My Housemate Bought a $200 Amazon US Gift Card When He Meant to Buy Amazon AU. What Can We Do about It?

[Deactivated] on 02/10/2018 - 10:49
Last edited 03/10/2018 - 09:29 by 2 other users

My housemate recently won a competition from his work that would reimburse him if he bought an amazon gift card for $200. Intending for us to use it to buy some new games, I redeemed the gift card he had emailed to me (I have Prime, he doesn't).

It turns out the redemption link took me to the .com store, which allowed me to sign in with my .com.au credentials, and redeem a gift card on a store I basically can't use.

What can we do about this? Everything I'm reading says Amazon WILL NOT transfer gift card credit in these situations, WILL NOT refund/cancel the gift card, and I can't seem to find amazon.com.au gift cards on amazon.com.

General Discussion Gift Card

Related Stores

Amazon US
Amazon US
Amazon AU
Amazon AU
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Comments

  • ronnknee on 02/10/2018 - 10:51

    Resell on Classified.

    • [Deactivated] on 02/10/2018 - 11:12

      It's already on my account.

      • ronnknee on 02/10/2018 - 11:20
        +8

        I see. Best of luck.

        • HighAndDry on 02/10/2018 - 11:48
          +9

          I love the bluntness of your answers.

  • rompastompa on 02/10/2018 - 11:14
    +3

    What can we do about this?

    Spend it in Amazon US, use a shipto address, and tell your mate to read next time? You've still got a 'free' US(?)$200 gift card as balance, right?

  • [Deactivated] on 02/10/2018 - 11:14
    +2

    What did Amazon say when you contacted them?

    • 87percent on 02/10/2018 - 11:32
      +1

      You can't.. But on the plus side, Amazon gift cards don't expire. I know this because I bought my mum a Kindle when they first came out and a $50 gift card. Found the card about a month ago and contacted Amazon well just added the credit to my account

  • Quantumcat on 02/10/2018 - 11:24
    +3

    You could spend it on kindle books

  • Randxyz123 on 02/10/2018 - 12:05
    +2

    There's really nothing you can do about it. You need to CALL Amazon support and ask if they'll make an exception. Otherwise, I'd find a cheap deal to the US, fly over for a week, spend the gift card and enjoy your holiday then fly home.

    • BertieBrown on 02/10/2018 - 12:54

      Yep, I tend to agree. It's at least worth a phone call to see if they'll try and sort it.

  • Caped Baldy on 02/10/2018 - 13:15

    OP, I think you should be able to use the card for digital purchases.

    • [Deactivated] on 02/10/2018 - 13:35

      But it would need to be an American account.

      • Caped Baldy on 02/10/2018 - 14:19

        Tried changing your address? Failing that the customer service is decent and they may refund if they see no purchases have been made.

  • spackbace on 02/10/2018 - 13:22

    Digital games?

    • [Deactivated] on 02/10/2018 - 13:35

      They're only for the US store

      • theguyrules on 02/10/2018 - 15:25
        +1

        Not for all platforms.

        • [Deactivated] on 02/10/2018 - 17:13

          For PS4, the one we own, it is

          • idjces on 02/10/2018 - 17:39

            @[Deactivated]: could try find a buyer for a digital game i guess, something recent like horizon 4 for pc or xbox

          • theguyrules on 02/10/2018 - 17:59

            @[Deactivated]: Sorry mate everyone is just trying to help, no need to be overly dismissive

          • theguyrules on 02/10/2018 - 18:04
            +4

            @[Deactivated]: Wait, if you buy a digital PS4 from Amazon US you can just make a US PSN account and redeem it, I've done it before.

            • Diji on 03/10/2018 - 10:56

              @theguyrules: Yep, and you can switch back to your AU account once the game's installed to play it. Any DLC will need to be purchased by the same account that owns the game.

  • elgrande on 02/10/2018 - 20:18
    +1

    Email the ceo directly. You can do this.

  • qwerty on 02/10/2018 - 21:41
    +1

    Make a us psn account

    Buy steam games - check they are worldwide keys

    Buy music

  • ihbh on 02/10/2018 - 22:21

    Resell indirectly - e.g. if you buy books worth $X for someone, they reimburse you $X x Y% where Y% < 100%.

  • HeWhoKnows on 03/10/2018 - 17:00

    Thems the rules.
    Your mistake, not theirs.

  • AlienC on 06/10/2018 - 20:39

    Contact Amazon US and specifically ask to transfer the credit to Amazon AU and just tell them straight out it was an honest mistake.. there is a 50/50 chance the rep will have pity on you and let you transfer it over.. if it doesn't work keep trying until they tell you to stop hoping you get another rep with more energy and most importantly naivety and less gloom and doom at the world.

    It is always a shot and the worst they can do is tell you they can't do it or ban your account haha lol.

    That or yeah try find a trade on reddit or some forums maybe even ozbargain classifieds etc.. somebody might be in your position just the other way around (they have Amazon AU credit but want US) etc

    Or just buy something and ship it to AU (they still do that right or is Amazon US completely blocked now.. i thought it was just a GST hike for cheaper purchases?)

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