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EBay & Vanilla Visa Gift Cards
I won an auction here the other day, on 7/5. I bought a Vanilla Visa Gift Card to pay for it. This is my invariable practice. I have bought many items on eBay and paid for them in exactly the same manner over the last few years with Vanilla Visa cards, the most recent being a purchase on 7/3, which was duly processed, paid, and shipped.
I checked with Vanilla Visa and the card has a sufficient balance to cover the purchase including shipping & taxes. Since 7/7 I have been trying to pay with this card. It is now Sunday evening 7/9. Every time I got an error message to check my card information or use a different card. After about 30 attempts to pay this weekend, I bought a second Vanilla Visa card. I verified the balance on line with Vanilla Visa. Both cards have the balance I paid for.
Same problem.
Just to test, I went to Amazon and ordered a pack of batteries With the second card. Order processed and confirmed.
Is this some kind of corporate standoff between eBay & Vanilla Visa, like you see between cable TV channels and cable providers?
Now I am getting warnings in my eBay cart to "Pay Now to avoid cancellation".
The card is active, has sufficient balance, and the information is being entered correctly.
Why can't you take my payment???
kh-phdan
·2 years agoHello Everyone,
Due to the age of the thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue discussing this topic.
Thanks for understanding!
michvela_86
·2 years agoMaybe use master gift cards??
sacrux
·2 years agoI just had the same issue. Couldn't add it as a payment method and also couldn't use it during checkout. It's the "vanillagift.com" card. I'm in Oklahoma and wasn't ordering anything overseas. The vanilla card was also purchased @ walmart.
I ended up purchasing a gift card on target(online) using the same card. So ended up utilizing the $$ on the card for an ebay purchase after everything was said and done, but had to go through those hoops.
Had this issue in the past with an amex prepaid card and did the same thing (purchasing a gift card through target). Seems target doesn't give any **bleep**s and let's you buy whatever you want with prepaid cards.
clifrib-0
·2 years agoI believe the reason for the recent online-wide refusal of these cards is; invasive marketing. They're after your market profile. Incentive marketing or otherwise. Its a shame what the internet has become.
gust2661
·2 years agoYup I'm having the same problem it's such bull **bleep**...I would buy a eBay gift card but I just got scammed when I put the number in to make the payment then had to contact eBay and wait almost two weeks to get my 200 dollars back..it's really annoying considering vanilla visa used to be my main payment option now it's gone.
jhng63
·2 years agoWhat all other cards does eBay now accept?
soft_things
·2 years agoI'm a little late to the game, but yesterday I went to burn one of my vanilla gift cards on ebay and like everyone else's card, it was declined.
I found the same problem trying to use my card on Etsy. As a workaround I tried linking it to PayPal and that didn't work. As a last resort I tried buying an ebay gift card with my Vanilla visa, but alas you can't use gift cards to purchase gift cards, or so the store clerk told me, so now I have a card that's of no use to me other than to use it on adult sites (kidding/not kidding).
The only true workaround I know of is buying Ebay gift cards and using them instead (I purchased $300 worth this morning to feed my ebay addiction, but that doesn't help with my Etsy, Posh, and Merceri addictions).
I wish someone could help me figure out how to use over $125 of Visa gift cards on the stuff I really want instead of porn.
fab_finds4u
·2 years agoHave y'all noticed eBay has an accepted payments policy before trying to use a non-eBay gift card?
PayPal, PayPal Credit, debit and credit cards, ApplePay, GooglePay, Spendable funds, eBay gift cards and eBay vouchers are accepted. I did not see any other type of gift card except eeBay gift cards. A Vanilla gift card is not an accepted payment method.
eBay doesn't need to make a specific announcement that they do not accept Vanilla gift cards. Buyers should check eBay's accepted payments policy before making a purchase.
tiantru
·2 years agoYou would think eBay would have the decency to tell us they now don’t accept visa vanilla gift cards, since we have done so much business with them and brought them a lot of money. It is an insult to be given the message that you appear to have insufficient funds when you go to check out, when you and they both know you do!
sprucecreektraders
·2 years agoI didn’t read all the previous replies, but here’s what I found…it’s Vanilla Visa. PayPal does a temporary $1.00 charge to verify the card, which used to be no problem, then you were able to use it. Vanilla Visa now declines that $1.00, so they don’t work anymore. They didn’t let anyone know this, because they didn’t want to lose sales,…when you contact customer support, they say†it’s for your own safety, use it somewhere elseâ€. Beautiful, huh? The only thing you can do is claim the card was stolen, and wait months for a refund, if that works. In summary, don’t buy Vanilla Gift cards with the intention of using it with PayPal OR Apple Pay, it doesn’t work anymore.
goodsoundlabs
·2 years agoI'm having the same problem. I don't like exposing my personal CC information to the internet, so I use Vanilla prepaid debit cards for online purchases. These worked fine for years on eBay, until VERY recently. Now, I receive a message at checkout, stating: "Please use a different card or check your balance." (NB: the card has more than enough of a balance to cover the purchase). If I try to add the card to my eBay (not PayPal) payment methods, I receive a similar error message (something like, "we couldn't verify your card").
After being a member since 2000, I guess I'm done with eBay...
wastingtime101
·2 years ago@goodsoundlabs
If security is your concern there is a solution if your credit card offers it. My credit card has a feature where you can log in to your online account and generate a Virtual Account Number. My CC even allows me to set an expiration date for that number. I can use that number in place of my actual CC number for any online transactions. It's a security feature - check with your CC to see if they offer something similar.
goodsoundlabs
·2 years agoInteresting... I'll look into that! Thank you.
jbc_2012
·2 years agoYes, it has completely messed up my system for buying online. I loved that I could use the Visa Vanilla Gift Cards anywhere and to have this happen back in July 2023 with pretty much no info, no notice was very frustrating. I have also used them for many years. 😞
tiantru
·2 years agoI have always used visa vanilla gift cards too, for all my online purchases. I tried recently to buy on eBay and my payment wouldn’t go through. I always got a message that I didn’t have sufficient funds which wasn’t true as I checked my balance. Then I heard eBay wasn’t accepting them any more. I take this as a sign that our society is trying to push us cashless. My cards still work on poshmark so that is where I have gone.
rovande76
·3 years agoI am getting so fed up with this whole vanilla visa thing. It’s how I purchase everything on every website. Just recently Amazon no longer excepted it. It was active had just been purchased and then it would not accept it on Amazon. It kept telling me a payment revision was needed so I called Amazon to see what’s up and they said they no longer accept it. I’m like I just ordered something from you two days ago with same card and I already received that item and now you’re telling me you don’t accept it? So what I did was, I clicked on the search option to buy a digital gift card on Amazon and somehow they let me use my Vanilla Visa card to purchase the Amazon digital. . But yesterday, when I tried to do that same thing on Amazon, it wouldn’t work …
. And yesterday I specifically bought the gift card to use on eBay (and Yankee candle actually as well). But part of it was to use on eBay and then all of a sudden it’s not accepted and that was needed for a purchase That I was making .A seller who had made me an offer and I made a counter offer that they accepted. and now they’re gonna be waiting for payment. When I make a purchase on eBay, I pay immediately. I never leave them waiting but now it makes me look bad So now it looks like I’m a deadbeat that can’t pay but I have the money on the vanilla visa. Anyway, sorry for my rant, but it’s just getting me angry when I’ve literally been using it for years as recent as the other day even and now all this.
justyermama123
·3 years agoI just had this same problem. I paid for my items with the debit cards (Vanilla cards). There's another card out there that is prepaid and I'm not sure the name of it, but it can be bought at any Safeway or Walmart along with the Vanilla card. That card might be worth a try. I couldn't make a purchase there. Then I couldn't link my card with PayPal, which I also do as well. When I spoke with Vanilla's customer service, they said there is a problem going on with their company and Ebay that they don't even know the details about. So Ebay is not accepting their cards. Also, they claimed that PayPal is an ewallet and ewallets are now unsupported. But I also remember using these cards in Google Pay. So Vanilla Visa's are very limited now if this is how you have done business as I have as well. I hope that it's not prepaid cards on the whole, which is possible. At any rate I feel very upset and will not buy this brand ever again. Perhaps you can speak with Ebay's customer service. They have always been helpful with me. My friend who picked up the card for me lost the receipt so I can't get a refund. It just sucks. Let me know if you find any viable solution as this is just happening to me tonight. Thank you,
Wendy Marking (justyermama@gmail.com)
leande_792
·3 years agoeven more frustrating is that paypal wont even accept them, so i just dropped $125 on a card for no reason. basically did the same thing as throwing cash in a fire. and no, i dont want to use it anywhere else. im trying to buy a certain thing here on ebay.
ms.rodriguez*
·3 years agoYou should have kept the money in the bank account and link that bank account to paypal and then use paypal to pay. You will have more buyer protection using Paypal than a Vanilla gift card.
justyermama123
·3 years agoPaypal isnt accepting the cards now either. No ewallet is supported I was told.
skate_man1000
·3 years agoI was trying a work around. Seems PayPal will reject letting you add as payment method as well. Really annoying.
justyermama123
·3 years agoYep. But they used to. The lady at vanilla Visa said they dont support ewallets, And I remember having one of their cards in my googlepay.
megafo_8472
·3 years agoI used to use those as well, and have noticed the same problem recently.
It just means that fleabay will be losing sales. I'll be going to ecrater and other sites for many of my things in the future.
ms.rodriguez*
·3 years agoIt's not fleabay. Why do you keep refering to Ebay that way in virtually every post you make? Many of us love it here. We all sell successfully with other IDS. Ebay will do fine. To the poster, you can't use a Vanilla gift card, then use a credit card or the other payment methods that ebay now takes. Save that card for another place.
Also call the number on the back of the card. I doubt that it's an ebay glitch.
justyermama123
·3 years agoIts not a glitch. Some folks dont have bank accounts, and their way of doing business with ebay is no longer viable. So they cant get what they want. Yes Ebay should be fine. Vanilla Visa said there are issues between the 2 companies that they are not privy to. We are just grumpy because we cant use our money the way we wanted to and now its stuck in a card that might work at Amazon. But thats not where we want to shop. I love Ebay. So.....
jne_1671
·3 years agoHad same issue, seems to be new to this month. CS livechat gave same answer. Card was successful on another site. Took Vanilla Card to local supermarket and used it to purchase an ebay specific gift card. Waited 4 hours for full implementation and Checked Out successfully.
jbc_2012
·3 years agoThat's why I liked the Vanilla Visa Gift Card because it didn't have to be site specific which was perfect because I buy from a lot of different places. I guess I'm going to have to look into an alternative. 😞
jbc_2012
·3 years agoI was just told through ebay chat that they are having a site wide technical glitch that is causing the problem and it isnt anything to do on my end. They said the problem should be fixed really soon. Who knows though. I have an item i need to pay for soon though. 😞
albertabrightalberta
·3 years agoWhen ebay chat doesn't know the answer, "glitch" is the common excuse they use to make you happy, get you off the line as quickly as possible and get on to the next issue.
kalyoth
·3 years agoThe country you are in - if making a purchase outside of that country from the seller - may not permit use of the gift card.
dartgri-0
·3 years agoCan't speak for anyone else, but I'm in the U.S. and trying to buy from sellers also here in the U.S. and having problems.
jbc_2012
·3 years agoYes, I'm having the same problem.
haish4308
·3 years agoThe same problem. I even placed an order the day before yesterday. Show this alert error message everytime. "Please use a different card or check your balance."
jbc_2012
·3 years agoI was able to use the card on Septembet 5th and had no problems. I already received the items. I have used Visa Vanilla Gift Cards for many years now and when this problem occurred, it usually cleared up in a day or two, but I haven't been able to use it for over a week now. I always entered the gift card information into the credit card form when checking out since the gift card part never worked. This cost me a few items I wanted to purchase. I'm not even sure if they can be connected to a PayPal account as I don't use PayPal anymore. I think the problem is that there is no way to connect a name to the card or verify it? so that's what flags the card because they are trying to protect against fraud, money laundering etc. I don't know. I just contacted Ebay through the chat and they said they have had similar complaints and that they would look at my account and it should be able to be used in a couple of days. I hope so... 🤞ðŸ»
adrdo_3079
·3 years agoThey are lying, I think. for some reason, they don't want anyone to know about what's going on because they sure know! I have had the same problem and used these cards many times until recently. Tried paying for an action i had won with message telling me to try another card. talked to a rep. in cha, they said they have had complaints and it was a technical issue on their end and it should be fixed in 72 hours or so. Well, a month later, same thing! They know what's going on but don't want to **bleep** no-one off I think, buy telling them they changed it to where no-one can use these cards.
justyermama123
·3 years agoDo you know if this is the situation with all prepaid cards?
jtinforney
·3 years agoThe Vanilla issue with eBay is really something. I spoke with Vanilla as eBay referred me there.
First time I spoke with Vanilla they told me they put a block on my card because I used it at another online retailer and were worried this meant my card was stolen? What? I swallowed that ridiculous explanation after letting them know that was ridiculous, and they told me it would be "fixed" in 24 hours.
When I tried to add the Vanilla gift card as a payment method 24 hours later it still said I needed to use another card. So, I called Vanilla back and asked why it wasn't fixed, and I was told there was an issue between Vanilla and eBay and I would not be able to use the card on eBay.
There was one site it would work on, and another besides eBay that it wouldn't. Whatever this is about, I don't really know, but it's pretty upsetting that you are limited like this.
We got a reasonably large Vanilla gift card as a way to have our money refunded from an AC purchase where we were charged for a permit that wasn't needed where we live. Instead of cash, or just money back into our account we were hand delivered a Vanilla gift card...that basically doesn't work almost everywhere I'd like to use it.
ms.rodriguez*
·3 years agoYou need to pay for it another way. Those cards are not good here anymore for whatever reason. Perhaps it's because there is less buyer protection .
megafo_8472
·3 years agofleabay didn't block those cards, from what I've heard the card company blocked fleabay
dartgri-0
·3 years agoHmm......curiouser, and curiouser.
fab_finds4u
·3 years agoLately we heard they are no longer accepted for eBay (online) purchases due to the amount of fraud associated with the cards.
gthoma3690
OP3 years agoThey must have done that VERY recently, and without notice, as I have bought about 40 different things here with those cards without any issue. The most recent purchase being 7/3; order confirmed, paid, processed, shipped, & delivered.
dartgri-0
·3 years agoYeah, it definitely happened without notice, if this is some sort of policy change. I'll believe it when they actually put out an official email instead of relying on second/third hand information, otherwise I'm just going to assume something is broken on their end.