Gift cards worth over $500 frozen by Ebay
Summary: francisco2000x shared their experience of having over $500 in eBay gift cards frozen when attempting to purchase a trading card from a seller in Japan. They initially received these gift cards as a refund credit. After encountering errors using the gift cards, they spoke with an eBay representative who explained that the cards were frozen but provided no specific reason. Later, they discovered the issue was due to attempting a purchase using freight forward shipping from an international seller. A specialist resolved the problem, and the gift cards were restored within 24 hours, though francisco2000x expressed hesitance about using eBay gift cards in the future for returns.
I made some returns and decided to get the credit back in Ebay gift cards rather than back to my credit card since I could have the money sooner to buy something. Ebay processed the refund and gift cards were added to my account successfully. I attempted to purchase a trading card from a Japan seller, when I chose my gift card to pay for the purchase I got an error saying payment didn't process and to try a different method. I thought it was a system glitch so I tried one more time and got the same message. So I used my PayPal to make the purchase. When I went back to my gift card balance I noticed 500+ worth of gift card balance were missing. 2 out of 4 of my gift cards were no longer showing on my account. Spoke with rep over the phone and she told me Ebay frozen those gift cards, but did not give me a reason why. I'm guessing maybe due to attempting to buy something overseas, but I'm not too sure. The rep emailed the gift card department about the issue to get it reinstated, but have to wait for them to get back to me.
Has this happened to anyone? I've read other stories that are similar but those were ppl who purchased physical or digital gift cards. These were gift cards given to me by Ebay as a form of credit for returns. Will never accept gift card credit as a form of credit for returns. I may just stop using Ebay all together if Ebay doesn't resolve the issue.
francisco2000x
OP1 week ago · EditedJust an update. The reason my gift cards were denied and frozen was bc I attempted to purchase something from an international seller using freight forward shipping. I talked to a rep who transferred me to a specialist. He escalated the matter and my gift cards were back in my account within 24 hours.
mudshark61369
·1 week ago@francisco2000x ,
You may have received gift card refunds for some of those returns because there was a delivered scan for the returned items, while the others are still in transit so the balance on those cards is not available yet. Have you gone to your My ebay page, clicked on the Account button then looked under Payment Information and clicked on Payments?
You can also try Adding any item to your shopping cart and proceed to checkout. Look under the Gift cards and coupons section to see your available balances. You do not need to complete the purchase; you can just remove the item afterward.
francisco2000x
OP1 week agono, they were all delivered yesterday and four gift cards were loaded onto my account. As I said, the rep already confirmed Ebay frozen those two gift cards when I tried to use them to make a purchase