5 ms·

what surprises me most is the high amount these cards sell for on ebay, when they presumably get electronically wiped pretty quickly once reported. the link fr

by brey 13y ago

what surprises me most is the high amount these cards sell for on ebay, when they presumably get electronically wiped pretty quickly once reported. the link from the article has many of these, eg currently a $10 card with 5 bids at $9.39 - surely there's more than 7% of risk that the card ends up worthless for a buyer? http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.Xstarbucks+card&_nkw=starbucks+card&_sacat=0&_from=R40 http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.T... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Starbucks-10-Gift-Card-FREE-SHIPPING-/321176617067?pt=US_Gift_Certificates&hash=item4ac79e406b http://www.ebay.com/itm/Starbucks-10-Gift-Card-FREE-SHIPPING... or is the answer just that some people on ebay are stupid? ...

dangrossman 13y ago
* None of the sellers of auctions ending today with bids has less than a 100% feedback rating and a long feedback history. There does not appear to be a population of newly created accounts selling only gift cards. * Should an account sell a worthless gift card, the auction would be disputed through eBay and PayPal, and if lost there, possibly through the credit card issuer too. One or two scams and the accounts would be locked. * eBay, PayPal, and the buyer's credit cards all separately promise full reimbursement protection against fraud on eBay, so the risk to the buyer is small even if fraud were to occur. * If a listing category on eBay were generating >7% chargebacks for PayPal, which is owned by eBay, they'd restrict or eliminate that category the same as they've done with others. The fact that it's available as a category is evidence that there is not widespread fraud. I don't think there's a 7% chance of buying a worthless gift card on eBay. I don't think eBay buyers paying 93% face value of gift cards are stupid.
- ChuckMcM 13y ago
  So having had the experience of having a 'starbucks card' get charged to a compromised account, I asked Starbucks about this and at that time (a bit over a year ago) they didn't invalidate the card because it was causing a lot of customer service complaints. Given the prevalence of the fraud I wonder if that was a wise choice, perhaps they have changed since then.

by brey 13y ago

dangrossman 13y ago

* None of the sellers of auctions ending today with bids has less than a 100% feedback rating and a long feedback history. There does not appear to be a population of newly created accounts selling only gift cards. * Should an account sell a worthless gift card, the auction would be disputed through eBay and PayPal, and if lost there, possibly through the credit card issuer too. One or two scams and the accounts would be locked. * eBay, PayPal, and the buyer's credit cards all separately promise full reimbursement protection against fraud on eBay, so the risk to the buyer is small even if fraud were to occur. * If a listing category on eBay were generating >7% chargebacks for PayPal, which is owned by eBay, they'd restrict or eliminate that category the same as they've done with others. The fact that it's available as a category is evidence that there is not widespread fraud. I don't think there's a 7% chance of buying a worthless gift card on eBay. I don't think eBay buyers paying 93% face value of gift cards are stupid.

ChuckMcM 13y ago
So having had the experience of having a 'starbucks card' get charged to a compromised account, I asked Starbucks about this and at that time (a bit over a year ago) they didn't invalidate the card because it was causing a lot of customer service complaints. Given the prevalence of the fraud I wonder if that was a wise choice, perhaps they have changed since then.