Why isn't my Vanilla Visa Gift card working on Ebay or Paypal?

[klitschk-70]

I called the number on the back of the card but it gives me the run around and won't even let me talk to a human being. I bought this gift card about 4-5 hours ago. I tried to purchase something on ebay about 3-4 times and each time it's declined. What is the problem with this Vanilla Visa card? I paid 6 bucks for it and it's still not activated properly after 4-5 hours. It claims it's activated but if it is then why are my funds not usuable on this card? It even told me my balance too and my balance is what I put on the card.

[eburtonlab]

Others have reported similar problems with using Vanilla gift cards on eBay lately. It is not clear if the problem is a technical issue or a policy change, however.

[kalyoth]

Where that type of card is constantly involved with suspect transactions or funding, many merchants have begun refusing them to avoid the hassle of chargebacks.

[klitschk-70]

I just lost a lot of money then because I always used Vanilla Visa Gift Cards to buy my purchases on ebay and now I see Ebay has blocked it. Also, Paypal won't let me use it either. This is crazy. Why else would I have this card? The whole point of the card is to make online purchases. I'm so mad right now. So Vanilla Visa Card just stole my money because there's no point of this card if i can't use it online. I don't buy things from stores... This was being sold as an Online Gift card. It always worked and now everyone is blocking it because they can't stop people from misusing it?

[klitschk-70]

Out 6 dollars from the cards activation fee now and i have to wait approximately 3 weeks for a check from Visa. I will keep people informed on this topic if I receive the check in 3 weeks. I'm sure I will. The guy on the phone seemed pretty nice and it was the phone number on the back of the card. I was told by another Visa employee that I had to call the number on the back of my card and report it as missing. What a headache this is. Not cool that Ebay and Paypal now blocks these cards since I'm sure I'm not the only person to have used these cards on this platform. I understand why because people can misuse them and get their money back and maybe not ship things back and so on. It's just a hassle for them but these cards have been working for years on this platform. Probably around 10 years if I had to guess. I don't know when it became such a headache for them that they decided to block them. Now I'm probably not going to be able to get what I wanted from Ebay. This is depressing. I mean the items I look at go up and down in price and it's rarer stuff.

[yuzuha]

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@klitschk-70 wrote:

I just lost a lot of money then because I always used Vanilla Visa Gift Cards to buy my purchases on ebay and now I see Ebay has blocked it. Also, Paypal won't let me use it either.

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Paypal stopped allowing their use a while ago, I believe.

[kalyoth]

Giftcard Not Working?    -     Paypal

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It's tied into antifraud measures every business is constantly updating. Just because it was, doesn't mean it always will be, when it comes to money. For every 1 good intention there are 100 bad intentions out there. Remember as well - these cards are only good in certain countries. If your purchase is outside of those countries the card is good for, it won't work.

I also recall reading in another post here that ebay, now using managed payments, requires you to use those cards exclusively through Paypal.

[varebelrose]

I am honestly curious... why would someone buy a giftcard and turn right around and use it themselves? Why not just buy whatever item using the same method used to buy the giftcard (and save the activation fee)?

[eburtonlab]

why would someone buy a giftcard and turn right around and use it themselves?

Not everyone has a credit card to use for online purchases. Gift cards can be purchased with cash, and then the gift card can (usually) be used to make an online purchase where cash cannot be used.

Some users get gift cards of various kinds as part of promotional deals, as well.

[debbiakade0]

It's because I was paid with this gift card, it does work with Amazon. This is so wrong that legitimate customers has to be treated like the others. It's so frustrating.

[annadryl]

Could be one of many small things, here's a good springboard for these issues> https://www.consumerfinance.gov/ask-cfpb/why-was-my-online-purchase-using-a-prepaid-card-declined-en...

[soh.maryl]

Have we ever heard definitively from an eBay person that Vanilla gift cards are no longer valid on eBay?

There is another discussion somewhere.  I had asked because I used one in June and it worked fine, now want to use another, but don't want to waste time trying if the transaction won't go through.  

[barely_tan_gerbil]

You cannot add Vanilla Visa gift cards as a payment source to your PayPal account.

[barely_tan_gerbil]

If you prefer to shield your personal bank account and it's cards, and you want to buy online, well you can't spend cash online, can you?  You load the cash onto a Vanilla Visa gift card and the funds become available in 15 minutes or less, usually immediately, rarely 45 minutes later.

PayPal does NOT accept Vanilla Visa gift cards to register as a payment method for your PayPal account.

Currently Vanilla Visa gift cards have processed successfully for me on Etsy, even for a number of international purchases (Canada, Spain, France), and I think PayPal processes the Etsy funding source, so that's doable there, so why not here on eBay also?

... and I use them to pay my electricity bill and garbage bill.  They of course work at most stores, including Costco and gas stations ( go inside to avoid $75 holding fee which could happen if you forget and just swipe it at the pump).

eBay rejects Vanilla Visa gift cards now, although I used to have a half dozen lined up under my eBay accounts.  No more.

It appears as though eBay has made a de facto decision to no longer process payments via Vanilla Visa gift cards.  Going online to register the cards does not remedy the situation.  At least not for me, I tried it and even that failed to assist in "verifying" the card, as far as eBay is concerned.

The Vanilla Visa gift card works like a charm on Amazon however.

[dryophelia]

@klitschk-70 

@barely_tan_gerbil 

@debbiakade0 

Here is a link with a link explaining eBay’s decision. 
The other sites mentioned all have immediate payment. 
Maybe there will be something similar once all buyers on eBay are required to have Autopayment enabled.