As Yogi Berra once said: it’s deja vu all over again.
Giftcardmall on eBay is again coming through as a cash advance and triggering credit card cash advance fees. We had this problem exactly one year ago, and it was fixed about a week later.
Reader Raju reports getting hit with a $10 cash advance fee on a Bank of America card, and friend M. got the same on their Barclaycard.
Last time around, the issue was that Giftcardmall switched their category to ‘Financial & Other’ which unintentionally was triggering cash advance fees. We made a list, then, of which cards were affected. Basically, Amex cards were fine, including FIA Amex, but most other cards were getting cash advances. Chase was YMMV.
I’d guess that the current problem is the same and Amex cards are okay. To be safe make sure only to use a credit card that has no cash advance limit. Or use eBay gift cards instead. There aren’t any limits on eBay gift card usage anymore, and there are lots of ways to purchase eBay gift cards at a discount.
As far as we know, this issue affects Giftcardmall exclusively, not SVM or Paypal Digital Gifts. Last time around, only Giftcardmall was affected.
Be sure to leave Giftcardmall bad feedback so that they fix the issue. Note that you can’t leave negative feedback until seven days after the purchase.
What to do if you got hit with a cash advance fee? Deal with eBay customer service….Personally, I’d consider swallowing the $10 fee so as to save the hassle of trying to deal with it. Otherwise, there are three addresses to speak to: Giftcardmall, eBay, and your credit card (people sometimes have success getting a one-time waiver with their card issuer). Maybe wait a couple of weeks to see if it corrects itself first.
I also had the same issue with Gift Card Mall. Purchased a few BRU / TRU Gift cards from eBay and they were charged as a cash advance. I have already spent more than an hour talking with reps from GiftCardMall then Paypal then my card issuer. Someone will reach out to me within 3-4 days from GCM. Hope they can resolve the issue.
Just received my latest statement from Citi Double Cash MC. Yep, everything purchased from GCMall on eBay was coded Cash Advance. Only reason I use the Citi DC is for the 2%… that gets washed away and then some with the CA fees and interest. I have been on the phone all morning with GCM, PP and Citi… all point to the other guys. Absolutely no headway. Very frustrating. The Gyft tactic sounds reasonable.
Does anyone know if Discover gets the CA coding from GCMall/PP ? 1% is certainly looking good.
Thanks
If you have Amex,that is fine, reportedly. Not sure about Discover. You can also buy an eBay gift card first and use that for GCM purchases.
Thanks Chuck.
I do usually buy Target GCs through GCM with eBay GCs with a little charged to a CC in order to ‘use up’ the eBay GCs. Sometimes I get a good deal with EbayBux on the TGT GCs and need to use my CC instead… saving my discounted eBay cards for the main items I buy with the EbayBux deal on.
chase informed me that CA limit cannot be set to true is this a true ?
YMMV, some banks make a hard time; I thought Chase was generally okay with it, from memory. Try asking a different rep.
Got hit by CA fee on ink — I do remember setting my CA fee to zero on my ink and some jerk from Chase tells me that they cannot have a CA fee of zero go figure
I’ve purchased multiple times from GCM and never had this before, but I was charge a cash advance fee on my citi MC double cash. I’ve contacted MC and paid the cash advance already so it doesn’t accure interest if they don’t change the fee processing and contacted GCM. I will give them a chance to fix the issue or I’ll leave negative feedback.
I sent a note to Giftcardmall. My order was refunded but not the cash advance fee. I never requested they cancel and refund my order. They are investigating the order.
I used citi card and was also charge Usd10.00 as cash advance. not happy!!
i sent a note to Giftcardmall , hope them fix it.
Related to Giftcardmall but not to this thread:
Received from them a $0 Target Gift Card almost two weeks ago (starting balance so I suspect it was never activated) and so far their customer service has been almost like talking to a wall, first they simply told me to call Target because the gift card was activated correctly according to their system and provided me an order number, I called Target various times and every time the representatives sounded like they weren’t sure how to handle this case, also the order number didn’t help, so they requested more information (and even email proof of purchase) and told me they would investigate.
My patience is running out so I initiated an “Item not a described” process on eBay and Giftcardmall responded with a condescending “we’ll make an exception to our Final Sales policy and check this case” which is ridiculous because any return policy is void on eBay/Paypal if the item is not as described.
By the way I took an screenshot of the “$0 Starting Balance”and send it to Giftcardmall (and uploaded to eBay for the case) and they apparently just ignored it every time.
Yup, I’m getting the same treatment with an unactivated Target GC…
Wow this dude is real bad.
File a SNAD complaint with paypal amd they lose every time.
Well, here’s the problem. It’s not one dude; it’s a company (Blackhawk Network). The problem is that they have a IDGAF attitude. We’re all human, we all make mistakes. The important thing is what’s one going to do to fix it?
I think Chase codes it as CA. I was trying to purchase BRU card and I was getting error in the payment page. “We can’t process your payment. Please select a different payment method or check your payment details including your billing address”
Thankfully i had my CA limit set at $100.
Please, please dont leave seller bad feedback without speaking with seller first and allowing them time to fix it.
Love this website but why in the world would you encourage buyers to leave mass negatives??
As an avid ebay seller I cant stand customers who would leave a negative without reaching out and would block them shortly after.
Feedback is everything to sellers that care on ebay.
My rep meant everything to me, even after 100,000 positives even one bad experience bothered me.
Many negatives at a time can get you suspended and get you to lose your ebay discounts.
Not trying to ruffle feathers here but for the love of god contact the seller first for resolution.
Carlos, the reason I suggested it for GCM (and would never suggest it for most ebay sellers) is two-fold:
1) Historically, bad feedback is the only thing they listen to.
2) They have tens of thousands of positive feedback so a few (well-deserved) negatives won’t hurt them in the long run. It will just help them get of their — and fix the problem.
Ah ok, well if he doesnt care about his customers then he well deserves to get negs.
I havent been aound long enough to know this guy is a mo.
My bad and im sorry.
Biggest problems with big sellers is that they dont care about the neg hit.
I do I have over 100,000 now only 1 bad hit from another seller trying to get my goose.
I will do whatever it takes to make it right.
This is my fault for responding.
As I havent been around long ive been around long enough to know there shouldve been a reason why you were saying that.
You live and learn.
Hey, no hard feelings. Was just ‘splainin 🙂
Thanks pal 🙂
I think giftcardmall and ebay are on the same boat. They won’t get suspended unless ebay is bankrupted.
I would leave Giftcard Mall bad feedback on GPs. They are a horrible company (really they are just an arm of Blackhawk–if you’ve been in the MS game for long, you’ve had a bad experience with Blackhawk). Getting resolution with any problem is a nightmare. If you do get a human being to talk to, it is a surly, yet sleepy person in California, who may or may not feel like helping you. And, that’s when they even can do anything to help, which is pretty infrequently.
I am sure that Chuck is speaking from similar experiences and data points when he says to leave negative feedback. It’s the only way they will actually change the policy.