What Is Raise and How Does It Work?
Raise is a gift card marketplace founded in 2010 that allows users to buy and sell gift cards at discounted prices. Sellers list unwanted gift cards (often received as presents or rewards) at a discount to attract buyers, and buyers purchase those cards through the Raise platform at below face value. Raise takes a commission on each sale and facilitates the transaction. The platform offers gift cards from hundreds of major retailers, including Amazon, Target, Walmart, Starbucks, and Home Depot.
Raise is a real company with real infrastructure, real partnerships with retailers, and millions of users. It has been featured in major media outlets and has processed over $5 billion in gift card sales. When you buy a gift card through Raise, the transaction is processed through its platform. It is not a phishing site or a fake service.
However, Raise is a secondary marketplace — the gift cards are being sold by other people, not by the retailers themselves. This creates inherent risks that every buyer and seller should understand before using the platform.
Is Raise Legit? The Short Answer
Yes, Raise is a legitimate company. When you buy or sell gift cards through raise.com or the official Raise app, your transaction is real and processed securely. Raise offers a 1-Year Money-Back Guarantee on physical gift cards and a 60-day guarantee on electronic gift cards, protecting buyers against cards that arrive with incorrect balances or are invalid.
However, "legitimate platform with a guarantee" does not mean "every transaction is risk-free." The most common complaints about Raise involve gift cards that arrive with a lower balance than listed (the seller spent some of the balance after listing), cards that are invalidated by the retailer after purchase, and refund processing delays. The guarantee provides a backstop, but resolving a balance dispute can take time.
So is Raise legit for gift cards? Yes. Is it a scam? No. But it's a marketplace where understanding the risks of secondary gift card transactions matters, and where the real scam danger isn't Raise itself but phishing sites impersonating it and the broader epidemic of gift card scams. For more on cash platform safety, read our guide on Is Cash App Legit?.
The Real Risks: Balance Disputes, Empty Cards, and Refund Delays
The primary risk with buying gift cards on Raise is balance discrepancies. The seller lists a gift card with a specific balance, but between the time they list it and the time you receive it, they may spend some or all of the balance. Raise's guarantee covers this scenario, but you need to check the balance immediately upon receiving the card and file a claim quickly. If you wait, you may be outside the guarantee window.
A more serious risk is retailer invalidation. Some retailers will invalidate a gift card if they detect suspicious activity associated with it (for example, if the card was purchased with a stolen credit card). If you buy a card on Raise that is later invalidated by the retailer, you lose the value of the card. Raise's guarantee may cover this, but the process can be lengthy and may require documentation.
Refund processing is a frequent complaint. While Raise's guarantee promises refunds for cards with incorrect balances, the processing time can take several weeks. Some buyers report difficulty getting timely responses from customer service, especially during peak shopping seasons like the holidays. Using a credit card for your Raise purchase gives you chargeback protection if a dispute escalates beyond the guarantee.
When a "Raise" Link or Gift Card Offer IS a Scam
Raise itself is not a scam, but scammers exploit its brand and the broader gift card ecosystem. Fake Raise websites, phishing emails offering "Raise gift card deals," and scam social media ads promising "discounted gift cards" are all common. These fake sites are designed to steal your credit card details, login credentials, or personal information.
Beyond Raise-specific phishing, gift card scams are one of the most common fraud types in the US. Scammers posing as utility companies, government agencies, or tech support will demand payment in gift cards (often specifying specific retailers like Target or Amazon). This is always a scam — no legitimate organization asks for payment in gift cards. If someone asks you to buy gift cards and read them the card numbers, hang up immediately.
The domain is the giveaway for Raise-specific scams: real Raise links use raise.com. If a link goes to raise-giftcards.net, raise-discount.com, giftcards-cheap.co, or any other variation, it's a scam. Always type raise.com directly into your browser rather than clicking links from emails or ads. For more on how payment scams work, read our guide on Zelle scams.
How to Use Raise Safely for Gift Cards
If you decide to buy or sell gift cards on Raise, follow these guidelines to minimize your risk:
1. Always go to raise.com directly or use the official Raise app — never click links from emails, texts, or social media ads. 2. Check the gift card balance immediately upon receiving it — if it doesn't match the listed balance, file a claim with Raise right away. 3. Use gift cards promptly after purchase — the longer you hold a secondary market gift card, the greater the risk that the retailer invalidates it or the seller disputes the transaction. 4. Pay with a credit card for fraud protection and chargeback rights — never use a debit card. 5. Never buy gift cards to pay someone who demands payment in gift cards — that is always a scam, regardless of the platform. 6. When selling, be honest about the balance and ship physical cards quickly with tracking.
And if you ever receive a link that claims to be from Raise but doesn't look right, don't click it. Run it through Scam Detective instead — for $1, you'll get an instant 0–100 risk score, a plain-English verdict, and the specific red flags we found. That's a small price to pay to avoid a stolen credit card. For more on how scammers impersonate trusted brands, read our guide on Amazon impersonation scams.