Don't like your Christmas gift card?

Gift cards are one of the safest bets when it comes to holiday gifts, but they are not always surefire.

Maybe your grandma forgot you're a vegetarian and gave you a gift card to Omaha Steaks. Or perhaps you don't have an urgent need for more yoga pants so that Lululemon gift card starts collecting dust in your wallet.

Consumers looking to trade or sell their gift cards this year now have one more option. Target Corporation quietly began a gift card trade-in program in most of its stores last month. Knowing that customers will likely have unwanted gift cards after Christmas, the retailer will highlight the trade program in its Sunday circular this week.

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of gift card exchange websites. They pay cash for gift cards and then resell them at a discounted rate. As this marketplace boomed, retailers began looking for ways to leverage those networks to their benefit.

Here's how the Target trade-in program works: customers bring their gift cards to the mobile phone counter in the electronics department. There, a store employee will give them an offer for a lesser amount based on the resale value of that card. For example, a $100 Wal-Mart gift card can be exchanged for an $85 Target gift card, the company says. If the customer accepts the offer, he or she will be handed a Target gift card on the spot. Hundreds of cards from various brands are eligible for the program.

While it is convenient, Target's offer may not necessarily be the best deal on the market. A $100 Wal-Mart gift card can be exchanged for a $93 check mailed to consumers through the gift card exchange site Cardpool.com, which is also a partner in Target's program. Or they can get $85 to $90 for it through the site CardCash.com.

This story was originally published December 24, 2015 at 9:05 PM with the headline "Don't like your Christmas gift card?."