23 Ways to Get Free Gift Cards & Free Paypal Money in 2024

Disclosure: We’re letting you know that this post contains sponsored links which The Smart Wallet receives compensation for, which may impact their order of appearance. This site doesn’t include all available offers.

Everything is getting expensive so what’s an average person supposed to do if a pay raise isn’t coming anytime soon, but you need that money? Time to get some free gift cards and free Paypal money to offset some of that inflation.

You can easily get started with this list below (be sure to bookmark and share with friends!). It also takes about 30+ days to form a new habit, so get into the practice of using some of these regularly to earn regularly!

Here’s our list of ways to get gift cards and free Paypal cash:

1. Get Up to $750 Cash Doing This

If you don’t like to follow instructions carefully, you can skip this. But if you want to get up to $750 cash, all you have to do is try out some deals with some paid participation required. The catch? You can only do this once a year!

Seriously, anyone 18+ can join Flash Rewards, a rewards program since 2016 that has rewarded $12 million to members over time.

  1. Head over to Flash Rewards and fill out basic info (Email, Name, etc.)
  2. Take a quick Survey (it helps figure out the optional offers & required deals to recommend)
  3. Complete deals by shopping Flash Rewards’ great brand name partners.
  4. Important: Follow the instructions on completing the specific number of deals for each level and get to Level 5 to get the maximum reward! (there are plenty of deals to try – some are free trials or app downloads, others require a purchase!)
  5. Claim the reward and get it in about a week!

You won’t get your reward if you don’t complete the required amount of deals. Sure, it takes a little more effort, but it’s legit. Get your $750!

2. Play Fun Word Puzzles & Get Paid

How To Win Free Money on Words To Win App

Stimulate your brain and win cash by playing word puzzles on Words to Win, a free-to-play game modeled after vacation spots like Australia, Mexico, Hawaii, and more.

It’s simple. Create words out of the letters given and complete the crossword puzzle board. You’ll then earn coins to redeem for instant win scratchers, prize wheels, and sweepstakes up to $500!

There’s no stressful countdown timer per game and you can cash out via PayPal when you reach $7. Tracy T. said: “Best game ever! This is my daily relaxing game and it really pays and cashes out.” Download now and play for free to start winning cash!

3. Over $55,000 Paid to Members Daily – Join for Free

It’s about time you got paid for your opinions, right? It’s free and fun with Survey Junkie, which pays you with PayPal, gift cards, or directly to your bank account. Members get paid every day, and they’ve already paid out $76 million so far, so join to get your share!

“It’s easy to use, and you can get paid the same day. I really like that you can make a little bit of extra money,” Gabe L.

Just follow these simple steps:

  1. Click here to sign up for a free Survey Junkie account
  2. Take surveys
  3. Repeat daily and get paid; there’s no limit!

It only takes a few minutes to join Survey Junkie but remember to verify your email address.

Completing each survey earns you 20 to 100 points. Each point is worth one cent, and when you hit 500 points (or $5), you can cash out, which is one of the earliest cash out points we’ve seen!

4. Fetch All Your Receipts (Even Virtual) & Get Free Money Back

Grab all your recent receipts, even gas receipts, and scan them into Fetch Rewards on iOS to earn points towards free money. Your email receipts count too.

Basically, shop at any store (grocery, drugstore, warehouse, everywhere, and online), snap a pic with the app, and boom, you’ve got points for money. Upload your gas station, restaurants, and drive-thru receipts too.

There’s no minimum spend, no need to manually select items, scan in any receipt from any store or gas station, and it’ll automatically reward you. Be sure to grab 2,000 welcome points on us when you use promo code REWARD before scanning your first receipt!

5. Get Paid for Playing Match 3 Games

Puzzle lovers will enjoy this free game called Match to Win (available on both iOS/Android) since you can win cash rewards when you beat the levels.

It’s simple. When you clear a level, you earn coins, redeemable for instant win scratchers, prize wheels, and sweepstakes up to $2,500! And yes, it’s legit – there are already over 135K reviews with a 4.5 average rating! Easily cash out via PayPal to get your money.

So download and play for free to start winning cash!

6. Get Free Cash Back Every Time You Get Gas

With the high gas prices lately, it’s wise to get cash back any chance you can get.

Turn on GetUpside, a free cash back app that partners with over 20,000 gas stations and local businesses, including Shell, 76, Popeye’s, Papa John’s, Safeway, and much more. You can earn an extra $148 a year (on average)!

Wherever you are, just use the app to see where you can get cash back! You can get up to 25¢ per gallon, up to 30% back on groceries, and up to 45% back at restaurants.

Quickly cash out via bank transfer, Paypal, or gift card, and there’s no limit to how much you can earn. Download GetUpside for free to start earning free cash back and new members can use a welcome code: TSW20 to get an additional 20¢ a gallon on their first gas purchase!

Gas offers are not currently available in NJ, WI, or UT.

7. Get Paid to Try New Android Games. Regularly Cash Out Up to $25

If you don’t have this app already, you’re missing out on making money from games. Download Mistplay, an Android game platform where you try free games, earn points and redeem them for Amazon, PSN, XBOX Live, and more.

On average, players are cashing out between $10 – $25 regularly!

“This app is the real deal. There’s a good selection of games, and new ones are being added all the time. More importantly, when you reach the target amount of points, you do get paid. Great job, Mistplay people.” – Geoffrey Daley, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Just be sure to start your games from Mistplay so it can keep track of your game time to credit you properly. New members get a BONUS of 250 points just for signing up!

8. This Paid Survey Panel Gives Out 7,000 Gift Cards Daily

There are a lot of survey programs out there, but none as popular as Swagbucks, a free rewards program where you can earn cash for your time and opinion. Members can earn an average of $50 a month!

You get rewarded for doing surveys, searching the web, reading articles, watching videos, and playing fun games but the one activity that earns you the most points is completing surveys. (Don’t skip out on those!)

Points can be redeemed for free gift cards, cash, and sweepstakes entries. All just by completing fun activities and giving your opinions.

New members can get a free $5 just for signing up, so join the other 10 million members already part of Swagbucks and start earning free rewards!

9. Get Paid to Take Surveys and Cash Out Up to $30 via PayPal

What’s the best lifehack?  Getting paid to do something you’re already going to do and KashKick makes this possible. You’ll get cash rewards by answering surveys, playing games, shopping, and more. It’s easy (and 100% free) to use Kashkick.

Earn up to $25 for each mission completion. For instance:

  • Get $20 to reach level 20 in select mobile games (plenty to choose from)
  • Get $1 for each completed survey that takes a few minutes
  • Get $ for just reading email

KashKick also has a sweet referral program that rewards you with 25% of your friends’ earnings if they sign up through you!

10. Don’t Miss Out on Free Money When Shopping

Capital One Shopping

When shopping online on your computer or phone, don’t miss out on free cash back or savings. Use the Capital One shopping app or browser extension to automatically search for coupon codes, compare prices, and earn credits!

Credits can then be redeemed for free gift cards to Target, Walmart, and more. Read our full review on Capital One shopping here!

11. Sell Your Used Electronics to Amazon

The Amazon Trade-In Program lets you exchange your electronics (phones, videogames, tablets, speakers, security systems, and more) for Amazon gift cards. There are free shipping and/or free dropoff locations for your items when you don’t want to deal with selling to other people. 

Your item should be in good condition to get paid at the highest value, but they take in non-functional items. Start cleaning and set aside things to trade-in!

12. Get Free Target Gift Cards Trading in Used Tech

When Target is your jam, you want all the gift cards to be used there. They also have a Trade-In Program where you can trade in tech like older iPhones, iPads, smartwatches, video game consoles, and more for an electronic Target gift card. 

13. Prefer Walmart? They Have a Trade-In Program Too

If you’d rather have Walmart gift cards instead, they too have a Trade-In Program to exchange your used tech for e-gift cards.

14. Share Your Internet for Passive Income (Get a $5 Bonus Too!)

You might want to use Honeygain to earn passive income (albeit slowly). It takes your unused internet bandwidth and shares it with data scientists. In return, you get credits that can be redeemed for cash. 

Honeygain doesn’t have access to your personal information except for your email address, IP address, and the payment method you pick. They ensure that trusted partners only use your internet traffic and use the public data for web statistics, price comparisons, and other verified business processes. You’ll get a $5 bonus upon signing up.

15. Buy Stuff Normally = Get Gift Cards You Actually Want

If you have room for one more app on your phone, it needs to be this. Actually, delete another app to make room for this one. It’s that good.

Drop is a free app that rewards its 3 million+ members for everyday activities – like shopping at brands such as Sephora, Walmart, Uber, Groupon, The Gap, Old Navy, and tons more.

Points translate to gift cards, so the more you collect through shopping, surveys, and games in the app, the more gift cards you can redeem! There’s literally no downside to using this free app to get more gift cards. Use it on top of your loyalty points and credit card points for even more rewards! Bonus: New members get 5,000 points

16. Tell Brands What’s Wrong with Their Sites or Apps

This is perfect for anyone to make free Paypal money. Companies want honest feedback about their site, app, or potential new product, so they’ll pay UserTesting members for their opinions. This is all done online so you can earn right from home! 

Join for free if you’re 18+ and on average, you can earn $10 per 15 minutes, which is the typical length of each task. Even if the task takes 5 -10 minutes you’ll still get paid $10. You’ll need PayPal so they can pay directly to you. Read our full review here and learn the mistakes to avoid so you can earn even more.

17. Get Up to 15% Cash Back The Next Time You Buy Something (Even Meals)

Free Cash Back – online, in-store, and dining.

You’ll get it when you join Rakuten, with members that have earned $2.2 billion in free Cash Back so far. Shop at over 2,500 online stores and get up to 15% Cash Back on items you were already going to buy!

Rakuten is free to join with no limit on how much Cash Back you can earn and no rebate forms to fill out. Remember to open Rakuten first before any shopping trip and link any credit cards you regularly use to automatically get dining Cash Back.

New members can get a $30 welcome bonus if they spend $30 within 90 days of signing up. 

18. Bing Users Can Earn with Microsoft Rewards

Rack up Microsoft Reward points just by using the Bing search engine, buying stuff from the Microsoft Store online (including Xbox One), using Cortana, and even playing games.

5,000 points are worth $5, and you can redeem them for free Xbox gift cards, Microsoft Store gift cards, and non-Microsoft-related gift cards.

19. Get Free Paypal Money from Facebook

Not a joke! Facebook has a free-to-join program called Facebook Viewpoints (our full review here!), and you can earn free Paypal money ($5 at a time) just by doing simple tasks and giving opinions.

For instance, we’ve had to record phrases using our phones, taking a survey on climate change, and anything they want to be tested by regular people. They’ll pay for your time!

20. Get Paid Up to $225/Month While Watching Viral Videos and Taking Fun Surveys

One of the oldest and most trusted survey sites since 2000, Inbox Dollars lets you earn extra cash in fun, multiple ways.

You can stick to sharing your opinion and take surveys, but you can also watch videos, play games, and even read email for some extra cash. Who wouldn’t want to watch viral videos for money and get paid up to $225/month?

So if you’re looking for some extra cash and enjoy a wide array of options to earn, Inbox Dollars is a great platform to make a little side money. It’s free to sign up!

21. Get Cash Back for Receipts and Purchases

In addition, to Fetch Rewards, we also love ReceiptPal and Ibotta, which also gives you cash back simply by uploading receipts. 

ReceiptPal is less work as you only need to upload receipts, regardless of where they’re from and what you bought. Ibotta takes a little more effort in finding the specific items (groceries, etc) so that they’ll match on your receipt. But you can easily use all 3 apps together to maximize!

22. Get Up to $5 for Every Survey You Complete

It’s free to sign up for Opinion Outpost, a survey site that pays out $390K a month to members just for completing surveys and more. You could even try items before they hit the shelf! 

Earn up to $5 for every survey you complete, and there’s no limit to how many you can take!

Cash-out starts at 50 points ($5) via free PayPal money, or choose gift cards to Amazon, Target, Apple, etc. These are easy surveys with quick payouts, available 24/7, and you’ll help brands improve their products. Join the 25 million members worldwide, earning extra cash for free since 1998.

23. Earn a $10 Amazon Gift Card by Trying New Games

When you’re ready to add even more games to your lineup, then download Cash ‘Em All, an Android app that pays you to try out new games for, yes, you guessed it, cash. All are free to download!

Just earn coins from trying new games, and then you can redeem them for:

  • PayPal Cash
  • Amazon gift card
  • GameStop gift card
  • PlayStation Store gift card
  • Xbox Live gift card
  • And more good stuff

A 4,444 coin welcome bonus is yours immediately too, when you sign in.  (Worth 50 cents!) If you’re impatient, you can cash out as low as $1 as well.

Enjoy playing new-to-you games for some side fun money on your Android!

How to Avoid Gift Card Scams

PSA: Just in the first 9 months of 2021, almost 40,000 consumers reported losing $148 million in gift card scams according to the FTC.  Don’t let your money-earning efforts go to waste by falling for this type of scam!

Most scams start with a phone call impersonating a government agency, a well-known business, or other authority. For instance, scammers pretended to be Apple or Amazon and told the victim to send pictures of gift card numbers referring to them as “security” codes. Other methods include impersonating the Social Security Administration and targeting senior citizens. 

The most popular gift cards scammers request are Target gift cards, Google Play, Apple, eBay, and Walmart and they stay on the phone with you to make sure you don’t call anyone else for help. Just know that no reputable company or authority will ask for payment with a gift card and utilize your Caller ID to screen calls!