I wanted to warn readers about two potential problems with purchasing gift cards from eBay.
Issue #1 – Cash Advance Fees
Update: Money Meta Game has a blog and it’s well worth reading. Here is their post on this issue.
Reddit user moneymetagameblog reports that they purchased two eBay gift cards recently during the $72 for $75 sale with a Barclaycard Arrival+. When they checked their statement it showed up as follows:
- Merchant name:Â PP *GIFTCARDMAL
- Merchant category:Â QUASI CASH – MERCHANT
They were unfortunately charged cash advance fees for this purchase and it did not earn points (cash advances never earn points and do not count towards minimum spend requirements). Now this is only how Barclaycard (MasterCard) are coding this transaction so other payment networks/credit card issuers may not be charging cash advance fees.
Issue #2 – No Longer Earning 5x
For awhile now it’s been possible to earn 5x Chase UR points on some eBay purchase, in particular eBay gift cards have been earning 5x Chase UR points (at least from Gift Card Mall). This has made eBay gift card deals much more attractive (and profitable). It looks like this is no longer working either, which is a real shame. I’ve had a lot of readers report this (here are one and two examples).
Final Thoughts
It looks like both problems stems from the same change, purchases made from Gift Card Mall on eBay are now showing as PP *GIFTCARDMAL, in the past they have shown as PAYPAL EBAY MARKTPLC USD. It also looks like they’ve changed their merchant category code (MCC) which is causing some credit card issuers to code it as a cash advance.
There are two reasons why they’d change their MCC: they are onto us (e.g merchants have been complaining about people purchasing discounted gift cards purely for resale), they were able to get a cheaper processing rate with a different MCC. In terms of the second point, different businesses are charged different processing rates based on the risks of charge backs and other issues.
Before everybody decries that the sky is falling, let’s just hold our horses and see how this plays out. For the moment, make sure you’ve set your cash advance limit to $0 and always be aware that there is the potential for things to go wrong. That’s part of this game, if you’re unwilling to take those risks then don’t.
As always, please share your experiences in the comments below.
Are purchases made directly on the giftcardmall website affected?
I haven’t heard of any issues with that. The eBay issue has been fixed BTW.
Had a $50. Gift card from ETSY which I used and charged the overage to PAYPAL. I was charged FOUR times for the overage. $33.00 x 4. How can I fix this? Chase says go to Paypal.
Please help. I was charged four times the same amount for the balance of a $50 gift card
How do I get this resolved?
Contact eBay directly or file a chargeback with your credit card issuer. I always find it easiest to try and sort out with the merchant first.
Does PayPal_Digital purchases still post as 5X with ink? thanks
Here’s an alternative way to still earn 5X on chase ink purchases via gyft.com. GYFT.com sells ebay gift card and all purchases made on GYFT.com paid via paypal gets you 5X points. I purchased $75 amazon gift card on April 14th and the charge came through as PAYPAL *GYFT with bonus points posted.
Also, ebates gives 1% CB on any purchases on GYFT.com.
So, first I buy ebay GC from GYFT.com and get 1% CB. The code is sent to you instantly and you can just go to your wallet on GYFT and get the code revealed. There is no waiting for email. However, the code still takes few hours before you can use it on ebay.
Then I use topcashback and buy other GCs from giftcardmall or someone else and get 1.5% CB. This time I also earn ebay bucks. I then use the previously purchased ebay GC to pay for the purchase entirely.
I posted this info elsewhere but copying it here for others.
Enjoy !!!
Why would you not use topcashback for purchasing at GYFT and get 2% also?
I also had my last purchase using a CitiBusiness aadvantage mastercard process as a cash advance. Fortunately it was only $24 as the rest I paid by eBay gift card. Though my account doesn’t show a CA charge yet a 3% fee will be assessed, according to the CSR who also stated they do not waive CA fees as it is controlled by the merchant. Perhaps contacting giftcardmall will shed some light.
I really appreciate you posting this heads up – thank you!
Capital one charged CA fees two. $10 gone. Capital One refused to cancel CA fees arguing its a merchant who decides to code it and they “CAN’T” reverse it..!!
Made an eBay GC purchase from giftcardmall on Apr 14th with Chase Ink. Still hasnt posted to my account but I saw it pending as “PP *GIFTCARDMAL” instead of the usual “PAYPAL EBAY MARKTPLC USD” and I see my cash advance available lower than its max so it must be posting as CA. Sucks
Strangely Chase will only let me lower my limit to $20. Good enough I guess.
Guess its now time to try to buy eBay gift cards from office supply stores
I used my Ink Plus to take advantage of the Sears deal two days ago. It was first shown as PP *GIFTCARDMAL with cash advance but is shown as PAYPAL EBAY MARKTPLC USD without cash advance as of now
I used my Chase IHG card to purchase some gift cards from GiftCardMall on eBay and was charged a cash advance fee. I managed to get the fee waived, but they’d only lower the CA limit to $100.