Defective gift cards - missing redemption code
Purchased an EBay gift card and upon scratch-off the redemption code was removed. I did not “accidentally†scratch off anything. The instructions are to scratch the panel on the back. Period. If the redemption code scratches off, it’s a defective card. If defective cards are being sold to consumers and money is charged without any possibility that the consumer can redeem the card… it is fraud!
13 comments
lucymm83
·1 year agoI scatch my code with the card
edgab_6869
·1 year agoHello I have a issue with my eBay card with a some missing code
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoThose gift cards on a rack in stores are manufactured and distributed by a third party company. Ebay does not make or sell them.
This Christmas season reached record highs in gift card fraud.
It is common for a thief to take some cards, remove the coating on the number, note the number, and then cover the number again and return it to the store.
They use software to check the numbers they collected, and if there is a balance available, steal the balance. Rinse and repeat.
You may have removed part of the number or a clumsy thief may have removed it. If it was the thief it probably would have failed to be inactivate in the store,
Widespread warnings were out about gift cards bought in the stores, but some people are unaware of any news, other than what they get on Facebook, X or Reddit. Old people who are often taken advantage of by scammers were warned by AARP. If you snooze you lose.
Unavailable member
·2 years agoPosting about this eBay non issue in several places in this board will not result in different answers. If you bought a defective card take it back where you bought it don't forget to bring your receipt.
hi_mr.bob
OP2 years agoI did not save the receipt.
Unavailable member
·2 years agoReceipt should always be kept when purchasing gift cards. It's unfortunate you didn't keep yours. I'm pretty sure the store you bought the card from will not be able to help you without one.
eBay can't help you with it either since eBay didn't sell you the card.
hi_mr.bob
OP2 years agoNo. There are many other posts with the same issue as mine. Others have NOT had success returning it to place of purchase. Ripoff.
Unavailable member
·2 years agoIt seems to me the only place that ripped you off was the store you bought from.
11kilo14
·2 years agoAre you high? Stores NEVER take responsibility for defective or stolen cards. They will tell you that the company the card is for (in this case EBay) is responsible for the issue. Plus, what this person is complaining about is not a scam issue. It’s poor manufacturing/quality control of the gift card by the company that EBay contracts with to produce the cards. eBay should be responsible…
annadryl
·2 years agoEbay would tell you to consult the phone number or website on the back of the card. That is where the credit is (or was). It's essentially a bank holding the funds.
marjhughe0
·2 years agoAm I high? Maybe. Do people steal STACKS of eBay cards from retailers and take them home, pull the cards out of the packaging, peel up the plastic film that conceals the claim code, write it down, scratch off a couple characters, glue it back down, put it back in the packaging, and after they do this to the whole stack of gift cards take it back to the retailer and put it back on the shelf and wait for you to come put money on a card only to find out that when you scratch off the security coating concealing the claim code you don't have all 13 numbers so you can't load your funds to your account? Definitely. IN FACT thieves/scammers do that and they regularly check the codes and by the time you've gone through customer service and been put in touch with the gift card fraud investigation team and sent them pictures of receipts and handwritten notes your funds have already been loaded to a burner account and spent. So you get a message back from the investigation team telling you as much, with this offered as a clear indication of their level of commitment to their customers: "We know this is not what you were hoping to hear and recommend that you file a report with your local police.
As this concludes our investigation, we will be unable to respond to further requests regarding these gift cards." So eBay, the company that produces and manages the cards, and the retailer collectively take zero responsibility regarding this issue even though any one of these three parties could easily implement security measures that would make it much more difficult for this to happen. These are FACTS, not my opinion, so whether I'm high or not has nothing to do with anything. This IS a scam that's been going on for YEARS now and they all know about it yet have done NOTHING about it.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoAnother good reason to not buy gift cards.
marjhughe0
·2 years agoWhatever retailer you buy the gift cards from should be liable for leaving these gift cards out on a display rack where anyone can grab a stack, take them home and get the codes, and then put them on the rack when this is a WELL KNOWN ISSUE at this point. If it was putting a dent in eBay or the retailer's pocketbook you better believe they would develop some technology or technique to make it much more difficult for this to happen. If they would just put the cards behind a counter or behind glass or store them in a locked drawer or cabinet that would be a huge improvement. But yeah, it's a non eBay issue because even though it's their product and they have been well aware of it for YEARS now and it would be totally impossible to assign a security code to each claim code that would be issued to the purchaser at the time they bought it and require that to be entered when the gift card was redeemed at checkout. It's totally understandable for eBay to require 2 factor authentication just to sign into your account yet something along the same lines can't be implemented for physical gift card purchases because eBay apparently lacks the intellectual and financial resources to make their product more secure.