Gift Card for sale, screwed by eBay

[rogueleader]

(This starts as a rant aginst ebay, yes, but then ends up being an item for sale so if it needs to be moved to the auction forum go ahead.) Okay, so I won $500 in gift cards from Circuit City in a drawing. Wow, yes, but what I really need right now is the money. So I was ready to let them go at a deal to someone and listed them seperately $100 gift cards at $95 BIN. So I've been away from eBay for awhile and did not know they had a new rule. Apparently you can list only ONE giftcard at a time, no more than $500 value, and only one per week. So they pulled my auctions. Though I don't really understand why they have these limits I dutifuly relisted as a $500 gift card, one auction, to meet their requirements. So someone grabs it at my $475 BIN price. But now I think I've been screwed again. The bidder signed up the same day, has zero feedback (obviously), and has made no effort at all to contact me since using the Buy It Now. I don't think I'm getting paid.

 

So if anyone here wants to buy the Circuit City Gift Card I will sell it for $470. I can even email you the card numbers and PINs if you want to use them right away online. PayPal please. PM me if interested. Rogueleader1977 is my eBay name if you want to check out my feedback. I've been around here for awile just not very active lately. Thanks!

[holygrailvideogames.com]

There has been a lot of fraud with gift cards on eBay by both buyers and sellers. There was a guy in St. Louis who worked at I believe Applebees who was selling fraudulent gift cards. He ended up getting arrested.

 

I also have heard of a lot of scammers who are buying gift cards and screwing over the sellers by paying with either stolen credit cards or fake cashiers checks and money orders.

[taxman]

I never understood why someone is willing to take a risk to buy a gift card for so close to face value. Reminds me of the Amoco $100 gas card someone posted the link to on AA a long time ago that sold for $102.50!

[+RandomPerson]

I never understood why someone is willing to take a risk to buy a gift card for so close to face value. Reminds me of the Amoco $100 gas card someone posted the link to on AA a long time ago that sold for $102.50!

 

 

I buy gift cards from people locally when I'm sure there good cards. I normally give them 50 to 60 percent of the face value in cash. Like I got a $75 dollar Radio Shack GS not too long ago for $30 cause the person had no use for anything from RS. I think 50 to 60 percent is fair seeing as the person is getting cash in return for something they have no use for.

[D.Yancey]

Make sure you tell ebay that you weren't paid so you can get your seller's fees back.

[classics]

You should be able to relist the item without violating the once-a-week rule if you think the buyer will not pay, but its a crap shoot with eBay rule enforcers these days.

 

I had a similar experience selling a $500 Home Depot gift card last week. The first buyer kept trying to pay by PayPal using a new account and a 3rd party address, even though it said in <h1> text, ABSOLUTELY NO PAYPAL POSTAL MONEY ORDER ONLY. I had to refund his payment three times before he finally gave up and moved on to another victim.

 

My advice with gift cards is to treat it as if you were selling cash. Get a postal money order and cash it before sending anything out. Always get signature confirmation and keep a photocopy of the data side of the card in case you need to prove it was received/used.

 

Steve

[Chickybaby]

I never understood why someone is willing to take a risk to buy a gift card for so close to face value. Reminds me of the Amoco $100 gas card someone posted the link to on AA a long time ago that sold for $102.50!

 

 

I buy gift cards from people locally when I'm sure there good cards. I normally give them 50 to 60 percent of the face value in cash. Like I got a $75 dollar Radio Shack GS not too long ago for $30 cause the person had no use for anything from RS. I think 50 to 60 percent is fair seeing as the person is getting cash in return for something they have no use for.

 

We both agree with the approx 50-60% rule especially if you didn't pay anything for the cards and we or a buyer are taking a risk that they may or may not work.