While there are many ways to get free gift cards, not all of them offer Walmart gift cards. We researched dozens of options to find the ones that do.
#1. Sign Up For Walmart Rewards
The Walmart Rewards program gives you Walmart Cash when you make eligible purchases in-store or online. You can convert this Walmart Cash to Walmart gift cards, apply it to walmart.com orders, or exchange it for cash. It doesn’t expire.
Here are a few examples of offers that were available when researching for this article:
| Item | Price | Walmart Cash |
| Scotch Advanced Thermal Laminator | $56.00 | $5.00 |
| Bliss Mini Serum Kit | $19.97 | $3.00 |
| KIT KAT Chocolatey Breakfast Cereal Made | $4.93 | $1.00 |
| Maybelline Volum Express Waterproof Mascara | $9.12 | $2.00 |
| Homedics Active Fit Percussion Body Massage Gun | $69.98 | $5.00 |
If you’ve racked up $25 in Walmart Cash, you can withdraw the full balance at the MoneyCenter of any Walmart store once per day. All you have to do is get a unique barcode using the Walmart app, or by going to walmart.com on your phone and selecting “Redeem Walmart Cash.”
You’ll also need to bring your ID. Cash-out limits are $500 per day, $1,000 per week and $2,000 per month.
Good to Know
Walmart Rewards is powered by iBotta, which we ranked as one of the best cash-back apps for groceries. Unfortunately, you’re not able to combine the two to double-dip rewards.
#2. Use Walmart’s Trade-In Program
The Gadgets to Gift Cards program enables you to trade your old electronic devices in for a Walmart gift card. It accepts cell phones, tablets, game consoles, voice speakers, laptops and wearables.
The process is simple: select your device on the program’s website, answer some appraisal questions, and then send the device to CExchange, which handles the exchange program for Walmart.
Upon receipt, CExchange will evaluate your device to ensure the appraisal you gave was accurate. After that, you should receive your gift card within two to four weeks.
CExchange pays for shipping. Moreover, it takes devices in any condition and buys accessories, such as AC adapters and chargers.
#3. Take Surveys
Survey sites pay you in points for doing quick questionnaires. In most cases, you can then convert those points into cash or gift cards. The platforms below offer payout in Walmart gift cards:
- Branded Surveys: With cash-outs as low as $5 and delivery in just one to three business days, it’s as good as they come in the market.
- Ipsos I-Say: Its stellar mobile app for iOS and Android, loyalty program and large number of surveys make it worth a look.
- Survey Junkie: Among the largest survey sites, it gets high marks from users and provides a bevy of earning opportunities.
All survey platforms offer limited earning potential of $3 to $6 per hour on average based on our testing. But using them can be a viable way to get free Walmart gift cards, especially considering that you can complete surveys in a few minutes whenever you happen to have spare time.
The three platforms above are some of our favorites, but you can also review our list of the best paid survey sites to learn about more options.
#4. Refer People to Walmart+
You can earn a $20 gift card code for every person you refer to Walmart+. The person you refer can also get a $20 promo code, although there are conditions that have to be met for both ends of this promotion.
Specifically, your referral has to become a “qualified referral.” That means they’ve never subscribed to Walmart+, they’re a legal resident of the U.S., and they’re at least 18 years old. If your referral meets those criteria, there are just two more hurdles they need to jump.
First, they have to subscribe to Walmart+, either on an annual or monthly basis. Second, they have to use the referral link you sent them to register. If they don’t use your link, it’s all for naught and neither you nor your referral will get a $20 gift card.
#5. Use the Walmart Credit Card at Walmart
With the Walmart Capital One credit card, you can earn 5% cash-back on purchases at Walmart.com. Additionally, you can earn 2% cash-back at Walmart stores, gas stations, restaurants and travel, and 1% wherever else you can use a Mastercard. There are no annual fees.
If you apply for the Walmart Capital One credit card and don’t qualify, you may be able to get the Walmart Rewards card, which awards the same cash-back percentages but can only be used at Walmart properties, including walmart.com, in-store purchases at Sam’s Clubs, and Walmart, Murphy USA and Sam’s Club gas stations.
Rewards are tracked as points and can be redeemed for Walmart gift cards. You can earn unlimited rewards, and the minimum credit line for either the Walmart Capital One card or the Walmart Rewards card is $300.
#6. Enter Walmart’s Receipt Survey Sweepstakes
Walmart runs survey completion sweepstakes with prizes ranging from $100 gift cards to $1,000 gift cards.
There are three ways to enter. You can make a purchase at any participating Walmart to receive a survey invitation on your receipt; you can get a survey invite via email; or you can write to Walmart Sweepstakes. In the first two instances, you have one week from your purchase to complete the survey. It takes less than five minutes. No purchase is necessary to mail in for an entry.
The odds of winning are dependent on the number of entrants.
Sweepstakes run quarterly and are open to anyone in the United States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. You have to be at least 18 years old to enter, though there are states with higher age thresholds, including Alabama (19), Nebraska (19) and Mississippi (21).
#7. Leverage Cash-Back Shopping
Cash-back shopping apps and portals reward you with a percentage of the cost of your purchases. All you have to do is sign up for a platform, then use it to access your preferred retailer and buy what you need. There are no costs and you don’t pay more for the items you’re buying.
Rakuten is our favorite cash-back shopping platform. It has higher-than-average cash-back rates, offers a great user experience, and includes over 3,500 stores in its selection. Unfortunately, there’s no way to get free Walmart gift cards with it — just PayPal deposits, AmEx points, or paper checks.
If you’re specifically looking for Walmart gift cards, we suggest Drop. It operates differently than Rakuten in that you connect your credit and debit cards and then earn points passively when you shop at participating retailers.
While it’s convenient, there are a couple of downsides. The cash-back rates tend to be lower than other platforms and you have to reactivate the offers every once in a while.
You can learn more in our Drop review.
#8. Complete Online Rewards Offers
Some sites pay you to sign up for trials, or offer money-maker opportunities where you pay upfront to get more in return.
Here’s an example of a money-maker, from the rewards site Swagbucks: the offer paid you $28 in points to subscribe to Hulu for at least 32 days. The lowest-cost Hulu subscription was $5.99 per month, so the deal returned a $16 profit.
Swagbucks is the best site for these kinds of deals. Points can be redeemed for gift cards at a rate of 1 cent per point, with Walmart gift cards starting at $5.
Learn more in our Swagbucks review.
#9. Play Mobile Games For Rewards
Some apps enable you to earn Walmart gift cards by playing games. These games can be free, but some charge a small fee in order to play in tournaments. The two apps below are free but Android-only.
- Mistplay: Offers a wide variety of games and reliable payments. It has a cash-out threshold of 1,500 points (approximately $5).
- Cash Giraffe: With over 5 million downloads, this app incentivizes playing new games by rewarding you with more gems when you first start a game and gradually decreasing them as you continue.
If you’re an iOS user, you can still play games to earn money, though you may have to opt for cash payouts instead of Walmart gift cards. Check out our list of the best game apps that pay via PayPal for top options.
#10. Scan Your Register Receipts
Submitting photos of your receipts to an app like Fetch Rewards is another way to get free Walmart gift cards. These apps use the data they collect from your receipts to help other companies track consumer behaviors and sentiments.
Fetch is the gold standard among receipt-scanning apps. You earn a minimum of 25 points for every paper receipt you scan, uploading receipts takes just seconds, and the app has a user-friendly interface.
There’s a minimum cash-out threshold of 3,000 points, which you can convert to gift cards, magazine subscriptions, charity donations or sweepstakes entries. That’s 120 receipts if you don’t get any bonus points, so don’t expect to get dozens of free Walmart gift cards this way. Rather, it’s an easy way to earn a few gift card per year with diligent use.
We wrote a detailed Fetch review that goes into exactly how it works and how much you can expect to earn.
#11. Scan Barcodes In-Store
You can use Shopkick to earn points (called Kicks) for walking into a store and scanning the barcode of specific items. You’ll be able to cash out once you’ve accumulated 500 Kicks, but you’ll need at least 1,250 for a free Walmart gift card. You can collect Kicks this way at Walmart or any number of other stores.
Aside from scanning barcodes, you can earn Kicks by walking into a store, uploading photos of receipts, linking credit or debit cards and more.
Read our in-depth Shopkick review to learn how it works.
RIP to Walmart’s Savings Catcher
Walmart used to offer a great service called Savings Catcher. If there was a price drop on an item a shopper purchased, they would automatically receive the difference in the form of a Walmart gift card. Unfortunately, this program ended in May 2019.
Ways That Don’t Work Or Are Scams
Because Walmart is the biggest brick and mortar retailer in the world, there’s ample opportunity to scam people when they’re looking for ways to earn free Walmart gift cards.
You can not earn free Walmart gift cards through the following methods.
- Clicking on a link sent to you in a text message. This is a phishing scam. You’ll be redirected to a page asking for personal details, including credit card numbers.
- Sending a text message to enter a contest. This is another phishing scam trying to steal personal information.
- Liking a post or a page on Facebook. This is a crude attempt to get people to like a Facebook page, which will then spam you with tons of junk (not to mention more phishing attempts).
- Clicking on a link in a pop-up window. This is perhaps the worst of the scams because it can install malware on your computer or device.
- Responding to an unsolicited email. Another phishing scam, or an attempt to infect your computer or device with malware.
Final Thoughts
Free Walmart gift cards are easy to find. You can use any of the reputable sites above to earn them. We’ve given you a variety of ways to do it, so if paid surveys aren’t your thing, you can shop using a cash-back portal.
Stick to those we’ve recommended, though. They’re trustworthy and offer the best earning opportunities among legitimate sites. Go too far afield and all you’re likely to find is scams.
Hello,
Wouldn’t you just lose money buying the Walmart discount cards, since the sales tax on the cards, is going to be more than the discount?
Shawn
There is no sales tax when purchasing gift cards. Only the purchased is charged sales tax. If you’re seeing something else though, please let me know.