digit PIN. No expiry, no fees. Today's Best Buy rate.
Foot Locker gift card balance
footlocker.com/giftcards/checkbalance.html — 16-digit number and 8-digit PIN. One balance covers the whole family: Champs Sports, Kids Foot Locker, Eastbay. What Foot Locker cards pay.
Nike gift card balance
nike.com/orders/gift-card-lookup — 19-digit number and 6-digit PIN, no sign-in; also usable at Converse. Phone option: 1-800-806-6453. Today's Nike rate.
Target gift card balance
target.com/guest/gift-card-balance — the "guest" in the address is literal: card number and access number, no account. Target GiftCards don't expire. What Target cards pay.
Account required: Apple, Amazon and eBay
Three big brands check only behind a sign-in. Two of them hide a trap for sellers — read the entries before you tap anything.
Apple / iTunes gift card balance
Apple checks at secure.store.apple.com/shop/giftcard/balance behind your Apple Account — and checking there does not redeem the card; Apple's own support page walks the same flow. Know which card you hold: the universal Apple Gift Card, the older App Store & iTunes code (starts with X), and the Apple Store hardware card are three different products, all region-locked to their purchase country. What Apple cards pay today.
Amazon gift card balance
Amazon's balance page is amazon.com/gc/balance — but this is the one brand where a wrong tap costs you the card. Amazon's own how-to shows that redeeming a card means selecting "Apply to your balance" — the button sitting on that same page — and once applied, the value is locked to that Amazon account. If you are selling the card, do not apply it. The zero-risk route is Amazon's customer-service chat, or 1-888-280-4331 — ask them to confirm the value. What Amazon cards pay today.
eBay gift card balance
ebay.com/gft/balance needs your eBay account — and here is the catch sellers miss: eBay's own help page has gift cards redeem to an eBay account — and once a card is tied to one account, it cannot move to another. If you plan to sell the card, skip the self-check and let the buyer verify it during the trade. Today's eBay rate.
No checker exists: Steam, Google Play, Xbox, Razer Gold, Netflix
Five brands offer no way to read a code's value. Their only official page is a redeem page — and completing that flow moves the money onto whatever account is signed in. There is no "just checking" here.
Do not "test" these codes
There is no sandbox, no preview, no undo. One completed flow and the value lives on someone's account — yours at best, a stranger's at worst.
Steam gift card balance: no checker exists
Steam's wallet-code page only redeems; finishing the flow binds the funds to that Steam account for good. The three regions price separately — US, EU and UK rate pages.
Google Play gift card balance: redeem-only
play.google.com/redeem exists to redeem, not to check; Google's own steps end at a confirm screen, one tap from the point of no return. Today's Google Play rate.
Xbox gift card balance: redeem-only
Microsoft's terms say it plainly: once a code is redeemed, the full value lands on that account — and the balance is visible only afterwards. Today's Xbox rate.
Razer Gold PIN balance: redeem-only
No official PIN checker exists on the Razer Gold portal; entering the PIN in the reload flow credits the wallet it touches. Today's Razer Gold rate.
Netflix gift card balance: redeem-only
netflix.com/redeem applies the code to the signed-in account immediately — and the card only works where the account pays in the same currency as the card. Today's Netflix rate.
So how do you sell a card you cannot check? An unused card is worth its face value — that is what you are selling. Keep the purchase receipt as your proof, and trade only with a buyer who verifies the code live, in front of you, during the deal.
Do gift cards expire?
Not for years, by law. Almost every card in this directory is US-issued (the regional Steam cards sit under their own terms), and US federal rules — the CARD Act, sitting in Regulation E, 12 CFR §1005.20 — forbid gift-card funds from expiring within five years of issue or last load, and allow inactivity fees only after a full year of no use. Most brands in this directory go further and drop expiry and fees entirely. Put those together and the card you forgot in a drawer since 2023 is almost certainly still good: check it, don't bin it. The brand-by-brand rules, with each brand's own terms linked, sit in the expiry guide.
When the checker says "invalid" — or shows $0
Four causes cover nearly every case, and three of them are fixable in minutes:
- Never activated. A gift card is inert plastic until a cashier activates it at the till. If the card was a gift, ask for the activation receipt — no receipt, no activation, no balance.
- Wrong regional site. A US card checked on a UK page returns "invalid" every time. Match the checker to the card's country.
- A typo. 0 vs O, 1 vs I, sixteen digits under foil — retype slowly before you panic.
- Already redeemed. If you bought the card from a person and it shows $0, you met the oldest trick in this market; the scam guide covers what to do next.
Balance confirmed — what does it pay in naira?
The balance tells you the card is alive; the rate decides what it pays. Right now a $100 Apple/iTunes card pays up to ₦122,500 for a physical card (₦104,000 for an e-code), and a $100 Vanilla Visa up to ₦42,000. The rate calculator quotes any brand and amount instantly, and every brand page — all 20 of them — publishes its full rate table with the month it was set.
What a trade with us looks like
On giftcardstonaira.ng the quote always comes first: you tell us the brand and amount in WhatsApp, we answer with the rate and the exact naira figure in writing, and only then does any code change hands. We verify the balance with you in the chat — the five no-checker brands included — and pay within 15 minutes of verification. You never wonder what your card was worth, because you saw the figure before you let it go.
Selling legally is the other half of the picture — our guide to the 2026 tax rules covers what the new law changes for sellers, in plain language.
Questions, answered
Do gift cards expire?
Not for years. US-issued cards — almost everything in this guide (regional Steam cards sit under their own terms) — are covered by the federal CARD Act: gift-card funds cannot expire within five years of issue or last load, and inactivity fees can only start after 12 months of no use. Most brands in this guide go further and carry no expiry or fees at all. Keep the card, check the balance, don’t assume it died.
Can I check a gift card balance without redeeming it?
For the ten no-account brands above, plus Apple, yes — the checker only reads the card and never touches the funds. Amazon’s safe route is its customer-service chat (the web page pairs the checker with a permanent “Apply” button), and an eBay card checked while signed in ties itself to your account. Steam, Google Play, Xbox, Razer Gold and Netflix have no checker at all — entering the code anywhere redeems it.
Why does my gift card say invalid when I check the balance?
Almost always one of four causes: the card was never activated at the till (ask for the activation receipt), you are on the wrong country’s site (a US card on a UK checker always fails), a typo (0 vs O, 1 vs I — retype slowly), or the card was already redeemed. If a buyer claims your card arrived empty, check it yourself on the official site before believing it.
How do I check a gift card balance without the PIN?
Most online checkers need the PIN or security code from under the scratch-off foil — there is no legitimate way around that, by design. Without the PIN your options are the phone number on the back of the card or an in-store check. And keep the foil intact until the moment you check or sell: a bare code is spendable cash.
Is it safe to check my gift card balance online?
Yes — on the brand’s official site only. Lookalike “balance checker” pages exist to harvest card numbers and PINs, which is why a coalition of US state attorneys general tells consumers to check balances only at the official retailer site. Type the address yourself or use the links in this guide; never a checker link sent to you in a chat.
Sell your card the safe way
No app, no sign-up — we confirm today's rate in writing before you send anything, and payout lands in your bank within 15 minutes of verification. Start with a small card if you want to test us first.
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