Coinstar now has a deal with Amazon and some other online commerce sites in which they will return a gift certificate to that site-- and here's the fun part -- without the 8.9% fee they charge for sorting.
Woo hoo! I'm taking my pennies in. I've never felt like I wanted to pay the fee, but I also don't want to sit around counting and rolling coins when I could be doing something more productive.
What's interesting is that if you wanted to go completely off the grid, you could use your Amazon gift card to set up an Amazon account and pay, without ever entering personally identifying information, AND coinstar will accept paper money and convert it to the Amazon card. So if you were on the run from the law, and you wanted to send someone a gift from Amazon and have it shipped to them, you could put your cash into a coinstar machine, get a gift certificate, set up an anonymous Amazon account, and make purchases.
Wow, I hadn't heard of the Amazon partnership. In the Philly area, Coinstar has some sort of relationship with Acme supermarkets and Starbucks. Same agreement, you use the machines in Acme locations and you get a Starbucks gift card.
I'd rather have the Amazon card.
Buyer beware. I've used Coinstar to redeem over $150 worth in coins, only to receive a Gift Card Code that will not work on the Amazon.com website. I've contacted both customer service hot lines over the phone and email, but neither will claim responsibility for this problem. I will not use either business again.
That's unfortunate! We've been successful each time we've tried.