Ebay gift cards no longer accepted for coins?

Someone on another forum posted about a recent ebay policy change that does not let you use gift cards on coins. I have been known in the past to buy $500 ebay cards at Kroger to get $1 back per gallon on gas fill-ups. If this is true, I will no longer be getting those. Has anyone tried using a gift card lately to verify?

 

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It would have to be quite recent, as in "within the last couple of weeks". I find it a bit hard to believe that they'd do this. Maybe they'd do it in bullion, since that's already "special" enough to be ineligible for eBay Bucks, but why coins in general?

 

I used to do that all the time, but my king soopers stopped carrying them. So I havent tried a gift card in awhile.

If this is true, then they may stop ebay bucks when you buy coins. They already did that on car parts

 

http://pages.ebay.com/giftcard/terms_conditions.html

#9

 

Well, color me astonished:

http://pages.ebay.com/giftcard/faqs.html

It looks like the policy was last updated on the 22nd. I used up my last gift card on a coin purchase on the 18th. Good thing I didn't have to return it, and get my balance restored on a card that would no longer be of any use to me.

I'm going to go see if I got any notification about this. I'm pretty sure I didn't. This really, really rubs me the wrong way. At one point not long ago I had over $1000 on various gift cards; if they'd imposed this without warning, that money would've effectively been lost to me (since I don't buy anything else on eBay these days). This kind of post-hoc change (imposed after I purchased the cards) seems legally questionable.

 

I am afraid ebay bucks will follow suit on coin category.

 

Absolutely.

I can see someone deciding that "using gift cards to buy coins or paper money" is just a way to cycle cash through the gift-card process -- buy a GC for cash (or equivalent), use the GC to buy cash (or equivalent), pocket the promotional benefits. Of course, that's completely unrealistic for 99%+ of what's listed in Coins and Paper Money, but reality is a secondary consideration when a big organization gets on the policy warpath.

But if eBay's unwilling to take this hit for gift cards, why on Earth would they continue to allow it for eBay Bucks, a straight 2% cut off the top coming directly out of their corporate pockets?

Sigh. It only works out to a few percent, but I've been enjoying getting gas for under $1/gallon.

 

I am going to guess there "coins" and "paper money" are there to prevent you from turning them into cash and are not meant to exclude collectables. But eBay has implemented some rules that make no sense.

 

Ugh I only buy two things on ebay, coins and car parts.

They Probably won't allow you to used ebay bucks to buy coins either

 

I just called eBay "collectable coins are still just money"??

 

Well, I guess all the "GOLD IS MONEY" folks will be pleased, since it applies to bullion as well.

No, wait, it also applies to paper money.

I give up. I guess eBay is completely determined to become a market for used phones, Beanie Babies, and whatever importers can squeeze past the (choke) "policy enforcement teams".

 

It has been bullion for some time.

 

Are you saying that gift cards have been invalid for bullion auctions for some time? I wasn't under that impression, but I'm not sure how to...

Oh, wait. Maybe I do know how to see what the policy was in the past.

From August 5, 2016:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160805032006/http://pages.ebay.com/giftcard/terms_conditions.html

So maybe I would've been in for a shock if I'd tried to buy in a Bullion category. It didn't prevent me from using a GC to buy a lot of cull Peace dollars.

From April 5, 2016:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160405123528/http://pages.ebay.com/giftcard/terms_conditions.html

Now, that's the policy that I remember reading at the time I bought my gift cards.

So, exactly what changes can a company legally make to the terms of a gift card after you've paid for it? Can they just say "LOL, we won't actually accept this for anything you want to buy, but thanks for giving us your money"?

FWIW, I've just checked back through my eBay messages through the beginning of July, and, for good measure, eBay's own Announcements page. I see precisely jack squat about any changes to gift-card policy.

This is more and more intriguing.

 

Just got off the phone with ebay and they confirmed it is a new rule that you can now no longer use gift cards on any coin or paper money category. Dumb Dumb Dumb. Call and complain folks. She also said she believes we will no longer be able to use ebay bucks on those categories, but the rules do not state that yet (that I can see at least).

 

Great collections and collector's corner should offer some perks for buying from them.... Or do they already?

 

From you "agreement";

BTW, I would vote in you favor, but my guess is eBay's lawyers would win eventually.

 

I smell the potential for a class action lawsuit in the making here.

 

Yeah, I smelled the same thing, except for that change to the User Agreement a few years back that said everything goes to binding arbitration instead.

I can't imagine any court ruling that "you can't use GCs to buy more GCs" and "you can't use GCs to buy more GCs, or coins, or paper money, or precious metals that are round or rectangular..." are "substantially the same". And I sure haven't been "notified".

 

I know I wasn't notified... I'd be demanding a refund, if I had one. If I had bought one using a credit card, I'd try to dispute it through the credit card company. I think a good case could be made through the credit card company, especially if you bought the GC before the terms were changed without notification.

 

I am almost out of Kroger fuel points, so was about to go buy another $500 card. Glad I didn't!