Cardyard

What Cardyard does

Cardyard is a privately held UK online marketplace that enables consumers to buy and sell gift cards at a discount, operating from Exeter since its June 2012 founding by Mike Hayman. The platform connects sellers holding unwanted gift cards with budget-conscious buyers seeking retailer discounts, processing thousands of gift cards per week across major UK retailers including Amazon, Marks & Spencer, Argos, John Lewis, Costa Coffee, and Virgin Experience Days. Cardyard takes a margin on each transaction — the spread between the price paid to sellers (typically up to 90% of face value) and the price paid by buyers (typically 3-30% off face value) — and gift cards sold on the platform are exempt from VAT at point of sale. The platform also supports gift card exchange (trading one retailer's card for another), account credit balances, and a 42-day buyer protection guarantee backed by manual validation and security checking of each card.

The underlying technology is a web-based e-commerce platform accessible via mobile, PC, and iPad, with a native mobile app available on iOS and Android. Core infrastructure includes anti-fraud algorithms, high-level encryption, and PCI DSS-compliant payment processing via a third-party processor that tokenises card data; Cardyard does not store raw credit card details. Cardyard integrates with PayPal for seller payouts, Facebook for social login, and Mailchimp for newsletter delivery. A pivotal product transition occurred in July 2020, when Cardyard moved from physical plastic gift cards to digital vouchers in response to COVID-19.

Cardyard operates a horizontal, product-led growth model: users self-serve through the website with no sales team, and the company is bootstrapped with no disclosed external funding. Marketing relies on content marketing (a regularly updated blog covering seasonal shopping topics), organic social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), email newsletters via Mailchimp, PR/earned media (including a Channel 4 Supershoppers feature in December 2016), and competitions. The company is entirely founder-owned under Mike Hayman, who serves as Managing Director, supported by a small team (1-10 employees) including operations and customer care functions. Operating geographies are restricted to the United Kingdom.

Name

Cardyard

Legal name

Cardyard Ltd

Website

https://cardyard.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Cardyard is a UK-based online marketplace that enables consumers to buy discounted gift cards and sell unwanted ones for cash, operating as a self-serve exchange across major British retailers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Gift Card Exchange Marketplace

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYCRAFAAAJ

Digital Goods & Gift Card Generalist Marketplaces

Consumer Products & Retail/E-commerce & Marketplaces/Generalist Online Marketplaces

SECONDARYFSAMANAC

Multi-Merchant / Shopping Mall Gift Cards

Financial & Insurance/Payments & Transaction Processing/Prepaid, Gift Cards & Stored Value

Keywords

• Gift card exchange
• Discounted gift cards
• Gift card marketplace
• Sell unwanted gift cards
• Pre-owned gift cards

Headquarters

HQ city

Exeter

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Gift Card Markup Revenue: The difference between the payment made to sellers and the money received from purchasers constitutes Cardyard's markup revenue. This covers operating costs and enables service improvement investments. Gift cards sold on Cardyard are exempt from VAT at point of sale.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Cardyard operates an online gift card exchange marketplace that enables UK consumers to sell unwanted physical or digital gift cards for cash or account credit, and to buy discounted gift cards from a broad range of retailers at percentages below face value. The platform validates and tracks every gift card before listing, provides a 42-day buyer protection guarantee, holds seller payments through a quarantine period, and processes payouts via PayPal or bank transfer.

Product overview

Cardyard is a UK-based online e-commerce platform that operates as a gift card exchange marketplace. The core offering consists of three integrated services: buying discounted gift cards from the marketplace, selling unwanted gift cards for cash or account credit, and exchanging gift cards for other retailer cards. The platform connects sellers who have unwanted gift cards with buyers seeking discounts, taking a margin on each transaction. Additional features include Cardyard Account Credit for holding balances, a mobile app for on-the-go access, and a 42-day buyer protection policy for fraud and balance discrepancy claims.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Buy Gift Cards Marketplace offering that allows users to purchase gift cards for various UK retailers at discounts of 3-30% off face value, with a 42-day buyer protection guarantee.
• Sell Gift Cards Service that lets users sell unwanted physical or digital gift cards for cash (up to 90% of face value) or Cardyard account credit, with payment made within three weeks of the card being sold to a buyer.
• Gift Card Exchange Exchange service allowing users to trade unwanted gift cards for gift cards from different retailers of equivalent value via the Cardyard platform.
• Cardyard Mobile App Native iOS and Android application that lets users access Cardyard's gift card buying and selling marketplace on mobile devices.

Quantifiable outcome

• Save 3-30% on gift card purchases depending on retailer
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• aDoddleminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 October 2020Cardyard partnered with aDoddle to allow customers to donate unwanted gift cards to support small local charities and community organizations. aDoddle's map platform connects UK charities with people who need help. Cardyard customers can choose to donate all or part of their gift card balance to support aDoddle's mission of mapping local support organizations across the UK.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• CardCash: CardCash is a US gift card exchange allowing consumers to buy discounted gift cards and sell unwanted ones for cash, with the same fundamental marketplace mechanics and discount-driven value proposition as Cardyard.
• Zeek: Zeek is a UK-based gift card marketplace that lets users buy, sell and send gift cards for UK retailers, making it Cardyard's closest direct UK competitor with a near-identical two-sided marketplace model and target customer base.
• Raise: Raise is a US gift card resale marketplace where consumers can buy discounted gift cards and sell unwanted ones, with take-rate economics and a two-sided buyer/seller flow closely mirroring Cardyard's model at significantly larger scale.
• Gift Card Granny: Gift Card Granny is a US gift card comparison and resale site that aggregates discounted gift cards from multiple exchanges, including CardCash and Raise, competing for the same secondary-market buyer demand that Cardyard addresses in the UK.
• Cardpool: Cardpool is a US gift card exchange where consumers can sell unwanted gift cards for cash or store credit, providing a near-identical service offering to Cardyard's 'sell for cash or credit' proposition.

Broad incumbents

• eGifter: eGifter is a US digital gift card platform that lets consumers buy, send and earn gift cards, including a resale/exchange component, overlapping with Cardyard's discount-gift-card buying experience and B2B rewards offerings.
• Gameflip: Gameflip is a broader digital goods marketplace covering in-game items, gift cards, digital accounts and software, competing with Cardyard in the gift card vertical while also serving adjacent digital-goods categories.

Others

• PatPat: PatPat is a high-volume digital goods and gift card merchant primarily active in the US, adjacent to Cardyard as both operate in the online gift card retail channel, though PatPat focuses on new card sales rather than secondary-market exchange.
• aDoddle: aDoddle is Cardyard's existing UK charity donation partner, mapping local support organisations and enabling users to donate unwanted gift cards. It is ecosystem-adjacent rather than competitive, reflecting the charitable alternative path for unwanted stored value.

Emerging players

• Prepaid2Cash: Prepaid2Cash is a US mobile app that lets users convert unwanted prepaid debit and gift cards to cash, offering faster payouts than Cardyard's 3-week settlement and competing for the same 'liquidate unwanted stored value' use case.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cardyard
• Facebookfacebook.com/cardyard
• Instagraminstagram.com/cardyard.uk
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cardyard

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cardyard