Teach me o wise people - gift card cost??

stick with cash or use credit card with Cash Back.

Case study:

I just bought 4 Amazon gift cards at HEB for $50 off 300. Tried to sell them all on eBay. All sold for over face value. All 4 were bought by people that were frauds.
1. Buyer purchased card, waited 2 days to pay, then paid. Money was in my paypal account. I then withdrew it to my account and shipped the item with insurance. The buyer then somehow reversed the paypal payment before the money reached my bank account. The buyer's account was shut down. The tracking number failed (maybe the local USPS guy stole it or something), but Paypal seller protection covered me because I faxed in my proof of insurance.
2. Buyer never paid and never contacted. I never shipped. eBay refunded money and I used the card myself.
3. Buyer contacted twice and said, 'I will pay as soon as I get home from work.' Lied. I never shipped. eBay sent me a notification a week later that the buyer was 'dangerous' and to never communicate with him/her.
4. Buyer contacted once and said, 'I will pay soon.' Lied. I never shippped. eBay sent me a notification 5 days later that the buyer's account was removed.

So I was 0/4 in terms of a successful transaction, but I ended up being happy (other than the massive waste of time) because I am using the 900 worth of Amazon credit for only 750 and I was reimbursed for the full sales price from Paypal for the other card.

Lesson learned: I now have an Amazon seller account. I called their CSR and Amazon doesn't even notify you an item sold until they have had the buyer's money for over 30 minutes (at which time the only thing the buyer can do is file a credit card chargeback, which Amazon covers as long as you ship with delivery confirmation).

Same incident happened to me while I was trying to sell a gift card on eBay.
Incident 1: few years back I sold Amazon gift card on eBay. Recieved the money in paypal. Sent the gift card with tracking #. Buyer used it and field a claim saying it has zero balance. Payal and eBay refunded the buyer. I hated so much the eBay and paypal for years and never sold anything.
Incident 2: last november I tried to sell Kohls cash-giftcard worth 200
Buyer paid sent the card details thru eBay message. Since I posted in the description that I will email. Again buyer used it and after 2 weeks buyer field item not recieved. I calles f**** eBay support and showed the proof email sent. They saw that but said there is no tracking #.
I called Kohls and got the proof that these were used online and showed eBay the same but eBay says they need shipping tracking. Now I learnt my lesson I will never ever sell on eBay.
Seller protection is very bad on eBay for gift cards.
So be carefull.

robby152 said:   
1. Buyer purchased card, waited 2 days to pay, then paid. Money was in my paypal account. I then withdrew it to my account and shipped the item with insurance. The buyer then somehow reversed the paypal payment before the money reached my bank account. The buyer's account was shut down. The tracking number failed (maybe the local USPS guy stole it or something), but Paypal seller protection covered me because I faxed in my proof of insurance.
In addition to getting reimbursed by seller protection, I hope you also double-dipped on the insurance claim...

jnheinz said:   Can't believe this hasn't been mentioned.. PlasticJungle. Forget eBay.

https://www.plasticjungle.com/gift-card/Walmart-gift-cardsOr buy gift cards where you get Cash Back on your credit card like when buying gift cards at safeway or one of their sub store chains. You can usually get gas rewards in addition to the Cash Back. AMEX Blue Cash Preferred gives 6% CB on up to $6k of grocery purchases. Would have to check if Von's(safeway) sells WalMart gift cards. They do sell Target.

I used to buy Amazon gift cards, the lower dollar ones, all the time and never had a problem. Maybe I would win a $5 or $10 card for 10-25% less, depending on auction. After PayPal payment the sellers would send me the Amazon code and it would go through every time. I would sometimes be a little leery on first-time buyers, but never had a problem.

Of course, it looks like the real problem is buyers. Knock on wood, I haven't had problems with eBay from either end. Thanks to FW I managed to stock up on Sony eReaders from Target a while back and sold about six of them with no problems. It seems like Russia and European buyers were the only ones interested and they would use an American address. I was kind of worried with some of these, but all paid and no chargebacks or funny stuff. But the fees and my underestimation on shipping costs knocked my profit down a bit.

DutchessPDX said:   ebestbuy said:   Same incident happened to me while I was trying to sell a gift card on eBay.
Incident 1: few years back I sold Amazon gift card on eBay. Recieved the money in paypal. Sent the gift card with tracking #. Buyer used it and field a claim saying it has zero balance. Payal and eBay refunded the buyer. I hated so much the eBay and paypal for years and never sold anything.
Incident 2: last november I tried to sell Kohls cash-giftcard worth 200
Buyer paid sent the card details thru eBay message. Since I posted in the description that I will email. Again buyer used it and after 2 weeks buyer field item not recieved. I calles f**** eBay support and showed the proof email sent. They saw that but said there is no tracking #.
I called Kohls and got the proof that these were used online and showed eBay the same but eBay says they need shipping tracking. Now I learnt my lesson I will never ever sell on eBay.
Seller protection is very bad on eBay for gift cards.
So be carefull.


So, you got burned once and then did a second one???? and didn't even bother to look at eBay's rules on these things???? I feel bad for your first transaction but seriously, you deserve the second one. Everyone knows eBay doesn't allow for electronic delivery of anything, if you don't have proof you physically mailed something you're out of luck.

that is not correct. eBay has digital delivery and only thing they said i did wrong was : the category i listed"

One other reason is for overseas buyers to get a card that shows up as US issued. Many merchants won't accept credit cards that show up as internationally issued
So, if the overseas person can get a US issued gift or prepaid credit card, then orders to US merchants can be placed from overseas

The benefit is that even with shipping, US pricing and merchandise selection is often superior than what can be purchased locally

mathfaster said:   jnheinz said:   Can't believe this hasn't been mentioned.. PlasticJungle. Forget eBay.

https://www.plasticjungle.com/gift-card/Walmart-gift-cardsOr buy gift cards where you get Cash Back on your credit card like when buying gift cards at safeway or one of their sub store chains. You can usually get gas rewards in addition to the Cash Back. AMEX Blue Cash Preferred gives 6% CB on up to $6k of grocery purchases. Would have to check if Von's(safeway) sells WalMart gift cards. They do sell Target.

This is a good idea if you can't beat 5%, I only have the regular AMEX Blue Cash. When I'm preparing to buy something bigger at Home Depot, I wait for 7-8% to appear on PlasticJungle.

seller protection on eBay is a complete joke.

They always side with the buyer. Buyer can always say item wasn't as described and demand refund - no matter how inconsistent bad buyer's demands are they will always side with buyer protection, not seller protection.

Seller beware on eBay. I suppose that for the big businesses on eBay they probably account for lossage of this type in their business model.

-O