Horrible ebay giftcard experience.

[chikan_8445]

I got $200 in an eBay giftcards, from a grocery store. They didn't activate the card, went to the store and contacted eBay support multiple times. The store didn't want to take responsibility for not activitating the card and insisted they did even though support confirmed multiple times they didn't. Now eBay says they will only activate it in 3-7 days. So either this happens all the time or there's one person barley working in this department because that's a crazy wait time for them to activate a card I already spent my money on. The item I want will probably sell by the time it activates so I'll be left with a useless giftcard. 

[lakefor94]

I hope this works out for you in the end.

I will guess that if you paid cash, the store stole your money and eBay will not be giving you a $200 courtesy.

[redmodelt]

Did you call the number on the back of the card or find a number online to call, in other words, how did you contact eBay? The number on the back of the card is not eBay, it is the company that sells the cards along with other brand names for eBay and others. That is the number you needed to call. 

There is a lag time between buying the card and activation. Maybe you were trying to use it too soon. 

[chikan_8445]

Nope there's no number on the back. Its been over 24 hours so its not a delayed activation. The store that sold it messed up and I have to pay for it now. I went to the store 2 times but they didn't want to help and acted rude. I payed with cash so I can't even do a  charge back. Looks like I'm gonna have to wait for eBay's 3-7 days to resolve it. Sucks to have $200 frozen for no reason.

[simba6]

If they do activate it, you will still have the card to use later.  Gift cards are nothing but trouble.  Never buy one.  

[mtgraves7984]

Do you still have the receipt from the retailer? If not, they can go back over their register info and verify that you paid for them. If they were (or weren't) activated, the tape should show that. I'd go back again. Good luck and good golly...

[albertabrightalberta]

Ebay can't do anything for you. 

What you need to do, @chikan_8445 is go back to the store with your receipt and the empty unactivated gift card. Go to the courtesy booth, show them the receipt and the gift card and they should be able to verify whether it was activated or not. 

If you have no receipt, they can't help you. 

[chikan_8445]

Yeah I had all the receipts the card and the packaging. The employees didn't help at all, even the manager didn't know much. They said it was activated because there was an activation receipt but they cealrly didn't because eBay says so. They even tried going to eBay support on there own phones with my card info very unprofessional.

[albertabrightalberta]

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@chikan_8445 wrote:

Yeah I had all the receipts the card and the packaging. The employees didn't help at all, even the manager didn't know much. They said it was activated because there was an activation receipt but they cealrly didn't because eBay says so. They even tried going to eBay support on there own phones with my card info very unprofessional.

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What you've described is impossible. 

Even if a crook copied the code from the card, replaced the silver scratch-off strip and waited for the card to be activated, he could use it after purchase but before you had a chance to use it but there's no way a card would show as activated with an activation receipt unless it was activated. 

But this has nothing to do with ebay. It's between you and the store that you claim to have purchased the card from.