n the practice of gift giving, many of us choose to relieve the stress of finding the perfect gift by finding the perfect gift card. But now that's not even good enough for those particularly picky people whom we all know.

Where there's demand, there's a market, and many Internet businesses offer consumers the ability to buy, sell or trade unwanted gift cards. Consumers can buy "nearly new" cards on the popular auction site eBay (at press time, there were more than 300 items listed for gift cards).

One listing asked $19.50 for two Best Buy gift cards totaling $25. Another asked for $380 for $400 in Home Depot cards. eBay will not allow the sale of gift cards totaling more than $500.

Some Web sites such as SwapAGift.com and CardAvenue.com enable consumers to not only buy or sell their cards but to also trade them for better ones (although it's all a matter of opinion), the Associated Press reported.

Both of these sites require users to register. On SwapAGift.com , for each gift card listed, the company charges a $3.99 fee. It doesn't matter if the amount of the card is for $25 or $500, the fee is the same.

CardAvenue.com charges sellers 6.25% of the value of the card and a closing fee of $0.50. Both sites use eBay's online payment service PayPal to fulfill transactions.

Whatever happens with the gift cards after the in-store purchase, retailers win all around because retail-issued gift cards are big business and getting bigger.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) estimated that consumers would spend about $17.34 billion on gift cards in 2004, up $100 million from the previous holiday. And despite whoever ends up redeeming the card in the store, most people will spend more than the card's original value.

Consumers win, too. They've discovered the value of gift cards, the gifts that keep on giving and giving and giving and giving …