I know some of you buy giftcards at a discount online to use on shops. Which companies have you found to have the best prices and also 100% usability rating....(no problems with the card).

I don't know that any place has a 100% usability rating/record. I think that would be impossible to come by with any discounts. I use Raise.com because they offer a 100 day guarantee.

My first purchase showed the correct amount when I called in to check the card balance. At the store, however, the card had been flagged. When I got home and called the company, they indicated that the card was flagged for 'credit card fraud'. When I contacted Raise there was no issue with getting a full refund of what I paid for the card and they emailed a postage label to return the card to them.

This week in my area a trio was caught who had credit cards made up using numbers from a gas station skimmer. They had been using the fake cards to purchase several thousand dollars worth of gift cards. I'm sure they would attempt to sell those on line for a discount, so I am glad I buy through Raise which will stand behind their cards. Raise cannot control whether the cards sold are ethically or legally obtained but offering a refund when the card does not work is the next best thing.

Stores in my area are increasingly marking store credits for merchandise returned without appropriate receipts as "Not Transferrable". I have run into two cards where that was the issue. The store asks my name when I attempt to use the credit and when it does not match the name in the system to whom the credit was issued, the credit cannot be used. Raise has refunded on both of those cards and sent the pre-paid label to return the card to them.

I have looked at several sites and find none of them have the guarantee of Raise. Overall about 10% of my Raise cards have had an issue and they have all been graciously and quickly handled.

I have also bought and sold on Raise with no issues.

I have stopped purchasing on Raise.

I have placed 18 orders and have had 5 issues. No other business in the world could stay open with a 28% order failure rate and I'm not sure how they do it.

I had a Pet Supermarket card never show up.
I had a Cracker Barrel card show up with it's $50 balance but when I went to use it 2 weeks later it had no balance.
I ordered a Red Lobster card and received a Darden car (which is not longer usable at Red Lobster)
I had an Arby's card show up with it's $25 balance, used it once a week later, tried to use it again 3 weeks later and no balance.
I ordered a Panera card that showed up with it's $50 balance but 30 days later it had a $0 balance.

On top of that their customer service is HORRENDOUS. You can attempt to email them but it takes longer than a week for replies. You can call them but you will be on hold for 30 minutes. After having 2 problems in a week I went in to check the cards I still had and found the Panera card had no balance. I called the next morning, explained the issue, and asked to speak to a supervisor. I was told in no uncertain terms that the supervisor did not have time to speak to me.

@Flash wrote:

I don't know that any place has a 100% usability rating/record. I think that would be impossible to come by with any discounts. I use Raise.com because they offer a 100 day guarantee.

While in the strictest sense this may be true, I have to disagree. I have sold tickets on StubHub for years, which works in EXACTLY the same way as Raise and their order failure rate is less than .1% They do this because they have strict controls on their sellers. Raise doesn't even give them a slap on the wrist.

@Flash wrote:

When I contacted Raise there was no issue with getting a full refund of what I paid for the card and they emailed a postage label to return the card to them.

Yes they always give a refund, but at what cost? Was the 30 minute phone call hold worth the possible $5 discount on the card? That values your time at $10 an hour and that's being generous because I don't think I've ever had an issue resolved in 30 minutes.

@Flash wrote:

I have looked at several sites and find none of them have the guarantee of Raise. Overall about 10% of my Raise cards have had an issue and they have all been graciously and quickly handled.

If 10% of your Amazon.com orders had an issue would you be happy? If 10% of ANYTHING you ordered had an issue would you be happy?

I don't understand why a discount is different. It shouldn't be.

On top of that you have to consider the lost discount. I wouldn't have gone to Cracker Barrel had I not had a card that I purchased at a discount. So now instead of spending the $12 that I expected that dinner to cost me I had to pay $16.

@bgriffin and I have spoken about this privately before and our experiences are quite different but equally valid. For me if there is a problem there is no issue with calling during standard working hours. When I get in the queue I am allowed to leave a phone number and my call will be returned in the order in which it was received. Generally 30 to 45 minutes later my phone rings and we are ready to take care of business.

Since my conversation with bgriffin my son has mentioned getting a voucher rather than a physical card. He used part of the voucher and there was a balance but when he attempted to continue using the voucher the register indicated that the voucher had already been used. He was able to get that sorted out with Raise, but I'm not willing to mess with an egift or voucher.

I still don't understand how you are ok with a 10% failure rate, lol.
There are a few cards I will still buy from them. Starbucks they send an egift card and I immediately transfer it to my gift card. The egifts are checked before they are sent so I know it's good and once I transfer it to my card there's no problem.
I also still will order Chick-Fil-A cards. Those are physical cards but again as soon as I get the card in I immediately transfer it to my CFA App, which takes it out of the gift card.

The 10% fail has been 100% reimbursed what I paid with very little hassle on my part. Meanwhile my average discount is about 14%. That works well enough for me.

So if 10% of your orders from any other online retailer failed but were corrected you would be ok with it?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2016 03:35AM by bgriffin.

Considering I am buying discounts, I find it acceptable because they make me whole with little hassle. If there was another site offering similar discounts that had a 100% guarantee like Raise does, I would certainly try them to see if their cards were vetted even better. I have seen other sites that simply match up a buyer and a seller and take no responsibility. I'm not willing to deal with them.

That wasn't my question. My question was if 10% of your orders from any other online retailer failed would you be ok with it?

Also have you tried Cardpool? I've never had an issue with them (and they are a reseller not a marketplace). Although their selection is smaller.

Most other online retailers do not offer me good discounts on items I want so the question becomes irrelevant. If I bought something from Amazon and they sent me the wrong thing they would get it returned in a heartbeat but I would continue buying from them.

I will check Cardpool. I have not checked them before.

Interesting discussion...pros and cons. I wonder how the balance disappears after it is there. Do you suppose these are illegally made cards and the seller has another one with the same number on it?
I really enjoyed getting a 20% discount on some of my fine dining that had essentially no pay attached. Like Bgriffen said it made the job that much more attractive. That was until I found out I could not get my rewards points from the restaurant if I used a gift card to pay....There went the equivalent of 10% or 20% on double rewards days.
So far I have only purchased discount cards from Costco but their selection is very small. And then the Xmas time extra $10 or so to be spent within 2 months usually. I will check both of these companies out. I know there have been other forum members who mentioned selling gift cards online. Anyone else can chime in. Thanks BGriffin and Flash. For 15% off I might try it and see what results I get.

I use both Carpool and Raise. One thing though to consider is I used to work for a clothing retailer that did get mystery shopped (and still does). This merchant keeps track of gift card numbers internally that are related to know thefts that they can not legally prove enough though in court for a conviction. They track the activity on the cards for internal records. If one of these cards is sold say on Raise.com, it would still work and the purchase would be made; however, back office would know it is a theft related card issue. If this is then tied to a mystery shopping purchase could that impact the industry? A lot of cards of sites like Raise are sadly theft related (issues for a return without receipt of stolen items or purchased the original cards with stolen credit cards,ect)

Perhaps they copy down the pin and card number and use them to purchase online. Many companies, even fast food, now have the option to order & pay online :/

@clinen11 wrote:

Perhaps they copy down the pin and card number and use them to purchase online. Many companies, even fast food, now have the option to order & pay online :/

I have certainly had this done with my regular credit card on occasion. I had not thought of that. I did one time have my "purchased by myself direct from the vendor" gift card totally emptied after hours by one of the servers in the restaurant I shopped at. The server or whoever did it awarded themselves a 2nd tip of 50% of the entire bill off my gift card leaving me with a $0 balance I discovered the next time I ate there. The msc contacted the restaurant and they tracked down the story and reimbursed me. I assume the person who did it no longer works there.

You can also get 5% off gift cards at Target by using your Red Card (credit or debit). They have lots of restaurant gift cards to choose from.
Cards available at Target for 5% off, but not shopped or not able to use gift cards (but desirable discounts):
Disney, Starbucks, Regal, AMC, Southwest Airlines, Taco Bell, Sonic.

Costco has quite a few restaurant cards as well.

I heard from a friend that Smart and Final had a good sale on merchant gift cards at xmas last year. My friend got them for full price but a coupon for 20% of the value off on her next food shopping trip. Some were for places I know are shopped. Albertsons grocery store did that for several years as well...maybe that is why they needed to close most of their stores.

@sandyf wrote:

I heard from a friend that Smart and Final had a good sale on merchant gift cards at xmas last year. My friend got them for full price but a coupon for 20% of the value off on her next food shopping trip. Some were for places I know are shopped. Albertsons grocery store did that for several years as well...maybe that is why they needed to close most of their stores.

You have to pay cash or debit at Smart & Final for gift cards right now. So many people are using stolen cards to buy them.

@bgriffin wrote:

I have stopped purchasing on Raise.

I have placed 18 orders and have had 5 issues. No other business in the world could stay open with a 28% order failure rate and I'm not sure how they do it.

I had a Pet Supermarket card never show up.
I had a Cracker Barrel card show up with it's $50 balance but when I went to use it 2 weeks later it had no balance.
I ordered a Red Lobster card and received a Darden car (which is not longer usable at Red Lobster)
I had an Arby's card show up with it's $25 balance, used it once a week later, tried to use it again 3 weeks later and no balance.
I ordered a Panera card that showed up with it's $50 balance but 30 days later it had a $0 balance.

On top of that their customer service is HORRENDOUS. You can attempt to email them but it takes longer than a week for replies. You can call them but you will be on hold for 30 minutes. After having 2 problems in a week I went in to check the cards I still had and found the Panera card had no balance. I called the next morning, explained the issue, and asked to speak to a supervisor. I was told in no uncertain terms that the supervisor did not have time to speak to me.

This may seem far-fetched but is it possible someone internally had access to your cards information # and PIN and then wiped them out?

Not sure how the cards work in that case but I get mine from Rewards Program from my bank. I get my Rewards balance up so high and then I buy Panera cards, IHOP and recently Starbucks.

I wonder if the CVS store, as example, will stand by the purchase if you were to buy them there?

Can you give an example, let's say you buy a $25 Cracker Barrel Gift card, what might you pay for it? Curious about these discounted cards.

And let's add another. The In-n-Out card that had $22 left on it 2 weeks ago now has a $0 balance.

I like Raise, I have had two experiences like yours, but both times they took responsibility and made me whole in a day or two. Never an issue with customer service.

I have never had a problem with a gift card I bought from a regular merchant selling new gift cards even when they had a "sale". It sounds as though these recycled gift card companies where people are selling cards they supposedly don't need are getting hit by a lot of fraud. This is the part of the sharing economy where you might score a better deal but it comes with some risk. Buyer beware.

@alfeg wrote:

I like Raise, I have had two experiences like yours, but both times they took responsibility and made me whole in a day or two. Never an issue with customer service.

As long as it is within 100 days they do give a refund. But there should not be so many problems. They need to vet their sellers better. And they don't seem to care. They're just like ok we checked and it's bad here's a refund. No I'm sorry. No we apologize for the inconvenience. No we will try to do better next time. It's just business as usual. Hey our sellers are lowlife scum who sell fraudulent gift cards but we still make money so who gives a @#$%&!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2016 01:08AM by bgriffin.