Gift card seller SVMgiftcards on eBay has been coding as a cash advance on most credit cards for the past few days.
They’ve now sent out an email indicating the issue has been fixed. We’ll have to wait for actual data points to confirm, but if they’re blasting out an email indicating that it’s fixed it probably is.
Update: As per the comments to this post, the issue is NOT fixed at all.
SVM also promises that each affected buyer will be contacted within the next three business days by eBay or Paypal to resolve the issue. Presumably, they’ll refund the cash advance which will result in all your fees being reversed. You might have to contact them first to get a resolution as these emails seem to have only been sent out to those who initiated contact, I believe.
Here’s the text of the email which was sent out to many people:
Thank you for reaching out to SVM Gift Cards. We are aware of the erroneous Cash Advance charge that has affected some of our customers recently and apologize for the inconvenience. We have been ensured that the error has been corrected by eBay and PayPal so that future orders will not be effected.
Please note that this was NOT a mistake caused by SVM, rather it was an internal processing error in the PayPal system. We are working diligently with eBay and PayPal to rectify the situation with those customers that have been affected, but have limited control due to the issue stemming from non-SVM controlled systems. If you have been affected by this issue and have not received contact from PayPal or eBay within the next three business days, please respond directly to this message and we will work to get this resolved on your behalf.
I’m a bit skeptical about their claim that it’s entirely Paypal’s fault since the category coding got switched over and it seems odd that Paypal instituted that change on their own. Either way, let’s just hope it’s fixed now.
