Raise.com sent out a note to their bulk sellers that iTunes/Apple gift cards can no longer be listed on their site after today, 9/15. Gift cards listed today and prior will remain available for sale. If you have cards to sell, but sure to list them now. (Note, only bulk sellers are able to sell iTunes/Apple on Raise.)
Just last month, in a major shake up, Apple changed to have Apple and iTunes gift cards both work to buy products on Apple.com. More details on the change can be found here. Now, Apple is actively requesting second-hand sellers to selling iTunes/Apple gift cards. (I wonder if they reached out to other second-hand exchanges too or only to Raise who they have a relationship with as Raise sells first-hand iTunes/Apple cards too as part of the Raise Cash Back program and the Raise Slide app.)
When Apple made the change to their gift card system, two thoughts came to my mind: 1) wow, iTunes gift cards are really valuable now for resale (as well as for actual use), and 2) Apple will probably stop offering discounts on their gift cards through all the outlets they used to offer discounted iTunes gift cards.
To the first point regarding resale, it looks like they are cracking down on that. To the second point, from what we’ve seen, it seems Apple is still planning on having their gift cards widely available, with deals and all, albeit smaller deals. I think they are pursuing a new strategy in this realm, that’s my feeling.
A third interesting angle has come to light that you can use any one of various streaming bonuses to load your Apple ID and use those funds to buy Apple products (iPhone, iPad, Mac, Airpods, etc.). This is another good way to get discounted Apple products. Notably, you can get 10x Ultimate Rewards on up to $1,500 of streaming purchases through the end of September.
