Please enlighten me about the bids on gift cards on eBay!

[Egret1986]

Most times on auction-style listings for gift cards on eBay, folks bid up the price to within a few dollars of the gift card amount or even over the amount of the gift card. I've really never understood that. I have purchased a few gift cards myself on eBay, but only with buy-it-now and it was a good amount less than the value. With the availability of buying them through the store or online, and not having to take a risk of something going wrong with a seller or the mail; I'm truly perplexed why the bidding goes so high. I had built up points on one of my credit cards and actually didn't realize it. I had many options for the points. The 20,000 points that I used could have given me a $135 credit against my account or I could get either a Target or Home Depot gift card for $200. I got the gift card and put it up for auction starting at $.99 with no reserve. Within 20 minutes it was up to $172. It's 4 days until the auction ends and it's up over $195. What's the incentive? I want a real deal when I go for gift cards and maybe there's more that I'm not tapping into.

 

[wackymother]

I'm glad you asked this! I was wondering the same thing. In fact I've seen some auctions for hotel gift cards where the starting price was more than the value of the gift card. Why would anyone bid so high and take a chance on these things? Couldn't they just go to the hotel or restaurant or wherever and buy a gift card?

 

[catwgirl]

I've always wondered that too. What is it we are missing?

 

[Egret1986]

Whew, I'm not the only unenlightened one!

Someone has to know because there are too many folks making these bids on these cards. That's why I didn't hesitate to list my gift cards starting at $.99 with no reserve. I just recently bid buy-it-now on a $500 Lowes Gift Card for $450. The Seller had lots of feedback and it was 100% positive and she had previously sold the gift cards to others. It was worth it to me because I was getting ready to spend $500 at Lowes anyway and it made sense. But to put that much money up to save a couple of bucks would definitely not be worth it to me.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Up To No Good ?

Any chance people are, in effect, paying a premium for the anonymity ?

Just guessing.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[wackymother]

Or it's some kind of teeny tiny money laundering scheme?

 

[Htoo0]

Hard to believe because the actual value is right there but maybe it's that auction "HA, I WON!" mentality. I've seen things sell for more than new selling price at real auctions just because people get in a bidding war and refuse to give up. Know it happens on E-bay too, that's why I set a top price in my head and often as my max bid then if some one 'snipes' it- oh well.

 

[djs]

Could it be that some of the bidders have figured out how to clone or alter the cards so that they wind up with more than one, or one that is of greater value? Personally, as the bidding gets closer to the face value, I'd be more apt to just buy one from the store.

 

[kewanee]

I think I read this on here a long time ago - if there is a 10% off promotion (like if you pay with Paypal), someone might pay full value because they are really getting 10% off. I do get those promotions occasionally, but not often enough to explain so many of them going higher.

 

[beanie]

they do the same on e-bay with disney tickets . those tickets could be risky to begin with then to bid on them to save $2 - $10 is crazy to me .

 

[klynn]

Before you send the card to your winning bidder, be sure to keep a copy of the card and also it would be wise to print out something that states the balance of the card as of the date of mailing. Some people will buy gift cards and use them and then file a dispute with PayPal stating that the Seller sold them a gift card less than what the auction stated.

 

[Egret1986]

Thanks, I had thought about making the copy of the card....

Before you send the card to your winning bidder, be sure to keep a copy of the card and also it would be wise to print out something that states the balance of the card as of the date of mailing. Some people will buy gift cards and use them and then file a dispute with PayPal stating that the Seller sold them a gift card less than what the auction stated.

....but the print-out about the balance is a good idea. The current high bidder has 3454 feedback all 100%, which is a good thing in my mind, but the extra precautions is excellent advice.