# Why would anyone pay MORE for a gift card **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 11, 2017, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226 "2017-04-11T10:05:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/21 "2017-04-12T18:10:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I see $50 on [this page.](http://www.ebay.com/itm/45-00-Kroger-Gift-Card-Three-X-15-00-Card-/152502190935?rmvSB=true) $5.50 Standard Shipping | See details ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/22 "2017-04-12T18:13:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I see $50 on [this page.](http://www.ebay.com/itm/45-00-Kroger-Gift-Card-Three-X-15-00-Card-/152502190935?rmvSB=true) $5.50 is showing up for me with that link. Perhaps you have an unusual shipping location cached? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/23 "2017-04-12T18:19:08Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Holy fucking Christ! That first example is not only $57.38 for $45 bucks in Kroger gift cards-there is also the _additional_ $50 in shipping and handling! > This has got to be either money laundering…or a stupidity test. Or they’re not actually selling gift cards but something illegal or at least not allowed on eBay. Just a WAG, no cite. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/24 "2017-04-12T21:07:32Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > $5.50 is showing up for me with that link. Perhaps you have an unusual shipping location cached? It looks like any non-US location shows up as $50, but none of the stores appear have non-US locations anyway. Within the U.S., shipping is $5.50. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/25 "2017-04-12T21:11:05Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > It looks like any non-US location shows up as $50, but none of the stores appear have non-US locations anyway. Within the U.S., shipping is $5.50. Problem solved-Apparently my company’s computer system is based out of Canadaland. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/26 "2017-04-12T21:31:34Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > This doesn’t just happen online. Every drugstore and supermarket sells Visa and AMEX gift cards for $5 more than face value. That’s because product gift cards are sold by the original vendors as a discounted sale - f’rex, Applebee’s allows $50 gift cards to be sold with a merchant discount of 5% or so and they end up eating the difference since it’s meant to be a come-on. Ditto for store cards. But when you sell a cash-value card where the value may go to any retailer, both the issuer (Visa) and the merchant selling it have to make their few bucks in profit, hence the surcharge. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/27 "2017-04-14T14:32:48Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > That’s because product gift cards are sold by the original vendors as a discounted sale - f’rex, Applebee’s allows $50 gift cards to be sold with a merchant discount of 5% or so and they end up eating the difference since it’s meant to be a come-on. Ditto for store cards. > > But when you sell a cash-value card where the value may go to any retailer, both the issuer (Visa) and the merchant selling it have to make their few bucks in profit, hence the surcharge. Also, since gift cards for products/services/stores can only be used only for/at those particular products/services/stores, there’s a decent chance money will be left on that card(if it is used at all), whereas Visa cards and the like are the same think as cash in most places and more likely to be used up. Breaking even or giving a slight discount for the former can still net a profit in the long run because of this. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/28 "2017-04-14T14:35:48Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > My educated guess is that people have money in a paypal acct that they cant spend so easily so buy gift cards. There are plenty of gift card exchange sites that A. Accept Paypal and B. Sell cards for **less** than face value. No reason to get conned on Ebay when you can buy the same card elsewhere for Paypal and spend much less. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/29 "2017-04-14T15:17:56Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > Or they’re not actually selling gift cards but something illegal or at least not allowed on eBay. > > Just a WAG, no cite. Parenthetical: This is one method by which [gold farmers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_farming) work in MMORPGs. It’s a shadowy practice, frowned on by the companies which run the games (engaging in it is usually against the terms of service), but there are companies (often based in China) which employ people to “play” the game, but what those players are specifically doing is engaging in in-game activities that generate in-game currency (“gold”). The companies then collect the gold from their employees, and offer to sell it to players for real-world money. Many games have in-game marketplaces or auctions in which players can sell items to each other. At least in the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO, when a player contracts to buy “gold” from a farmer, he’s instructed to place a small item up for sale on the in-game auction system – let’s say, an item that might be expected to sell for 100 credits. But, the player is instructed to place an absurdly high price on the item (say, 50 million credits). Once the player has sent the farmer his real-world money, the farmer purchases the worthless item on the auction, and the player gets the large sum of credits. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/30 "2017-04-14T15:58:14Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Also, since gift cards for products/services/stores can only be used only for/at those particular products/services/stores, there’s a decent chance money will be left on that card(if it is used at all), whereas Visa cards and the like are the same think as cash in most places and more likely to be used up. Breaking even or giving a slight discount for the former can still net a profit in the long run because of this. Of course. Gift cards are a cash cow for most retail stores (and restaurants) that sell them or allow them to be sold on their behalf - they eat some small commision/discount/sales fee but probably end up with more revenue than the card’s face value, plus remainder value never used, plus new/return business. Win/win. Just to hammer it home, that’s why cash cards like Visa and Amex have to charge up front - there is little or no downstream revenue or customer loyalty to be gained, and recent legislation makes it harder to gouge fees and keep remainder values. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/31 "2017-04-14T18:23:04Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Of course. Gift cards are a cash cow for most retail stores (and restaurants) that sell them or allow them to be sold on their behalf - they eat some small commision/discount/sales fee but probably end up with more revenue than the card’s face value, plus remainder value never used, plus new/return business. Win/win. I used to have a large casual dining restaurant chain as a client. Their franchisees _loved_ selling gift cards at Christmas – it was money in their pockets at the end of the fiscal year, and they’d effectively be making money on the “float” (the time between selling the card and the card being used). Add in the not-small percentage of gift cards that wound up never being redeemed at all, and there was very little for them not to like. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/32 "2017-04-14T18:51:32Z")
Economics Gone Wild? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/33 "2017-04-14T20:43:46Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Holy fucking Christ! That first example is not only $57.38 for $45 bucks in Kroger gift cards-there is also the _additional_ $50 in shipping and handling! > This has got to be either money laundering…or a stupidity test. That’s actually not a bad idea. Buy a $50 gift card, sell it for $100 to someone you are in cahoots with and launder money that way. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/34 "2017-04-15T04:03:21Z")
The same Ebay sellers are also selling commemorative collector coins, and their asking price is 3-4 times the listed price on any other coin shop offers. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/35 "2017-04-15T05:04:12Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > That’s actually not a bad idea. Buy a $50 gift card, sell it for $100 to someone you are in cahoots with and launder money that way. that’s not how money laundering works. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/36 "2017-04-15T08:25:09Z")
If money laundering had anything to do with it, the client would need to buy at least a thousand cards in order to launder a fairly modest stash of cash. One thought I had was that the seller is taking bids on it, and quotes that as a buy-it-now price to make bidders think it was worth more, but there is no bid-entering on these offers. Banks have all stopped selling anonymous cash cards, because of their misuse for transferring untraceable cash, such as ransom to kidnappers in Honduras. The Kroger cards, once issued, can be re-loaded, so maybe some gangs have found a loophole in which these cards can be used for such purposes. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/37 "2017-04-15T14:10:53Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > that’s not how money laundering works. Selling something of low worth for a high price is a classic way to take bribes or payoffs without it being obvious or provable. Art is the usual medium. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/38 "2017-04-15T16:44:22Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Selling something of low worth for a high price is a classic way to take bribes or payoffs without it being obvious or provable. Art is the usual medium. $100 is not a high price. ML need to move thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions. Not $100. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/39 "2017-04-15T20:52:14Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > $100 is not a high price. > > ML need to move thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions. Not $100. Not everyone with questionably obtained money is at the top of the pile. There’s a _lot_ of low level grunts who will never earn 100Gs total. And a small timer doesn’t need to launder all the money. Some stuff can be paid in cash but, here and there, something needs to go into a bank with a patina of legitimacy to it. So a few hundred dollars a week from fake gift card “sales” is all some people need. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2017, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226/40 "2017-04-15T21:23:30Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Not everyone with questionably obtained money is at the top of the pile. There’s a _lot_ of low level grunts who will never earn 100Gs total. > > And a small timer doesn’t need to launder all the money. Some stuff can be paid in cash but, here and there, something needs to go into a bank with a patina of legitimacy to it. > > So a few hundred dollars a week from fake gift card “sales” is all some people need. Then with a few hundred dollars- _you just deposit it into a bank or spend it._ This is not how money laundering works. I am a expert in this field. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-anyone-pay-more-for-a-gift-card/784226.md?page=3)