66
votes
Sugar daddy prepaid card scam
Yes it is. You might want to check out some of the other questions on this site tagged scams or sugar-daddy. Cut off contact with this person and do not have anything further to do with them.
Almost ...
- 23.3k
39
votes
Amazon gift card scam
Sorry to say, your money is most likely gone for good. You bought the gift cards from the store yourself, in some cases intentionally bypassing the procedures put up by the store to prevent gift card ...
- 8,456
39
votes
Sugar daddy prepaid card scam
HUGE scam. Gigantic scam.
Bitcoin is a money transaction that is irreversible. Once sent, it can't be reversed, EVER. Anytime person X sends you money, and then wants money back via an irreversible ...
35
votes
What is the business model of discounted gift cards?
Generates cash before any expense is taken on COGS (negative leadtime is heaven, and cash is, as we know, king)
It is a way of segmentation of customers - you appear as a good choice both for non-...
- 1,104
35
votes
Why do gas stations charge higher price for credit card purchase while customers can purchase their gift cards from a third party?
It's not completely risk free - what happens if you lose the gift card? In addition, the gas company isn't losing anything - it's the grocery store where you bought the card that eats the 2% merchant ...
- 130k
30
votes
How do websites ban prepaid cards?
The first six digits of a Visa or MasterCard card comprise the Bank Identification Number (BIN) and card type (Visa, M/C, etc), which identifies the issuer, the next 9 digits (when a Visa or M/C) are ...
- 5,370
29
votes
Why do gas stations charge higher price for credit card purchase while customers can purchase their gift cards from a third party?
If you buy a Marathon (or any other brand) gift card, you're giving the merchant cash now. Most people don't spend their gift card immediately so the company gets to use that cash as working capital ...
- 26.5k
21
votes
Why do gas stations charge higher price for credit card purchase while customers can purchase their gift cards from a third party?
In addition to other reasons, this can be an example of market segmentation: making each customer pay as much as they are willing to.
By spending some time going through the gift card route, you ...
- 1,086
19
votes
What is the business model of discounted gift cards?
In economics, any prepaid amount is a loan. In fact, a gift card is arguably a cash advanced loan derivative but it's not regulated. Many issuers are gaming the system to take advantage of this ...
- 4,173
16
votes
Ok to use U.S. Visa gift card internationally?
Most cards do not work internationally - "As of April 1, 2012, federal regulations prohibit gift cards from being used outside of the continental United States."
See this link for more details: http:/...
- 37.6k
16
votes
How should I record a gift card?
When you receive the $50 gift card: credit $50 to an income account, and debit $50 to an asset account (e.g. "gift cards").
i.e. increase the income account by $50, and increase the asset ...
- 16.9k
14
votes
What is the business model of discounted gift cards?
Speaking to a restaurant owner I learned that, for his business, only about 80% of the amount sold in gift cards ever gets redeemed (your point #3). This means that he makes a much larger margin on ...
- 812
13
votes
What is the business model of discounted gift cards?
In addition to the many valid points made in other answers, there is another important point: A store-issued gift card gives the merchant control over more of the payment processing cycle. This ...
- 17k
13
votes
Amazon gift card scam
Unfortunately, you fell for the scam, bought gift cards and (presumably) gave them away, so most likely neither the merchant or credit card company are obligated to help.
Merchants are trained to ...
- 69.1k
12
votes
Accepted
Can you buy gift cards at grocery store to receive a higher reward rate?
If you go to a grocery store and purchase retail gift cards along with other products, and you pay with a credit card, your credit card company generally does not know what you spent the money on; ...
- 115k
12
votes
Accepted
I accidentally charged more than the amount on a prepaid card on amazon and it didn't get declined
The card will not be charged until the order is prepared. Once Amazon attempts to charge the card, it will be declined. If there are no other payment options in your account the package will not be ...
- 352
11
votes
Can you buy gift cards at grocery store to receive a higher reward rate?
In a similar situation I wrote about How I Made $4,000+ on a Cash Back Credit Card Offer. The total was actually $4550, and was from an insane offer from a new credit card my bank advertised. 10% cash ...
11
votes
Mandela coins and iTunes gift cards — is this a scam?
The words "iTunes gift card" and "DHL" are enough red flags. Yes, this is a scam. Cut off contact, block them and move along.
Also, a quick google shows that Mandela coins are not ...
- 23.3k
11
votes
Why do gas stations charge higher price for credit card purchase while customers can purchase their gift cards from a third party?
If everyone only purchased the gift card, and then used it up completely at the pump, then the gas station would not benefit from this. If every one of those people would have paid the extra CC fee ...
- 47.2k
10
votes
Accepted
Can a victim of a gift card scam dispute Credit Card transaction?
I Work as a dispute specialist for a credit card company. I handle cases like these all the time and it's a terrible thing to have seen happen to people. We advise cardmembers to look into sources ...
- 116
10
votes
Lowe's won't accept their store credit - any recourse?
This seems like it should be an easy fix. If the license doesn't match due to a typing error, then presumably most of the information would be correct, or close to correct, so viewing what they have ...
- 47.2k
8
votes
Can a victim of a gift card scam dispute Credit Card transaction?
He can dispute the charges, but I don't think he has a strong case to, so I'd expect the dispute to resolved in the merchant's favor. In my view (this is subjective of course), the fraud occurred ...
- 1,157
8
votes
Accepted
Is a purchase still a Schedule C expense if its paid using a gift card?
Method of payment should have no bearing on whether something is a qualified business expense or not - it may make auditing more challenging, but it's not required that expenses come from a "...
- 130k
7
votes
Tell gift card giver money was stolen?
There could be any number of scenarios that happened. Here are some possibilities:
Gift giver purchased card, but it was somehow messed up during activation. (Not likely, in my opinion.)
Gift giver ...
- 115k
7
votes
What is the business model of discounted gift cards?
Another reason that shops (especially restaurants) like gift cards is that many people don't think of a gift card as real money, and so will often spend more when using them. Say a customer has a $50 ...
- 801
7
votes
Amazon gift card scam
Question is - can I get money back?
Most likely not (see the more extensive answer from Nosjack)
Two important warnings:
1. If you have been scammed successfully, the scammer(s) will (most likely) ...
- 171
6
votes
Why do gas stations charge higher price for credit card purchase while customers can purchase their gift cards from a third party?
A large portion of money spent on gift cards is not used
A quick google search of "what percentage of gift cards are not used?" shows from between 3% to 20% of gift card balances are never ...
5
votes
What is the business model of discounted gift cards?
A key point that I think is being missed is that a supermarket's gross margin is much higher than its net margin of 4%-8%. So long as the cards are bringing in new sales rather than just substituting ...
- 446
5
votes
Why use credit card rewards for vendor credit not cash?
But it seems to me that I have never seen the rate be different than 1
to 1.
Then you haven't been looking at very many cards. If I check the Discover card website, I see can get a $100 certificate ...
- 136k
5
votes
Can I use Amazon's Visa Card promotion and never use the card?
First, I'd recommend you go to Credit Karma, or similar and get an idea what your credit report looks like.
Getting a few accounts is good, but each credit pull actually dings you score a bit for 2 ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible