Topic: American Express (and Other) Gift Cards For Sale Below Face Value (Read 2663 times)

I take advantage of various rebate offers to get better-than-normal deals, but my ongoing deal is from American Express Gift Cards themselves.  I subscribe to them to receive free shipping.  My frequent customer status causes them to send me waivers of the purchase fees.  I also purchase them through a seller than offers a partial rebate of the commission that American Express gives.  As such, I can get them shipped somewhere or e-mailed to someone for slightly below face value with no fees.

As for other gift cards, if I can't get a better promotional deal on one of those, I could always just buy an American Express gift card, then use that to buy the gift card the person wishes to buy.

The 1% represents most of the commission rebate that I'm receiving.  I offer it to buyers in Bitcoin as an incentive to go through me instead of going through an exchange if their ultimate goal is to simply cash out Bitcoin to buy something in USD.

How is it that you acquire these gift cards below face value?  Perhaps disclosing that would help alleviate some of the trust issues with taking you up on this offer.

Yes, I have noticed that about this forum.  I myself would be extremely cautious to purchase gift cards from anyone else because of fraud and the like.  I'm selling my cards not for the big discount seekers, but for people that want to be sure that they're getting cards from a reputable source (as I have never resold cards that I didn't purchase myself).  Most cards I sell are bought on the spot anyway, so there'd be no way I could offer a massive discount.  The discount I do offer is just an incentive for people to choose my cards over their preferred exchange method if they goal was to cash out their coins to buy the item.  Of course, if I am to expect people to trust me on that same level, I'd likely need to build a lot more feedback around here, and even then, who knows.

I think it's probably the demand.  I've found that people are only willing to pay about 85% of face value for gift cards and I've sold over $1,750 worth of amazon cards on this site.  The reasoning is that there isn't really a benefit to anonymously buying gift cards.  There is however a good reason to anonymously sell gift cards (stolen, to make an example) and that is why customers demand such large discounts on these cards.  To give an opposite example, that is why I believe precious metals for bitcoins is a good business.  There is a good reason to anonymously buy precious metals (scared the government will confiscate them) and selling them for bitcoins isn't illegal (advantage over selling illegal products/drugs for bitcoins).

While I have successfully traded with a few members here and only had one deal go sour, the demand for this seems pretty low.  I would have thought that more users would have been interested in being able to effectively spend their Bitcoins at any place that accepts credit cards by going through me, but for whatever reason that doesn't seem to be the case.  I don't know if users simply haven't noticed this thread, people don't trust me, the demand is really that low.  In any case, I might stop selling these if the demand doesn't pick up.

I won't be publicizing the names of anyone I trade with unless they specifically allow me to or they scam me, but I welcome anyone to post any details of our trades in this thread or elsewhere if they so choose.

kais3r scammed me to the tune of $25.  He was the user I was having problems sending gift cards to, so in an effort to make things right, I gave him the number to a gift card I had in my possession that I intended to use myself.  He claimed that he attempted to used it and it failed, so he wouldn't be using the card.  I then checked the card and saw a pending charge.  I wasn't suspicious at the time, since I've had authorizations fail on these types of cards before, but then the pending purchase would sit their for two weeks.  When I checked back with the card a few days ago, I saw that the charge eventually posted, so I contacted him to attempt to resolve it, but it looks like he hasn't been around since then.  Until he makes things right, I'm assuming the worst, especially after a search shows that other users here have recently called him a scammer.  If he comes forward and correct these issues, I can withdraw my statements.

Information about the purchase:
10/16/2011 09:42 PM    YOUR SCALE PURCHASE
YOUR SCALE PURCHASE
877-761-0322 , CO
Reference: 030546
160100 POSPreAuthCompletion POSPreAuthCompletion:Checking:NoAccount    $24.56    

Billing ZIP code: 18964

I just attempted to send eGift cards several times this morning to no avail.  American Express Gift Cards rejected the payment information I gave them, citing something about an unverifiable address or verification code, despite the fact that it's the same information that I've used with them to order physical cards, and that they were able to successfully charge me, then refund the amount they took about 15 minutes later.

Long story short, until I get this issue worked out, I'll only be selling physical cards.  Hopefully a quick phone call will resolve this.  Note that this only applies to Amex gift cards.  Nothing is preventing me from selling virtual store cards such as Amazon or Newegg.

Also, I'd like to apologize for wasting the time of the one person I attempted to do business with this morning when Amex started giving me problems.  I hope that I will be able to continue selling eGift cards in the near future, and I hope that this person considers doing business with me at that time.

Yes, that would only be a 1% discount at that price.  I see some sites getting away with selling gift cards to places such as Amazon and Newegg for Bitcoin at a premium.  These cards are slightly discounted and work everywhere, including those stores.  Also, the gift cards that work everywhere tend to carry a premium when bought at retail ($28.95 for a $25 card, $105.95 for a $100, etc.), so you'd be getting a small discount off of the face value rather than paying a fee.  For people that want to cash out their Bitcoin without ever using an exchange and linking their bank account or similar, this could be a good way to do that.

4.95 BTC/$5? Where is the advantage to the buyer at that rate? 1%? 

Also, if you are in possession of of a prepaid card with a Visa/MasterCard/Discover/American Express/etc. logo and would like to trade it for Bitcoins, we may be able to work something out.

I can obtain American Express gift cards for slightly below face value.  I've seen a few services selling virtual card numbers at a premium, but I wasn't sure how much of a demand exists for these.  As such, I've decided to start selling them here manually, and if enough demand exists, I may decide to make a website to (at least partially) automate this.

I will be selling two types of Amex gift cards: eGift cards and physical gift cards.  Both are accepted anywhere that American Express is accepted (at least within the United States; I'm not sure about elsewhere).  This includes stores such as Amazon, Newegg, etc.  The only difference between the two is that the physical cards can be used at point-of-sale, whereas eGift cards cannot.  Both can be used online or by phone.

For now, I will be selling these for the Bitcoin equivalent of their face value, discounted by 1%.  For example, if Bitcoin is currently $5 USD per Bitcoin and you want to purchase a $25 gift card, it will cost you 4.95 BTC.

eGift cards can be purchased in any whole dollar amount from $25 to $200 inclusive.  Physical gift cards are currently available in denominations of $25, $50, $100, $200, $500, $700, $1000, $2000, or $3000.  If you would like a particular design for your physical gift card, I can customize it as you wish for no additional charge (though, not all possible card designs are available in all denominations).

eGift cards will be sent to an e-mail address of your choice directly from American Express Gift Cards.  Physical gift cards will be sent via UPS to an address of your choice.

PM me if you would like to purchase a card.  Generally, I will send you your gift card within 24 hours of receiving payment of the amount we agree on.  If you would like to use some sort of escrow service, I am open to using any reputable escrow service of your choosing.

Also, if you would prefer another gift card instead of an American Express gift card (Amazon, Newegg, Visa, MasterCard, etc.), I'll see what I can do.