Cardpool has announced that it has shut down permanently. Unlike other gift card resellers Cardpool states that all sellers have been paid out and those who have sold gift cards within the last week will receive their payment shortly. Cardpool does state that the buyer guarantee is no longer valid, so if you’ve purchased giftcards from Cardpool I’d recommend using them sooner rather than later.
Hat tip to GC Galore
Not sure if this was covered here and I didn’t see it, but there are reports that CardPool was hacked and millions in gift cards as well as credit cards were stolen and sold on the black market.
Deadpool.
F
I miss PlasticJungle.
My (completely speculative) theory is that this company, like many young start-ups, began life with an influx of capital from investors. Flush with cash, they were able to provide a solid product that consumers liked, but eventually the business model proved unsustainable and they needed to find a way to wind down operations while avoiding legal liability. Like MoviePass/Sinemia, as they saw their investor capital rapidly dwindle, they began resorting to shadier and shadier methods to hide the fact that they were hemorrhaging cash. Delaying payments was obviously one of these methods – sell the card, but don’t pay the seller for weeks or months – this bought them some time to keep the lights on. Based upon public records, it does appear that they basically sold the company to themselves and de-listed it, likely to protect their executives from financial/legal liability, and when the time was right they announced they were closing. If anyone still has not been paid, don’t hold your breath, as they can’t send you money they don’t have. It’s very obvious that the company had gone broke by late 2019, and by late 2020 had taken on so much water that they had no option but to close down. I would encourage everyone to do one thing though – keep a close eye on your credit reports and be vigilant for any fraudulent activity – if Cardpool was hard up for money, then you certainly can’t assume that they did not sell your data to unscrupulous third parties.
How are these executives different from people who commit petty crimes and end up in jail?
Because they are rich and are protected by lawyers.
I’d assume the business model was sustainable at some point but scammers/criminals eventually found ways to rip them off. I mean that’s how Plastic Jungle went out of business.
It’s sad to see them go but this whole secondary market for gc has turned into a waste of time anyway. There is either no saving over buying gc with high cashback cc or the saving is so small that it isn’t worth the risk/hassle.
Exactly. And of course then they blame the pandemic as if that has fuck all to do with a digital platform for giftcards
I doubt the pandemic was 100% responsible for the site’s meltdown – it appears they started having issues in late 2019 – but it likely pushed them over an edge on which they were already teetering. With their capital dwindling they were probably facing a liquidity crisis, and then the pandemic hit, putting them in a position where a smoldering fire turned into a five alarm blaze. With most retail/entertainment/restaurant/bar establishments closed for months, and people stuck at home with nothing to do, they likely wound up with a glut of people trying to sell them gift cards that no one could use, on top of the existing inventory they simply could not move. No one was going to buy a Buffalo Wild Wings gift card in April 2020…no one was going to buy a Regal Cinema gift card…no one was going to buy a Dave & Buster’s gift card…no one was going to buy a Southwest Airlines gift card..no one was going to buy an Uber gift card. On top of this, many out-of-work Americans, stuck at home and in a cash crunch, likely flooded the site with more and more gift cards that they could not use – the problem being, no one else could use them either, thus they did not sell. Thus the perfect storm hit – a glut of inventory that cannot be moved because no one wants it, crashing revenues, and burned investor capital. All businesses at this stage are almost certainly operating at a loss; it’s finding that sustainable business model that eventually allows businesses to move into the black and stay afloat. Cardpool, by late 2019, was realizing they were not going to find that model; with the pandemic hitting in March 2020, their demise accelerated and resulted in bad faith efforts to hide their situation while their customers were left holding the bag.
TLDR
Cardpool is Deadpool
They deserved to go out of business. I was a bulk seller for years and they were great. Then they sold to someone and went to shit.
They sold me Smashburger e-gift cards once, which I couldn’t use for months because the e-order system was down.
Then when the system went back up, Smashburger said they don’t accept e-giftcards.
I’ve always held a grudge against Cardpool for this.
I have only ever used CardCash and Raise (and only a little bit – basically getting GCs out of some CC SUB/rebate, and finding I can’t use them, so needing to cash out).
Are these two still considered okay?
Raise has been flawless for me. The one time I had a drained giftcard on the day of purchase, they refunded me within 2 days. With that said, there are some horror stories online too of people who don’t have my experience. Anything is possible, YMMV.
Raise has a stellar customer service record with me. Tens of thousands of dollars worth purchased, a few drained cards but they’ve ALWAYS refunded the cost, usually within 24 hours.
I bought a GameStop $20 gift card from Cardpool, should have bought GameStop’s stock, in Apr 2020, and could never use it. And Cardpool’s went dead, the customer service page was deleted, its phone number was out of service, its email seems working but no replies, until Nov 2020. I emailed Cardpool again in Nov, got replied, was told that they can do shit for its customer now.
TPM again?