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On one of my Ebay accounts that is hooked up to a merchant account only (no PayPal), I usually pay the fees with a USPS money order. Recently when I was in the post office to buy a money order for this, I noticed the Ebay gift cards on the rack. I grabbed one and asked the postal clerk what the fee was to purchase the card. "Nothing," she said, "no surcharge."
Well that seemed like a no brainer - a USPS money order costs $1.25 and this Ebay gift card costs nothing, and besides, may be purchased with a credit card for no surcharge. I used a Chase card I have that gives a 2% rebate on all purchases for the needed $150. gift card. Wow, instead of spending $1.25, I just spent nothing to get the card AND will get back a $3. rebate on the deal. Sounds li' fun to mee.
But the first thing I noticed on the way to the car was the USPS receipt stating, "**All gift card sales are final**" Hmm. And then, when I got home and turned over the gift card and read the back - there it was, "This card may not be used to pay eBay or PayPal service fees." The term "service fees" sounds a little convoluted but I didn't even need to do further checking to know - of course Ebay wasn't going to allow someone to pay them their fees at a cost to Ebay. I mean, you had to assume that the post office was getting something out of the sale, both to cover their processing costs on accepting a credit card for the purchase, and to make it worth their while to sell the card at all. Probably in the end Ebay would be out about 5% for the card, which they would not be willing to just pass along for nothing which would be what they would get out of letting someone pay Ebay fees with the Ebay gift card.
Anyway, luckily I do occasionally buy items on Ebay so the $150. gift card will go for that, or maybe I'll just buy something for the girlfriend with it or just give her the card to use on Ebay. I started to bring up the matter to the next postal clerk I encountered a couple of days later when I went in to buy the $150. money order that I should have just bought in the first place, but she didn't really understand what the big deal was and thought the Ebay gift card could just be used to pay for the money order. No, um, it's not that kind of gift card - it's not a Visa gift card, it's a.... Anyway, I gave up trying to explain the dilemma to her. She suggested bringing the matter up to the postmaster, but I didn't even have the gift card or the receipt with me, and probably their policy comes from intractable Ebay which wouldn't allow a refund anyway.
In fact, there it is on the back of the card itself, "Not refundable or redeemable for cash unless required by law." And in California, I'm aware, only the under last ten dollars of a gift card must be redeemed for cash by the merchant who sold it.
So anyway - be aware. Beware! Ebay gift cards may not be used to pay your Ebay or PayPal selling fees!
Well that seemed like a no brainer - a USPS money order costs $1.25 and this Ebay gift card costs nothing, and besides, may be purchased with a credit card for no surcharge. I used a Chase card I have that gives a 2% rebate on all purchases for the needed $150. gift card. Wow, instead of spending $1.25, I just spent nothing to get the card AND will get back a $3. rebate on the deal. Sounds li' fun to mee.
But the first thing I noticed on the way to the car was the USPS receipt stating, "**All gift card sales are final**" Hmm. And then, when I got home and turned over the gift card and read the back - there it was, "This card may not be used to pay eBay or PayPal service fees." The term "service fees" sounds a little convoluted but I didn't even need to do further checking to know - of course Ebay wasn't going to allow someone to pay them their fees at a cost to Ebay. I mean, you had to assume that the post office was getting something out of the sale, both to cover their processing costs on accepting a credit card for the purchase, and to make it worth their while to sell the card at all. Probably in the end Ebay would be out about 5% for the card, which they would not be willing to just pass along for nothing which would be what they would get out of letting someone pay Ebay fees with the Ebay gift card.
Anyway, luckily I do occasionally buy items on Ebay so the $150. gift card will go for that, or maybe I'll just buy something for the girlfriend with it or just give her the card to use on Ebay. I started to bring up the matter to the next postal clerk I encountered a couple of days later when I went in to buy the $150. money order that I should have just bought in the first place, but she didn't really understand what the big deal was and thought the Ebay gift card could just be used to pay for the money order. No, um, it's not that kind of gift card - it's not a Visa gift card, it's a.... Anyway, I gave up trying to explain the dilemma to her. She suggested bringing the matter up to the postmaster, but I didn't even have the gift card or the receipt with me, and probably their policy comes from intractable Ebay which wouldn't allow a refund anyway.
In fact, there it is on the back of the card itself, "Not refundable or redeemable for cash unless required by law." And in California, I'm aware, only the under last ten dollars of a gift card must be redeemed for cash by the merchant who sold it.
So anyway - be aware. Beware! Ebay gift cards may not be used to pay your Ebay or PayPal selling fees!
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