sterlingice
08-29-2009, 09:53 AM
Ok, I understand gift cards in the most generic sense- you want to get something for someone who you don't quite know what to get a specific gift for but understand their interests: do it yourselfer at Lowes, gadget geek at Best Buy, etc.
But why buy them on ebay? Pretty much every kiosk in every store has them even for competing stores. Then again, I understand if you can't get out of the house- no transportation or something a bit more uncommon like agoraphobia or some sort of immune deficiency, etc.
So, I'm trying to order something on Amazon this weekend and I think to myself "hey, if someone were trying to quickly sell a gift card, maybe I could get one to save a few bucks". You know, it'd be something like someone getting a gift card from work or maybe credit card points or something and maybe spin that $50 gift card for $40 in cash since a gift card is limited. But for some reason, every single Amazon gift card is actually *above* the cost of the value on the card on ebay. So, for instance, a $100 gift card is going for $105!
Why would anyone do this when, say, cash or a credit card is much more flexible. And most of these are Paypal only so you had to have had a credit card or cash to actually do this. Is this some sort of money laundering that I don't know about or, simply, what's the deal?
SI
But why buy them on ebay? Pretty much every kiosk in every store has them even for competing stores. Then again, I understand if you can't get out of the house- no transportation or something a bit more uncommon like agoraphobia or some sort of immune deficiency, etc.
So, I'm trying to order something on Amazon this weekend and I think to myself "hey, if someone were trying to quickly sell a gift card, maybe I could get one to save a few bucks". You know, it'd be something like someone getting a gift card from work or maybe credit card points or something and maybe spin that $50 gift card for $40 in cash since a gift card is limited. But for some reason, every single Amazon gift card is actually *above* the cost of the value on the card on ebay. So, for instance, a $100 gift card is going for $105!
Why would anyone do this when, say, cash or a credit card is much more flexible. And most of these are Paypal only so you had to have had a credit card or cash to actually do this. Is this some sort of money laundering that I don't know about or, simply, what's the deal?
SI