Here’s your Christmas story: Aunt Trudy has stuck you with a gift card from a store you hate. But there’s a solution: Trade or sell the card on a Web site devoted to that purpose.

By Bankrate.com

For Christmas you got four Wal-Mart gift cards and one for Barnes & Noble, but you’d like to get one big present at Pottery Barn. There are a number of Web sites that can help you turn your unwanted gift cards into gifts you want — or into cash.

“Money is money. If you have three $5 cards, you can trade them for $15,” says Bob Butler, the president and CEO of Cardavenue, a three-year-old Web site where people can buy, sell or trade gift cards.

The gift-card market is estimated to be $60 billion, and experts say 10% to 15% of gift cards go unused. “A $25 gift card is worth $25,” Butler says. “People don’t think about it as money. People will have $200 in gift cards lying around. You can sell your card for cash or trade, and most people trade.”

The largest market of gift cards for auction is on eBay. There are so many cards available on eBay that they separate them into various categories, even by retailers, and some are listed under the “gift certificate” heading.

Buying gift cards on a Web site can bring potential savings. It can also give you access to a store or restaurant that might not be in your area but is in the neighborhood of someone to whom you’re giving a gift. Listed recently on eBay were a $395 Coach store gift card with a $335 bid ($2 shipping), a $466 Pottery Barn/Williams-Sonoma gift card with a $355 bid (shipping fee not specified) and a $400 Nike gift card with a $280 bid (free shipping).

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