Issues with eBay 15% off Gift Cards Deal

Luke256 on 14/12/2016 - 08:30
Last edited 15/12/2016 - 19:26 by 2 other users

MOD: title updated. We have independently received communication from eBay that it is not a scam, and cwongtech has explained why the eBay account might be suspended. More official response coming later.

15/12:

Update from Gift Card Store/Blackhawk Network:

  • Their store has now been relisted on eBay.
  • They will send a notification out to buyers to let them know.
  • Their warehouse is going through the backlog of orders and is almost caught up.
  • They are getting a huge amount of customer queries but they are replying within 1 day. Feel free to contact them to confirm.
  • They have opened up an OzBargain account and are monitoring this thread.

The recent Ebay front page deal for 15% off gift cards is a scam as confirmed by Ebay.
Link to deal on OzBargain https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/280273

The seller giftcardstore_au (http://www.ebay.com.au/usr/giftcardstore_au) is no longer a user and the majority of feedback is negative.

I started an online chat with ebay this morning to cancel my order made 10 Dec 2016. They confirmed it was a scam (i said i think it was a scam due to XYZ and they said "Yes.It is a scam.") but then they said:

"I tried to open a refund request for you, but get the message"Unfortunately, this item isn't in a category covered by eBay Buyer Protection.We don't offer buyer protection on items listed in the Real Estate category," This message indicates that the seller has listed the item in a wrong category."

I am now trying to sort this out with ebay over the phone.
On the phone they told me they are experiencing a large number of calls and then told me to wait and the phone hung up.
So still ongoing but i think ultimately i will get my $42.50 back.

Warning to others that bought these cards!

Edit: Also informed by eBay that they dont cover protection for gift cards.
I.e. They will do nothing to help.

General Discussion

Related Stores

Blackhawk Network
Blackhawk Network

Comments

  • BensonP on 14/12/2016 - 08:32
    +2

    Member since 26th October 2016.

    I'm not saying it's black and white, but surely that looks suspicious?

    Thanks for the heads up!:)

    • EzySatisfaction on 15/12/2016 - 06:26

      I have received my 2 x $50 DJ gift card 2 days ago. Didn't seem to be a scam.:::: The gift craft store invoice that come with the delivery is $100.

      And I only payed $85 via PayPal

  • tomleonhart on 14/12/2016 - 08:35
    +2

    Oh lol. Did ozbargain just get trolled ?!!!

    • ykwon10 on 14/12/2016 - 08:54
      +3

      Luckily i did not jump on it. Never trusted eBay..haha!

  • ProjectZero on 14/12/2016 - 08:50

    If ebay will not cover it, would paypal? Assuming you used paypal to pay.

  • tomsco on 14/12/2016 - 08:58

    Paypal will be wanting to actively recover the funds from the seller, because you can be sure if the buyers don't get refunded, CC charge backs are next on the agenda.

    I didn't participate in the deal… Was it only gift cards from the one seller (giftcardstore_au), or was it any gift card? Considering it was an eBay run promotion, if it was just in conjunction with the one seller, even more onus on eBay to take responsibility.

    • cwongtech on 14/12/2016 - 11:02
      +1

      Was it only gift cards from the one seller (giftcardstore_au), or was it any gift card? Considering it was an eBay run promotion, if it was just in conjunction with the one seller, even more onus on eBay to take responsibility.

      It was just giftcardstore_au

      • tomsco on 14/12/2016 - 11:14

        Cheers. Thanks for confirming.

  • BargainCowboy on 14/12/2016 - 09:07
    +1

    Lucky I didn't jump on the bandwagon. This seller looked suspicious. Anyway, good luck trying to retrieve your money everyone.

  • scotty on 14/12/2016 - 09:26
    +10

    15% off Gift Card was certainly an official campaign — the banner was all over eBay and I've received promotional emails directly from eBay as well. I'll ask the contact there to see what's going on.

  • plmko on 14/12/2016 - 09:35
    +4

    I'm not sure Ebay can wipe their hands clean so easily if they've authorised a front page promotion. ACCC action would be necessary if the scam is true.

    • Diji1 on 14/12/2016 - 10:29

      ACCC action would be necessary if the scam is true.

      This is eBay, don't hold your breath.

  • SBOB on 14/12/2016 - 09:51
    +4

    This is going to beat the BBQ saga of 2014 :)

  • neil on 14/12/2016 - 09:52
    +1

    I've contacted Blackhawk for a response especially as I bought gift cards as well. Hopefully they'll sort it out quickly and before Christmas.

  • hotmustardsauce on 14/12/2016 - 09:54
    +1

    They are a listed company in the US

    http://ir.blackhawknetwork.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=251638&p=irol…

    Im SURE they can't be scamming. Very poor on eBay to just take their account down without explanation to buyers though. No confidence in them whatsoever

    • cwongtech on 14/12/2016 - 11:01

      Very poor on eBay to just take their account down without explanation to buyers though. No confidence in them whatsoever

      It's thanks to the nightmare customers who complain too early. Should be blaming the mail system.

      You may have seen some negative feedback on our store which has resulted in our account being temporarily suspended overnight

  • Seraphin7 on 14/12/2016 - 10:05
    +3

    Wow! This is huge, especially after all the debate in the original post.

  • mreddie on 14/12/2016 - 10:12
    +3

    They were advertising it on their front page, Ebay has got to cough up refunds for this

  • mreddie on 14/12/2016 - 10:15

    1000's of cards sold too

  • starKz on 14/12/2016 - 10:18
    +3

    This is the email I've received from them after emailing.

    We understand you may be concerned as the status of your ebay account has not been updated. Due to the large volume of orders received we are experiencing some delays however are confident we will dispatch your order very soon. We will update your ebay account as soon as you order is shipped.

    You may have seen some negative feedback on our store which has resulted in our account being temporarily suspended overnight – however ebay is helping us overcome this issue so we can continue to update purchasers as their orders are shipped. Blackhawk, the company behind the Gift Card Store, is a reputable business that distributes gift cards to Australia’s leading retailers – so you can have complete confidence this promotion was not a scam, but just a great deal J

    We are confident you will be able to enjoy this gift in time for Christmas.

    Regards,

    Gift Card Store Customer Support

  • AdosHouse on 14/12/2016 - 10:26

    They have a ABN, so they cannot just wipe their hands of it. http://www.abr.business.gov.au/SearchByAbnHistory.aspx?abn=8… and https://connectonline.asic.gov.au/RegistrySearch/faces/landi…

  • Diji1 on 14/12/2016 - 10:31
    +5

    They have a ABN, so they cannot just wipe their hands of it.

    Of course, it's not like anyone can get a legit ABN in 5 minutes so it must mean it screens out criminals. No wait that's opposite land again, i must stop living there and look at reality.

  • dtra on 14/12/2016 - 10:33

    I complained through ebay the day after it was supposed to arrive, gift_card_store replied to me with the same stuff mentioned earlier, then marked my item as sent. So will have to wait a few days to see if it actually arrives. Otherwise I will be in touch with my credit card company to get a refund.

  • cwongtech on 14/12/2016 - 10:53

    I don't think it's a scam.
    Entertainment book were doing 15% off eGift at the same time. (the ebay one lasted a bit longer though)
    We'll just have to wait and see I guess.

    Have a look at the feedback.

    Looks like it's from impatient buyers. People, blame Auspost..
    There's a few positive ones, so some people must have received theirs already.

    You may have seen some negative feedback on our store which has resulted in our account being temporarily suspended overnight

    Clearly the issue of being wiped off the face of the earth is thanks to premature negative feedback, look at the title of this post, OP drew conclusions without giving them a chance.

    • tomsco on 14/12/2016 - 11:15
      +1

      Yep, seems that way.

    • feidao on 14/12/2016 - 12:16

      Mine was marked as sent yesterday and I'm patiently waiting.

      Though I agree some buyers are being impatient (I bought a ssd from futuonline during 20% off and it was sent on the 4th working day, delivered 2 days after despatch, a total of 8 days after my order, so anything up to 2 weeks is still acceptable due to the high volume), I don't know why you can blame Auspost. I've been buying and receiving stuff from other online store or ebay seller without any delay (delivery wise, see example above) and they are sent through Auspost as well. In fact, I've received parcels last Friday night and Saturday morning (out of their usual working hours, and the parcel I received on Saturday was ahead of their Monday delivery schedule).

      • cwongtech on 14/12/2016 - 12:40

        Though I agree some buyers are being impatient (I bought a ssd from futuonline during 20% off and it was sent on the 4th working day, delivered 2 days after despatch, a total of 8 days after my order, so anything up to 2 weeks is still acceptable due to the high volume), I don't know why you can blame Auspost.

        Yep I'm waiting for 4 GCs just like you.
        From the volume of the sales, you can clearly see they had a massive volume to go through.
        If it's been over 2-3 weeks since payment, I'll grab my pitchfork and join you.

    • Luke256 on 14/12/2016 - 12:26

      I drew conclusions quickly true. But it was only when it was confirmed by eBay that it was a scam that I flipped out!

      My chat with ebay was full of false information. They told me it would be covered by eBay buyer protection and not to worry. Then talking to them on the phone I quickly get told this is not the case.

      • cwongtech on 14/12/2016 - 12:40

        My chat with ebay was full of false information. They told me it would be covered by eBay buyer protection and not to worry. Then talking to them on the phone I quickly get told this is not the case.

        Clearly either one or both are full of crap
        Wait until they fix it up or refund us all.

  • Daniel Plainview on 14/12/2016 - 11:05
    +2

    What a debacle of a promo! You know you've crapped in your own bed when the promo you run ends up generating it's own thread on OzB with the majority of people proclaiming it to be a scam!

    Honestly, people should be losing their jobs or atleast getting a kick up the arse for such a ballsup! And thats assuming this all pans out in the end and folks either get what they paid for (albeit significantly late) or refunds.

    Why nothing has been communicated to buyers is beyond me - Ebay is on one hand saying in writing 'you have nothing to worry about' but no communications and contradictory messages on whether its covered by their buyer protection system.

    Someone from this Black Hawk Network should get on here and eat some humble pie for creating such a clusterphark that we all have to endure - thankfully so many folks have taken part in this that there's no way they're going to get a free pass or get off this lightly.

    • cwongtech on 14/12/2016 - 11:25
      +1

      Why nothing has been communicated to buyers is beyond me - Ebay is on one hand saying in writing 'you have nothing to worry about' but no communications and contradictory messages on whether its covered by their buyer protection system.

      Because they can't.
      Because people have started leaving negative feedback (due to impatience obviously).
      The ebay store has no feedback to buffer against this.
      I bet once the ragers receive their cards they will go silent and have too much pride to say "Oh I received it".

      • Daniel Plainview on 14/12/2016 - 11:29
        +1

        Sorry but IF Ebay had serious concerns they could easily send a message to all persons who bought from that seller - apparently we're talking about hundreds of thousands in purchases here - so it's sure to be on the radar of the Ebay Au staff. The reason folks got impatient is the dead silence both from the seller and Ebay.

        And the seller CLEARLY would have had plenty of time to realise they were not going to be able to fulfill orders within the specified time frame and thus could have again EASILY contacted all purchasers to explain - THEY DIDN'T and as such the copped a bunch of negative feedback(which is totally 100% warranted in my book) and got removed.

        Blaming even an iota of this on the buyers is completely unacceptable - Ebay and the seller have both in their own ways made this mess - lets see what they do to clean it up.

  • spackbace on 14/12/2016 - 11:45

    Grabs popcorn

    • Cliche Guevara on 14/12/2016 - 11:51

      Didn't pay for it with a gift card…

    • Luke256 on 14/12/2016 - 12:57

      Be careful, popcorn isn't covered by Ebay's Money Back Gaurantee

  • Moderatorneil on 14/12/2016 - 11:51

    Just got a long response from Blackhawk and eBay will be putting up a statement shortly. Hopefully we can get both of them to comment on here.

    Briefly, there has been a small delay in shipping orders that were placed on our store the first couple of days of the promotion. As a result some people were concerned their order wouldn’t be fulfilled and have ran with it from there. We are a new store – this promotion was our first week of trading – so hadn’t established a feedback track record as yet. As a result the small amount of negative feedback posted on the store (in the context of the total number of orders received) resulted in an auto-bot disabling our store overnight. We are working closely with ebay to resolve this situation and they have assured us the store will be live again today.

    • mreddie on 14/12/2016 - 12:37

      They do know it's FING xmas next week don't they?

      • cwongtech on 14/12/2016 - 12:43

        11 days till Xmas.
        Stop being so impatient mate.
        If you're that concerned, use the GCs for boxing day sales and go get the permanently 10% off egift (certain stores only) at Entertainmentbook.

        • 32768 on 14/12/2016 - 13:30

          there's only 7 more working days, weekends don't count.

      • ssyl9 on 15/12/2016 - 11:31

        I normally wont think anything I buy online in December will come before Christmas anyways.

  • Luke256 on 14/12/2016 - 12:51

    For anyone interested here is the transcript of my conversation with eBay this morning.
    Not the full transcript as there was a bit about how to contact them via phone etc which is of not importance.

    Tell me what you would conclude from this? I concluded that:
    1. it was a scam
    2. i would get a refund

    Apparently both false. Thanks eBay.

    09:10:11 UTC Vineeta
    Hi Luke .
    09:10:17 UTC lukeb256
    Hi
    09:11:01 UTC Vineeta
    It seems that you want to cancel a purchase as the listing has been removed. Am I correct?
    09:11:28 UTC lukeb256
    Yes and the feedback on the sellers recent transactions all indicate the gift cards are a scam
    09:11:51 UTC Vineeta
    Yes. It is a scam.
    09:12:27 UTC Vineeta
    May I confirm the payment method which has been used for this purchase? Is it PayPal?
    09:12:35 UTC lukeb256
    Paypal was used yes
    09:13:06 UTC Vineeta
    Thank you for confirming.
    09:14:36 UTC Vineeta
    I tried to open a refund request for you, but get the message"Unfortunately, this item isn't in a category covered by eBay Buyer Protection.We don't offer buyer protection on items listed in the Real Estate category," This message indicates that the seller has listed the item in a wrong category.
    09:15:17 UTC lukeb256
    This gift car promotion was advertised on the ebay front pay and it isnt covered by ebay protection?….
    09:16:42 UTC Vineeta
    Please do not worry. You will surely get a refund in this case. You will be covered under eBay Money Back Guarantee. We have a dedicated team who will open a refund request for you. Would you please follow a few steps with me to get connected with the concerned team?
    09:17:06 UTC lukeb256
    Yes i will
    09:17:08 UTC lukeb256
    Thank you
    09:17:27 UTC Vineeta
    Please allow me 2 minutes.

    • cwongtech on 14/12/2016 - 14:10
      +1

      09:11:01 UTC Vineeta
      It seems that you want to cancel a purchase as the listing has been removed. Am I correct?
      09:11:28 UTC lukeb256
      Yes and the feedback on the sellers recent transactions all indicate the gift cards are a scam
      09:11:51 UTC Vineeta
      Yes. It is a scam.

      1) You postulated it was a scam. Normally the signs of removal of a listing and sudden negative feedback is textbook example of a scam. However in this case removal of listing would have either been because of the following two (not sure which one came first):
      - Ebay account suspended due to negative feedback
      - deal ended, so the listings were removed.

      So because the chat operator was obviously unaware of an Australian promo (most likely another day at a Filipino call centre), they agreed with you.

      Just sit tight and wait I guess

      • Luke256 on 14/12/2016 - 18:52
        +1

        How many levels of incompetence am i meant to accept before getting suspicious?

        Anyway i honestly expected eBay to tell me to wait until X business days after the expiry before lodging a complaint.
        So i was expecting/going to do that, i just wanted to get it on record that i was suspicious of these gift cards.

        Then they said it was a scam (i don't think i forced a confession out of them) and I assumed that was due to information they had from other eBay users as well.
        I didn't immediately assume the customer rep had no idea what he/she was talking about.

        I am waiting this one out, not much eBay and Paypal would do anyway.
        Can push it a bit further, but am giving them a chance since they seem to have an eBay account now.

        • cwongtech on 14/12/2016 - 20:13
          -1

          the feedback on the sellers recent transactions all indicate the gift cards are a scam

          "Gift card" and "removed listing" immediately tells the rep to agree with you

          How many levels of incompetence am i meant to accept before getting suspicious

          It looked like you jumped the gun immediately as soon as you saw the listing was removed (deal ended)
          And you got spooked by the negative feedback.

          It says estimated delivery date.
          ESTIMATED

        • Luke256 on 14/12/2016 - 21:01
          +1

          Geeez i wish you would cut me some slack like you seem to be doing with anyone related to eBay or giftcardstore_au.
          I didn't realize i was so out of line here.

        • cwongtech on 15/12/2016 - 05:51

          @Luke256:

          Geeez i wish you would cut me some slack like you seem to be doing with anyone related to eBay or giftcardstore_au.

          What, cut some slack, just like when you jumped on the chat, asked to cancel the transaction because the listings were removed (have you ever thought that might just be because the deal ended..?), and a few negative feedback were posted (obviously you didn't even check the reasons why)

          I didn't realize i was so out of line here.

          Not trying to point any fingers, but the ebay chat operator was obviously confused.

          This gift car promotion was advertised on the ebay front pay and it isnt covered by ebay protection?…. - lukeb256

          Obviously the ebay operator had NFI, if you had to bring that up. You should have brought that up in the very first line of the chat.

          Your first line after "Hi"
          Yes and the feedback on the sellers recent transactions all indicate the gift cards are a scam - lukeb256

          You already had a goal in mind. You determined the desired outcome before you started the chat and wanted to work towards that. Looking for answers selectively.

          How many levels of incompetence am i meant to accept before getting suspicious?

          Again. What did giftcardstore_au do wrong? Your reasons as they had negative feedback and the listings were removed. How is removing a listing even a reason to immediately try and cancel a transaction? Did you even think why it might have been done?
          Incompetence - the only thing they did wrong it seems is not deliver quickly enough. You could see by their sheer volume and expect delays, are you new on OzBargain, have you not seen the raw power of Ozbargain for a good deal? We bring down sites just from buying stuff! You should have expected a small delay from the estimated delivery
          See below, and on the original 15% off page. People are getting them today.
          With regards to negative feedback, if you did your due diligence before you picked up the pitchfork, you would have seen they were wrongly accused, and common sense would have told you account suspension was automatically issued thanks to that.

          Tell me what you would conclude from this? I concluded that:
          1. it was a scam
          2. i would get a refund
          - Luke256

          You wanted those things to happen before you even started the chat mate. You had an outcome you wanted, as per the first line of your chat after "Hi"

          The original title of this post was "CONFIRMED SCAM", after a chat with an ebay chat operator who obviously had no clue about the promo, else why would you need to bring it up?
          Cut you some slack?
          Double standards these days eh?

      • highdealer on 14/12/2016 - 23:42

        Vineeta

        I have quite a few friend with this name. All of them are from South Asia region. So i would say that the person responding to OP is probably some one from India oblivious to the situation in AUS.

  • Rodrrico on 14/12/2016 - 12:53

    I for one have decided to escalate this to Paypal to chase for a full refund and I recommend anyone who purchased these cards to do the same. I had called ebay early this morning to find out why the buyer protection was void for an item that was listed on their main page (where one would comfortably assume that Ebay would only list trusted stores under their 'Ebay deals' umbrella). After a long winded waste of a conversation with a useless Ebay phone basher, I have found it clear that the only way to show ebay that we as consumers are pissed off is by all launching a mass refund dispute. I have been using ebay actively for the better part of a decade, though now that this has happened and Ebay's response has been very much 'too bad' I can't trust them anymore.

    It takes a lifetime to craft a relationship and but a second to lose it.

    • hotmustardsauce on 14/12/2016 - 13:42

      Cant open a dispute. PayPal says the category is not eligible for eBay protection

      • tomsco on 14/12/2016 - 13:56

        Credit card. Not that I'm saying he should. Sounds like they will come.

    • cwongtech on 14/12/2016 - 14:12

      takes a lifetime to craft a relationship and but a second to lose it.

      Please. It took you two seconds to click buy it now and a forum full of pitchforks for you to lose the trust.

      • Rodrrico on 14/12/2016 - 15:35
        -2

        Good to know that you are from the so called 'customer support' for the gift card store. I will be sure to list your name when I put negative feedback. Clearly they have hired the wrong person for customer support. Screenshoting all your mismanaged knee jerk reaction comments on this site to back up my feedback. Not a good move at all…

        • cwongtech on 14/12/2016 - 15:37
          +8

          Good to know that you are from the so called 'customer support' for the gift card store. I will be sure to list your name when I put negative feedback. Clearly they have hired the wrong person for customer support.

          Please do! You'll make me FAMOUS
          I don't think you know how OzBargain works do you?
          I'm just a random OzBargain user who hasn't reached for the pitchfork yet.
          Not associated in any way, I bought 4 GCs and are waiting for them just like you.
          Just because I made some sense and the mod has quoted my comment, if you guys do a little investigating.. like open up the feedback and read the reasons why it was placed you'll see it's all impatient users who got spooked by this forum

          Scroll down below one post.. there's a dude who received 4 Gift Cards

        • Rodrrico on 14/12/2016 - 15:43
          -4

          @cwongtech: Conflicting response as you had previously commented with the tag 'associated with Ebay.com.au giftcardstore_au so if you are not associated with the store, why bother commenting with your verbal diarrhea on this thread to everyone? Very odd person indeed.

        • cwongtech on 14/12/2016 - 15:45

          @Rodrrico:

          'associated with Ebay.com.au giftcardstore_au

          What.. where?

          so if you are not associated with the store, why bother commenting with your verbal diarrhea on this thread to everyone?

          Because you all have pitchforks for no reason and I don't want the goddamn store to refund my gift cards. I like my 15% gift cards thank you very much.
          Seriously. Calmn down guys.

        • Rodrrico on 14/12/2016 - 15:49
          -1

          @cwongtech: Perhaps your overused emogi was what I saw. In that case, my mistake. The point still remains that I, like many other disgruntled customers are 'reaching for the pitchfork' as we have all been wronged without an appropriate or timely response. I would expect the same of me if I were a car salesman who sold me a car that was on the floor and then told that I was not actually getting the item on the floor but would have to wait without notice. Then the car lot was closed the same day with a 'foreclosure' sign plastered on the chain locked fence. You would understandably be rather annoyed no?

        • cwongtech on 14/12/2016 - 15:59
          +5

          @Rodrrico:

          Then the car lot was closed the same day with a 'foreclosure' sign plastered on the chain locked fence. You would understandably be rather annoyed no?

          I would. And I understand completely. The fault here is really the crappy ebay rep who agreed with OP because they clearly had no clue of this particular promotion (isolated to Australia). This has caused the alarm of many users, a domino effect of negative feedback causing the account to be suspended.

          However I understand that what happened is partially not their fault, and that I will get my gift cards, or my money back one way or the other. No need to grab the pitchfork just yet.

          But the thing is it's not being foreclosed.
          It's like a new dealership where they operated on extremely close cash flow (because they bought stock), someone paid a deposit, was told the car has an estimated delivery time of 1-2 weeks.
          1 week later, that particular customer goes and pulls the plug because they thought it said within 1 week.
          They file a chargeback for their check with their bank overnight.
          That customer's bank immediately pulls the money from the dealership's account, because they had so little cashflow history, suddenly the sheriff is called to stand outside the dealership to hang a CANNOT DO BUSINESS sign, and that's just what the sheriff was told to do, an automated process (just like ebay's account suspension).
          This causes widespread panic, other customers that see the sheriff in the morning also start pulling their deposit.
          Due to this CANNOT DO BUSINESS label on their bank account, the car dealership's phones were all dead by the morning, that's why if you try to ring the dealership, no one answers. -ebay account suspended, so communications cannot flow out
          No one is awake 24hrs a day, not even if you are on the Uberman sleep cycle

          All because one person did not understand Estimated delivery, and the bank account did not have much credit history, or in ebay terms, not much feedback
          Yes, it's okay to panic, but instead of joining the angry mob that's forming because most of them are YEAH I WANT MY MONEY BACK, do you want your awesome car from the dealership or not? Clearly someone got their Car(ds) after the foreclosure (ebay account suspension)

          If you see an angry customer in a shop that you also went to, do you randomly join in the argument? Shouldn't you find out why they were angry first? Is it out of their control?
          How do you work together before grabbing your pitchfork

          The point still remains that I, like many other disgruntled customers are 'reaching for the pitchfork' as we have all been wronged without an appropriate or timely response.

          No timely response because their ebay account was suspended. People have posted email responses from Blackhawk. You can grab one too if you feel like it, but since it's the same email that's sent out, you waste your time sending an email, you waste theirs replying to you. Your choice, and that's fine.
          Have you been wronged? It says Estimated delivery, not guaranteed.
          There's a difference.

        • Rodrrico on 15/12/2016 - 06:58
          +2

          @cwongtech: Very good argument there. I will now wait and see what happens with the gift cards. You have helped to restore a little faith in the process and potentially the store.

        • cwongtech on 15/12/2016 - 07:36

          @Rodrrico:
          We're in this together buddy!
          Lets be reasonable and wait a few more days. :)

  • astr0 on 14/12/2016 - 14:35
    +8

    Just received four $50 David Jones cards in the mail (was marked as posted yesterday). There were some obvious red flags about this deal, but the seller is legit. They were just ill-prepared for the amount of orders they received on this deal.

    • Mormont on 14/12/2016 - 14:47
      +1

      Good to know ! Very surprised it only took less than 1 day from being marked posted and actually delivered, being Austpost and all. Did you choose regular mail or express?

      • astr0 on 14/12/2016 - 14:50

        Regular mail. I'm in the same city as their head office so that might explain it.

    • VerticallyIntegrated on 15/12/2016 - 15:30
      +1

      I ordered 3x $100 DJs cards and they were all received (in one envelope) yesterday.

      I bought them to buy a $300+ item. Went in store today and there was a 40% sale for the brand, so only used 2 cards.

      Seller is legit.

  • mreddie on 14/12/2016 - 14:59
    +1

    Here is the page still promoting the offer in the banner: http://stores.ebay.com.au/giftcardstoreaustralia

  • Snackbar on 14/12/2016 - 15:19

    Took them 22 minutes to respond to my own query - put a bit more confidence back in the tank- thanks all for bringing this to our attention!

  • mreddie on 14/12/2016 - 17:09
    +1

    Just got an email saying the card has shipped, looks like we've jogged them into gear me thinks

    • Gnosh on 14/12/2016 - 17:26

      Cool, on what date did you buy yours?

      • mreddie on 14/12/2016 - 17:28

        December 5

        • Gnosh on 14/12/2016 - 17:30

          Thanks!

    • neil100 on 14/12/2016 - 19:15

      How did you email them? Via eBay?

    • tobi3421 on 14/12/2016 - 20:12
      +1

      Bought mine on the 5th around noon. No confirmation of gift cards being sent.
      I got the David jones gift cards $100

      • cwongtech on 14/12/2016 - 20:16

        Thanks for your confirmation of receiving your giftcard. It really helps when everyone is running for the pitchforks.

        • tobi3421 on 14/12/2016 - 20:23
          +1

          I would be too … I paid $340…

  • tamzie28 on 14/12/2016 - 21:35

    My wife brought $500 worth of BCF GC for me as a xmas prez from this deal, hope it arrives in time?

    We are feeling a bit nervous now. lol

  • bargdebarg on 14/12/2016 - 22:34
    +1

    Bonut

  • Bratam on 14/12/2016 - 23:17
    +1

    Nothng to worry about here. Just a bunch of inpatient Ozbargain consumers getting nervous for no valid reason. Off course it isn't a scam. It was a front page eBay so the seller has been verified by eBay. The deal was backed by eBay. I just cannot see what all the fuss is about here. Next topic please..

  • highdealer on 14/12/2016 - 23:35
    +8

    Reading all the negative feed back make me glad i stopped selling on ebay.

    I can almost make a reaction video out of all the reason they give.

    Paid for express shipping and items still haven't arrived, even a day after ETA.

    Like i can't make this stuff up. I haven't receive my item ONE WHOLE DAY after my ESTIMATED time of arrival, this must be a scam no.

    I mean yes it is frustrating that you are not getting the service you are expecting but if you stay calm and think about it for a second, gather up all the factor and put your self in the seller perspective, you might see why your order are taking so long.

    It seem like they are unprepared, did not have adequate staff to process all the order. Let say they are a small team( may be 4-5 people) A team of 5 people working 10 hours none stop could probably process 600 orders. So if they got a couple thousand order, it could take a couple of days to even sent everything out. So they got all the order on Monday, start processing on Tuesday, finish processing all order on Thursday, drop off on Friday. Now you have to deal with Aus Post, it friday afternoon, the blokes at the mail processing center is tired, they decide to have an early one to go have a beer with their mate. Next thing you know your order is not even on transit by Monday. It Wednesday morning, you are pissed because the estimate time is Tuesday, you go on their ebay store and see that another dude neg them and said he/she had been scam. You confirmation bias set in and you neg them too. Some time seller forget to tick the check box on ebay that say sent. More people grab their pitch fork and their site get pulled from ebay due to an automated system. People try to contact them, but they can't reply and more chaos ensue And then someone put this here and it suddenly become a scam.

    I am not saying it happen exactly like above but it could may well be like this but on a different scale.

    If you order this on the 5th, it's not even been full 7 business days since you made payment. If you don't the item mark as post on ebay, it doesnt mean they havent posted it yet. I bought stuff from inexperience people where i receive the item and they still haven't mark as post yet.

    When you are buying online, just keep in mind that postal service is completely out of the seller control some time. It can be expected that sometime it might take a couple of days to a week longer than the ETA. It is very unlikely that this is a scam considering it was promoted by ebay. If it was a scam they wouldn't have any positive feed back at all from people saying they receive their card.

    • shapers on 15/12/2016 - 11:17

      Reading all the negative feed back make me glad i stopped selling on ebay.

      So true. I had a PayPal dispute opened against me yesterday and the estimated delivery date for the item I sent was the 15th-16th lol

      • highdealer on 15/12/2016 - 20:37

        V Bad experience. More then 12 days still waiting for gift cards. Will report

        Like this guy who had been waiting for 12 days while the gift card had only been on sale since the 5th.

  • ssyl9 on 15/12/2016 - 11:41

    As a Legit OZbargainer… You are all crazy thinking you can receive things you buy in December before Christmas TBH…

    Neg Feedback is because the giftcard ship out most probably wont arrive before Christmas… which is what many people bought it for.

    • Gnosh on 15/12/2016 - 15:04

      Well yes it's risky… However the ad implicitly said that they were gifts you would receive before Christmas.

    • highdealer on 15/12/2016 - 20:36

      How are people so sure that they won't get it by Christmas? There are still 9 days 7 of which are business days until christmas.

  • Daniel Plainview on 15/12/2016 - 11:54
    +2

    I have to say this seller, Blackhawk really doesn't know how to pull a service recovery on a bad situation. No comms from them at all….got a message generated by the Ebay system saying my cards were marked as sent overnight……that said they were sent regular, untracked post. Really????

    Firstly, I find it very surprising that they'd send any items with even marginal value that had been sold on Ebay untracked as all I have to do is say I didn't receive it and thats a major issue.

    And if it's tracked and I need t sign for it - have the frigging decency to upload the tracking reference - even if it is regular postal service speed.

    But if for this exercise if you've completely stuffed up your side of the transaction - as not having enough staff, selling too many items, getting deregistered by Ebay etc - those are all YOUR issues - and subsequently it's now 10 days after I paid for the item and you've only just put it in the post - THEN maybe you should consider trying to make up a fraction of that delay YOU'VE imposed on me (and many of your other customers) by paying a few dollars more (and it'd be a modest amount more as they'd be on commerical bulk mailing rates) and provide a free upgrade to express post for delivery of the items!

    Honestly - really, really amateur service and you have to wonder realistically what type of post-purchase thoughts to they think folks will have? As I can't say I'd be looking to deal with them again - and so when it comes to feedback obviously a positive is out of the question - NO WAY IN HELL is that appropriate. And really even a neutral is unacceptable IMHO - as they've not made any real effort to alleviate the stupid, self-inflicted issues they've had - so sorry but they're copping a negative as thats whats deserved. Ignorance & stupidity is not a defence.

    • cwongtech on 15/12/2016 - 12:32
      -4

      got a message generated by the Ebay system saying my cards were marked as sent overnight……that said they were sent regular, untracked post.

      I got that too. People have received their gift cards the next day after it getting marked as sent.
      Maybe they were too busy shoving all the giftcards and sending them off before clicking marked as sent?

      Firstly, I find it very surprising that they'd send any items with even marginal value that had been sold on Ebay untracked as all I have to do is say I didn't receive it and thats a major issue.

      It was free postage as agreed upon when you paid. You had the option to pay for express postage that would be tracked. If you do receive it and say you didn't to do the classic I-didnt-receive-my-item scam, that's on you.

      selling too many items, getting deregistered by Ebay etc - those are all YOUR issues

      Wow. Do you not read anything else other people write up? It was a domino effect. The deregistering was caused by a domino effect of impatient buyers casting negative votes, they had very little positive votes to buffer against this. This cut their communications through eBay channel off as well, they couldn't even update the sent items if they wanted to.
      Did you know what these actions did?
      Whoever was behind this promotion had to waste time contacting ebay to get rid of the deregistering, so they could contact you again and mark the items as sent.
      All it did was waste more time, which could have been spent processing more orders. This delays the process even more.
      They did this within one business day. How much more quicker did you want this to be done?

      Honestly - really, really amateur service

      You're a nightmare, completely unreasonable customer.
      You're lucky this is an online store and there's very little they can do against an angry mob.
      If you did this in a retail store I had control over, everything would be out of stock just for you

      • Daniel Plainview on 15/12/2016 - 13:18
        -2

        @cwongtech, you've got some issues dude - you working for Blackhawk Nework or just putting this on your resume for them? ;-)

        It was free postage as agreed upon when you paid. You had the option to pay for express postage that would be tracked. If you do receive it and say you didn't to do the classic I-didnt-receive-my-item scam, that's on you.
        You have the arrogance to question if people read things and yet completely miss that I was stating via separate points that I was amazed they were sending it untracked - as it put them at peril - but also that they didn't send express post as a PURE SERVICE RECOVERY EXERCISE. i know the postage was free - read son!

        Wow. Do you not read anything else other people write up? It was a domino effect. The deregistering was caused by a domino effect of impatient buyers casting negative votes, they had very little positive votes to buffer against this. This cut their communications through eBay channel off as well, they couldn't even update the sent items if they wanted to.
        Wow are you this patient with every one who stuffs crap up in your life? If you want to give them a pass and say, fair enough it was 'beginners' misfortune and they get a free pass on that - then thats YOUR prerogative - but to me this was a major organisation that was doing this for profit, it listed on the NASDAQ in the US and should have known better. They still to time of writing this could have messaged everyone who bought explaining what happened and apologising but THEY HAVE CHOSEN NOT TO.

        So if you want to make out like the fault is all on the people who feel underwhelmed thats up to you but I get the feeling you're just a troll with an axe to grind because you got neg'd on some Ebay transaction way back when and feel hard done by about it. The seller OBVIOUSLY massively underwhelmed on their side of things or we wouldn't be here talking about it - nuf said yes? Or do you want to argue that as well. ;-)

        Whoever was behind this promotion had to waste time contacting ebay to get rid of the deregistering, so they could contact you again and mark the items as sent.
        All it did was waste more time, which could have been spent processing more orders. This delays the process even more.
        They did this within one business day. How much more quicker did you want this to be done?
        Here's the bottomline - whoever was behind this promotion should have followed the old carpenters creed and measured twice and cut once - they clearly had no idea what they were really doing and hence it all went to crap very rapidly. So don't pass the buck on to sellers who did all that was asked and expected of them…..the seller stuffed this up, end of story.

        The transation was made on 05DEC - thats nearly 10 days ago, so what if anything was happening in that time period? To imply that it all went to crap in the last 24hrs is bollocks - this was stuffed up from the get go - and again the seller is purely responsible for this - not the buyers.

        You're a nightmare, completely unreasonable customer.
        You're lucky this is an online store and there's very little they can do against an angry mob.
        If you did this in a retail store I had control over, everything would be out of stock just for you
        Hahaha funny come back pal - you're a genius. Actually there'd be a bunch they could do - fulfill orders, communicate, refund transactions, apologise etc etc etc. So you missed those but again who knew eh?

        Yes, call me old fashioned but when I pay for an item I have this odd peccadillo of actually liking them to send it and within the general terms that they've indicated under which I undertook the transaction. And even worse if they can't do this I actually like them to let me know somehow, rather than just finding out through social media - and even worse perhaps make some type of effort to do a little soething extra with it be an apology, explaination or effort to offset things in the case they're not able to abide the transaction as we both agreed at the time of sale……but hey thats just me…..if you're happy to accept less, good for you - you sound great! ;-)

        A retail store you had control over???? Oh man sooooooooooo many options that could be written to this but just about all of them are likely to be modded out - so lets just say I doubt anyone with any acumen would put you in control of anything of any consequence. Just saying…..as you brought it up - suffice to say it'd be a very sad day for me not being able to shop at what no doubt would be a very fine, well run establishment.

        • cwongtech on 15/12/2016 - 14:08

          First point I'd like to make.
          Please learn to quote, your post is a mess, your response is made up of quoting me, and stuff you wrote is included as well.

          you working for Blackhawk Nework or just putting this on your resume for them? ;-) - Nikko

          I would be fired from Blackhawk if I was. Luckily, I have no strings attached and can freely tell you to be reasonable as much as I want. I don't need to have a smile on my face for you. I don't give a crap about negs either :D

          I get the feeling you're just a troll with an axe to grind because you got neg'd on some Ebay transaction way back when and feel hard done by about it. - Nikko

          I haven't sold on ebay for a long time, and I have 100% feedback. I just understand how it works. I'm waiting for 4 GCs myself from this deal just like many other users. Use some common sense.

          Actually there'd be a bunch they could do - fulfill orders, communicate, refund transactions, apologise etc etc etc. So you missed those but again who knew eh? - Nikko

          How do you communicate when they cannot even access their ebay account thanks to premature negative feedback?
          Sure they could go ahead and click on EVERY single email, then copy pasta each "your listing has sold" email, or they could spend the time processing the orders instead.

          The transation was made on 05DEC - thats nearly 10 days ago, so what if anything was happening in that time period? To imply that it all went to crap in the last 24hrs is bollocks - this was stuffed up from the get go - and again the seller is purely responsible for this - not the buyers. - Nikko

          You became extremely angry only after this post was made, otherwise, please link me to your personal rage post. It is the sellers responsiblity of a late delivery. However it wasn't their fault they had their account suspended.

          getting deregistered by Ebay etc - those are all YOUR issues - Nikko

          Yes. They are obviously understaffed. They have never experienced the raw power of OzBargain before.
          Like many stores' first posts, usually their servers crash, sometimes paypal accounts get blocked (because of unusually high activity), they can't cope with demand.
          I don't see anyone else yelling SCAM after estimated delivery times by a few days in those?

          major organisation that was doing this for profit - Nikko

          Way to state the obvious.
          Organisation doing business for profit? No way! Who would have known!?
          Listed in NASDAQ means nothing. We're not in America.
          Listed in the ASX means nothing in China or Europe in terms of how big a company office in a different region.
          Blackhawk Network Asia Pacific
          Suite 202, 6A Glen Street
          Milsons Point, Sydney NSW 2061
          Look at this listing, one level below it same building. It's a tiny suite, it's almost as big as an apartment
          How many staff do you think they have mate?
          Again. We're in AUSTRALIA.
          If you really feel the need to contact them and give them a mouthful, I've done the extra work for you, a simple email obtained via google. So go ahead, go and fire off your angry email.
          [email protected]

          little soething extra - Nikko

          I guess you always look forward to when people stuff up, so you can claim your entitlement for a slight inconvenience hey?

  • mreddie on 15/12/2016 - 14:02
    +5

    This @cwongtech guy has been defending all of the posts since the crap hit the fan a day or so ago, definitely must know them or work for them…such bizarre responses.

    • cwongtech on 15/12/2016 - 14:17
      +2

      Nope. I'm waiting for 4 gift cards as well.
      Just annoyed at the explosive reaction that does nothing but slow the process down even more.
      Tried to be rational and explain the most likely cause of ebay account suspension, no need to call them scammers. We clearly have fellow OzB users that have started to receive their gift cards.

      bizarre responses.

      Try to be unbiased and have a re-read of the entire page here.
      Keep an open mind.
      Imagine if the same people here were sent to Jury Duty.
      I would be betting my life savings on a Guilty Verdict.

      work for them

      I'd be fired for sure with these sort of responses, luckily I have no strings attached and thus no need to put on a smile for anyone.

      defending all of the posts

      I wouldn't call it defending, more like trying to figure out what went wrong, and whether we'll get the gift cards or not. It's obvious they're understaffed. But calling them scammers, flipping tables, running for the pitchforks, attempts for paypal disputes all because the estimated delivery was not met?
      Remember the negative feedback on their account which caused the suspension was unwarranted and illegitimate.
      The account suspension that followed was also unwarranted and should not have happened.
      Guys, come on.
      What kind of store would even want to post on OzBargain after this!?
      Would you want to post on OzBargain if you saw this constantly happening?

      • Daniel Plainview on 15/12/2016 - 14:56

        Honestly man - of all the people on here making a drama you're the worst as you're just repeatedly shoveling your agenda down everyones throats.

        The ONLY thing I agree with out of yet another scattergun reply from you is that the people who were calling them scammers didn't assist the situation - BUT that said any ebay seller with zero feedback, who sells hundreds of thousands dollars woth of gift cards and is then deregistered before any confirmed receipt of them by any buyers is heard is naturally going to elicit this reaction more often than not.

        What went wrong can be easily summarised by saying the seller was in over their head. Even absolute numpty ebay noobs generally have enough of a clue about the VERY FLAWED Ebay feedback system to know that they have to watch their p's and q's on their first transactions as otherwise it'll result in a very bad feedback ratio. These guys clearly just didn't think about what they were doing - and made a massive clusterpharck for perhaps thousands of buyers who held up their end of things.

        That is what it IS - you can spin it anyway you like but Blackhawk Network stuffed this up - so if you're unhappy with delays etc you should spend less time lecturing folks on here about your thoughts and go after Blackhawk and also Ebay (as it's their system that auto-deregistered the seller, NOT the people who lodged feedback).

        What kind of store would even want to post on OzBargain after this!?
        Would you want to post on OzBargain if you saw this constantly happening?
        What a preposterous and stupid thing to say and literally dozens of professional, well run businesses are very happy to be listed on OzB and actually have their reps on paid work duty uploading deals and assisting OzB members. Badly run companies, who can't hold up their end of a simple Ebay transaction - yes, they shouldn't come to OzB as they will be publically named and shamed for their shortfalls but they're NOTHING at all like the quality providers that thankfully make up 95%+ of the OzB deals etc. Shame on you for saying such a daft & misleading statement.

        • cwongtech on 15/12/2016 - 15:13
          -1

          That is what it IS - you can spin it anyway you like but Blackhawk Network stuffed this up - so if you're unhappy with delays etc you should spend less time lecturing folks on here about your thoughts and go after Blackhawk and also Ebay - Nikko

          Why would I go after Blackhawk? People are clearly receiving their cards. I'm just waiting for the mail-woman to come today, if not tomorrow (since Auspost changed the low-priority letters to every two days now).

          I have my pitchfork ready too, I'm just saying.. Guys. No need to stab them just yet.
          If you stab them now, we will never get our goods.
          Give them a chance.

          Honestly man - of all the people on here making a drama you're the worst as you're just repeatedly shoveling your agenda down everyones throats. - Nikko

          Wow. Yeah. Sorry. Repeating others' words and trying to explain what went wrong, and that we should all take a breather, calm down and wait a few more days.
          What an agenda

          Shame on you for saying such a daft & misleading statement. - Nikko

          Great.. constructive feedback from your comments..?
          Instead of stabbing them with a pitchfork, how about giving them a hand and telling them how to improve, Captain Hindsight?

    • Moderatorneil on 15/12/2016 - 14:24

      We're all on the same side. Let's not make accusations of members. There are some upset people and rightly so but from what we are hearing from eBay & Blackhawk/Gift Card Store, a resolution is coming soon. I've sent another email to them.

  • NickosFoivos on 15/12/2016 - 14:28
    +3

    People, STOP being dramatic and CAUSING DRAMA. Received all of the gift cards I bought!

    Easy!

  • samehada on 15/12/2016 - 15:13
    +1

    @cwongtech: I can't believe I read all these post from ozbargain members, they can't even tell when it is safe to buy and when it is a scam.

    1. Official promotion by ebay
    2. 15% off is not a level of discount that anyone can provide you + ebay fee. So this is clearly not just some random seller with zero feedback can get promoted on ebay front page. This seller is not a random guy, it is corporate.
    3. CC statement show it is Blackhawk, that is the company that is handling all the gift cards you buy in supermarket.

    It is a shame for all of you for being on ozbargain. The seller account got de-registered because of ebay security system in when the negative feedback is way too high, I guess they don't have the option to override this automatic system.

    • BargainCowboy on 15/12/2016 - 16:36
      +2

      I think it's because OP claimed an official eBay representative advised him it was indeed a scam. Not exactly circumstantial evidence.

  • [Deactivated] on 15/12/2016 - 15:26
    -1

    The BIG lesson from this is that you need to know Ebay's rules and how they operate (which can be summed up as "caveat emptor/stiff bickies"), and not rely on assurances from ANY individual on OzB as to the security of any deal/purchase eg "As lyl has said below, the offer is on eBay's home page, and the url has eBay's promotional '/rpp' in it. Your purchases are safe."

    Ebay has now shown to all those naive commenters on the original deal thread that this is clearly NOT the case, such assurances are worth nothing. Hopefully they've received the wake up call they needed, without actually doing their dough.

    The same rule applies in all financial transactions - understand your legal position, no matter how confident you are in the other party.

    Edit: I see a couple of Ozbargainers (so far) have negged my comment without having the intelligence or guts to point out any iccuracies in the above. Simply shows that no matter how simple something is you can't legislate against naivety - even when Ebay makes it crystal clear that they take no responsibility.

    • cwongtech on 15/12/2016 - 16:15

      not rely on assurances from ANY individual on OzB as to the security of any deal/purchase eg "As lyl has said below, the offer is on eBay's home page, and the url has eBay's promotional '/rpp' in it. Your purchases are safe." - possumbly

      I think we have proven that this is a legitimate official ebay promotional offer.

      • People are receiving their gift cards in case you haven't noticed, yes a bit delayed, better late than never though.

      • Mods have received individual confirmation from ebay that it is a legitimate promotion

      You could also say the same as dont rely on any unconfirmed information on the deal..
      A user has proclaimed this deal is a confirmed scam, where it is clearly a case of unfortunate events, impatient buyers causing a domino effect
      The original title of this post contained the exact words       CONFIRMED SCAM

      Ps for the record I didnt neg you.

      without having the intelligence or guts to point out any iccuracies in the above. - possumbly

      It takes two to tango, I'll dance with you :)
      Where does your logic come from..?
      Im genuinely curious..

      • [Deactivated] on 15/12/2016 - 16:26
        -4

        All good in hindsight, but completely irrelevant, like much of your commentary. Your response doesn't address what I wrote in any way, but I'd expect nothing else having read some of your comments on Ozbargain.

        It could have been a scammer (no feedback), a rogue employee, whatever. I actually chased the deal up with Blackhawk using 3 different contact points and after numerous emails I got a response which satisfied me as to the bona fides of this particular offer. Unfortunately, because some kiddie called in a mod, I was banned from reporting same - which might have helped calm some of the subsequent panic caused by Ebay itself.

        Irrespective, if you haven't learned a lesson about Ebay's rules and attitudes - no matter where it appears on the site, then more fool you.

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