Bad News (Long Term) For iTunes Gift Cards: They Can Now Be Used For Apple Products

Apple made a huge change to iTunes gift cards today which, while it initially looks like good news, is likely going to be bad news for the long term.

In the past, it was only possible to redeem iTunes gift cards in the App Store. The change is that you can now redeem them towards Apple products. Having more options for redeeming gift cards should be a positive development, so why is it likely to be bad news?

Because Apple is notorious for controlling the price of their products which is why we don’t often see discounts on iPhones, iPads, etc. the way that you might for other brands. That’s also why it can be significant when shopping portals offer one-day bonuses like 5x for Apple products because it provides the opportunity to make a rarely rewarding purchase a little more rewarding.

What this means for iTunes gift cards is that it’s unlikely we’ll see the steep discounts that we often have in the past. For example, Costco would often offer a 15% discount online and in-store, while around the holidays we’d see discounts of 15-20% on iTunes gift cards at Staples, Target, Costco and more.

This change already seems to be having an impact on the availability of iTunes gift cards. For example, Costco has always sold iTunes gift cards at a discount; $100 cards would be sold every day of the week for $94.99 (I think that was the price). Being able to get an effective 5% discount on Apple products every day of the week would be huge. Unfortunately, when you view the pages where the gift cards used to reside on Costco’s website, you’ll now see this:

It’s a similar story at Sam’s Club and BJ’s, both of whom offered a small discount on iTunes gift cards every day. When doing a search for iTunes, BJ’s returns a 404 error page, while Sam’s shows you a couple of TVs and a Paw Patrol book. Apple is therefore highly unlikely to continue offering discounts such as these in the future.

This is obviously great news though if you’re sitting on a pile of iTunes gift cards as a result of past sales. Their value just significantly increased, so you’ll be able to command a higher resale rate if you’re not planning on using them for personal use. And if you’re planning on using them for personal use, congratulations – your next Apple products just got much cheaper!

h/t Running With Miles