Now Safe to Buy Gift Cards from SVM on eBay (?)

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.

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21 Comments
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Savemesf
Savemesf (@guest_356439)
February 18, 2017 23:10

In spite of what they said in their response to those of us who complained, they haven’t done jack except get ebay to delete the negative feedbacks that mention the cash advance fee. Bad SVM 🙁

Batastil
Batastil (@guest_356490)
February 19, 2017 02:06

Holy crap! Ebay just deletes all the negative feedback? I had to check to see if myself to believe! Fuck ebay.

Steve
Steve (@guest_356399)
February 18, 2017 20:53

I bought from SVM this morning with Chase Ink Preferred, and my “Available for Cash Advance” amount decreased. Does that mean it was treated as a cash advance, or is this normal for SVM and it’ll post as a purchase?

Steve
Steve (@guest_358053)
February 21, 2017 22:48

It seems to have posted as a purchase (the Chase website shows my Cash Advance Balance as $0).

(I did do something weird that may or may not have affected it; between the pending charge disappearing and the posted charge appearing, I sent a SM to Chase to decrease my Cash Advance Limit to $20.)

Glenn
Glenn (@guest_356382)
February 18, 2017 19:43

Cash advance fee of $10 on Barclay Arrival+ on 17th:

Description: PAYPAL *SVM LP
Merchant Category: QUASI CASH – MERCHANT

Brian
Brian (@guest_356365)
February 18, 2017 18:38

I just had a transaction on the 15th post as a cash advance my Citi Honors . Then my statement closed the next day. This will be a mess. Not fixed.

Gary
Gary (@guest_355793)
February 17, 2017 13:42

Still happening today. Chase declined the transaction and called to verify I was attempting a cash advance.

Joe S
Joe S (@guest_355753)
February 17, 2017 12:45

I was just charged a $13.95 cash advance fee for a transaction (Barclaycard Arrival+) on the 15th… not fixed.

Nanu
Nanu (@guest_355009)
February 16, 2017 16:20

As of Feb 16th at 3pm EST, still doesn’t seem to work.
Just tried to do a $200 transaction with a card that has cash advance limit set to $100 and it wouldn’t go through.

MP90
MP90 (@guest_353866)
February 15, 2017 12:48

Doesn’t matter anymore because I only wanted the Lowe’s cards and they’re no longer in stock.

banananon
banananon (@guest_353948)
February 15, 2017 15:39

As of 2/15 noon PPDG has the deal you’re looking for in stock

Pavel
Pavel (@guest_353827)
February 15, 2017 11:27

I think it is not yet fixed. I tried to buy 2 Sunoco cards but both PayPal and eBay failed to proceed transaction with using my credit card which has 0 cash advance limit.
“Unfortunately, we can’t process this payment. Here are your options: …”

Pavel
Pavel (@guest_354133)
February 15, 2017 21:37

yep. today. I tried twice with PayPal (card was attached and used several times before) and once with ebay (attaching the card directly)

Mike L
Mike L (@guest_353963)
February 15, 2017 16:03

Same issue. I spent about an hour on the phone with PayPal trying to get them to fix it before I just gave up. PayPal has some seriously messed up systems and their customer service is garbage. It’s especially funny since most of the ones that require that you checkout through PayPal are actually SOLD by PayPal Digital Gifts.

farsighted99
farsighted99 (@guest_353986)
February 15, 2017 16:51

I’ve spent hours on the phone with PayPal recently after losing over $1800 worth of gift cards that got scammed. I’m staying away from this (and most gift cards) until I get the rest of my PayPal Digital Gift cards refunded ($655 to go). These guys don’t know what they are doing, in my estimation.

Better to buy gift cards from the source (Best Buy’s from Best Buy, for example).

More trouble