According to TowerGroup, the gift card industry was worth $87 billion in 2009 alone. However, 6 percent of this huge figure – nearly $5 billion – was wasted due to gift cards that went unused. To help consumers take advantage of this five-billion-dollar untapped resource, CardHub.com is pleased to announce the launch of the Social Gift Card Exchange. This is the first gift card marketplace to cut out the middleman and provide a trustworthy environment for direct user-to-user interaction.

Card Hub brings a new level of innovation to the industry with its Social Gift Card Exchange that not only includes the primary functionality of other gift card depots, but also provides a platform for users to trade their gift cards directly with their friends, neighbors, colleagues, and trusted companies.

“Our Gift Card Exchange is a hybrid of Amazon.com and Craigslist for gift cards,” said Odysseas Papadimitriou, CEO and founder of CardHub.com.

Card Hub’s Social Gift Card Exchange works like Craigslist in that it allows users to list their gift cards and sell them to other community members at no charge. In addition to listing a card in the community, Card Hub users will be presented with an offer to sell popular gift cards directly to Card Hub. Should they choose to accept this offer, they will be compensated for their gift card as soon as they mail it in.

This system not only allows users to get discounts on their favorite gift cards or cash in exchange for unwanted gift cards, but also allows them to trade popular gift cards at a profit. This is particularly true if a user wants to trade a gift card to a very popular store, like Apple, to a slightly less popular store, like Banana Republic. For example, if someone has an Apple gift card worth $100, they’re likely to sell it for close to $90 because of Apple’s popularity. Then the same person can use the $90 to purchase a Banana Republic gift card worth $110. In essence, they’ve gone from having an unwanted $100 gift card to a gift card worth $110 at one of their favorite stores.

Because it is tied to Facebook, the Social Gift Card Exchange offers a transparent and close community of buyers and sellers. It is up to each person to decide how many or few people they want to interact with when exchanging their gift cards.

“We empower our users with multiple options within a trusted community. The combination of community and choice is what makes our gift card exchange unique,” said Papadimitriou.

The Social Gift Card Exchange is building on the success of Card Hub’s initial Gift Card application for Facebook, launched in December 2009, which offered features like a maintenance-free Gift Card Wish List, a Birthday Calendar, and a simple gift card listing forum.

The updated and expanded version of the Social Gift Card Exchange is now offered on CardHub.com, in addition to Card Hub’s Facebook application. It is the latest in the lineup of services that Card Hub offers to help people make better decisions about the cards in their wallet. To learn more about the new features on the Gift Card Exchange, or to experience all of the gift card services Card Hub has to offer, please visit the Card Hub Gift Center.

Disclosure: CardHub.com, is owned by the same parent company as this blog.