<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by we2sparks:
Could you buy large gift certs and then buy 99 cent items and get the remainder back in cash? Some places will give you cash back, others won't..don't know about Home Depot.</font>
Gift cards pretty much did away with "cashing out" any sort of residual value as you described.
Besides, it's probably not worth the hassle. Have you ever seen the return lines at Home Depot?