mikesyr18

I couldn't imagine that would work either. The "buy it now" price often consists of a used device in various conditions so the price is artificially lower. If Citi allowed their price rewind to include auction sites, one could buy a brand new item and then claim it was a different version of the one they bought (a broken one) and get the difference in price -- let's say one buys a $750 Galaxy S8... One could claim they bought the broken one which goes for $350 and then try to get the price difference just because it's "lower." I understand Citi has the right to ask for a receipt but they've never asked me for one, except for the time I had to use a manual price rewind through paper mail in which I saved $27 on a Note 5 I bought through Amazon. I believe the price rewind doesn't include used or third party purchased items, but I'll have to check on that one and I'll come back here and edit.

mia

The question is specifically about a new item:

mikesyr18

I would still count it as second hand because one bought it from a third party source a.k.a eBay. I could imagine Citi has the same thought. I completely agree with Citi here, the item(s) should only qualify if bought from a legitimate retailer such as Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, etc.

jamesinclair

Buying it from a re-seller doesnt make it used.

To be specific, I am looking to purchase a brand new international cell phone. This cannot be purchased via Best Buy etc. Ebay is full of legitimate resellers that specialize in selling brand new foreign model phones.

mia

Agreed, but I am troubled by the secondhand exclusion:

I know what I would mean by this term, but I don't know what they mean, nor how they would go about getting the factual information required to know if a specific eBay seller is a retailer rather than a secondhand re-seller. Example: manufacturer warranties are often only valid for the original retail purchaser. I think that if you can buy the item with a valid manufacturer warranty you have a strong case that it wasn't a secondhand purchase.

BigFlyer

You say you "completely agree with Citi here". Where does Citi say that the original item (as opposed to the cheaper item) cannot be bought from ebay and the like?

BigFlyer

Slightly OT here - but why buy an "international cell phone?" I get that there are some LTE bands that American phones won't reach, but I have found that in most countries one carrier or another has an LTE band that will function on my Nexus 6P.

The downside of the international phones (or, in fact, many ebay purchases) is that you get no warranty. That is particularly significant if buying with a Citi card where the US warranty would be extended by 24 months, so in most cases you would get a 36 month warranty total. A lot can happen in 36 months.

mikesyr18

You can't be serious. READ THE PREVIOUS MESSAGES.

BigFlyer

That's a really helpful and well thought out answer!

However, despite having already looked at the previous message before I posted, I did not see any reference to where Citi said that the original item, as opposed to the cheaper item, could not be from an "internet auction site" or ebay, and I reviewed the messages on this topic which I believed started in post #70 .

So, if you can direct me (and others) to the previous message (message # would be good) where Citi is quoted as saying that the original item could not be from an "internet auction site" or ebay, that would be even more helpful than your "You can't be serious. READ THE PREVIOUS MESSAGES" post.

Thank you.

mikesyr18

Considering I just posted the terms and conditions that specifically state how one cannot perform a price rewind on items purchased from internet auction sites, it was really a question that I should have ignored.

Citi will also not let you use an internet auction site to determine the lower price: andEveryone on eBay is a re-seller, even if the item is brand new. The eBay member bought the item and is re-selling it to you, nor is it considered a retail site. Price protection is a more simplified version of getting a refund for the original item and buying the new item... Except the bank just gives you the difference instead.

I'll give you a hint: post #73 says it word for word.

BigFlyer

I'm sorry that you are confused.

You are confusing the lower priced item (where the terms and conditions explicitly exclude "internet auction sites"), and the original higher priced item (where the terms and conditions are silent and do not exclude "internet auction sites.")

If you look at posts 70-73, you will see that this very issue was discussed and settled.

mikesyr18

So what is the issue? Didn't you just say you read those posts?

eBay purchases don't count for price rewind, whether the item is used or new. The lower priced item doesn't come from a magazine or any other kind of advertisement from a retail store/retail online store.

The terms and conditions state:

esf

What miksyr18 is saying doesn't make any sense to me. Nothing in current Terms and Conditions of Price Rewind, excludes new items purchased from ebay.

Part of T&C that excludes "The lower priced item is a going-out-of-business sale item or from an internet auction site" is clearly about "lower priced item" and doesn't mean that the original item should not be purchased from internet auction sites, so this part of T&C is irrelevant.
Part of T&C that reads "Items purchased for resale use are not eligible" means if the cardholder intends to resale the item s/he bought from ebay, the item will not be eligible for Price Rewind. It doesn't matter if the seller of the item is a reseller. Thus if you are buying the item for personal use, it is eligible.
Also, not only resellers sell on ebay (although as I explained even if that was the case, it didn't matter). Target, Best Buy, Newegg and several other retailers have their official storefront on ebay.

If Virginia Surety does not approve the claim, it is possible to sue them in a small claim court.

mikesyr18

Actually there is terminology in their T&C's that state the items cannot be purchased from a place with the characteristics of eBay.
Every item you buy from eBay, with the exception of items purchased from certain sellers who happen to be actual merchants (such as Newegg) are ineligible based on the fact that they're second hand. When a personal eBay seller buys an iPhone at the Apple Store, doesn't open the box, and places the item for sale on eBay, it is still second hand because you didn't buy it directly from the merchant. If I had to guess, merchants like Newegg don't process their transactions through eBay/PayPal but through their own processor instead, so Citi would know if the seller is a legit merchant despite the fact that you bough the item through eBay's website. If you bought the item from a third party seller (most eBay sellers) it is not eligible.

esf

You said "As for your Newegg, etc., claim, I'm sure those purchases code as Newegg and not eBay/PayPal on your credit card statement." This presumptions is not correct. Indeed those purchases are coded like other ebay/paypal transactions.

You said "Items purchased at an auction site are considered "secondhand", we agree on that, right?". No we don't agree on that. First, it is obvious that ebay is not merely an auction site (perhaps it used to be decades ago, but not now). Even if ebay was an auction site, I provided examples to you of ebay storefronts that do not sell items that can be considered secondhand by any definition. In addition to those items, a large amount of items on ebay come from overseas seller, many of them are not resellers, but small manufacturers. Also many of ebay sellers are actually authorized by the manufacturer to sell the items. They are as authorized to sell those items as are Target or Walmart or Amazon. Now that I named Amazon, you understand that Amazon Marketplace works similar to ebay, right?
Finally the fraction of ebay items that are sold by resellers are not necessarily secondhand merely because they are sold by a reseller. The ethnic grocery store and also the deli store near my apartment sell several item (like rice cooker or other small kitchen appliances) that I know for a fact they buy them from Walmart, Costco, Sears, or alike. If I buy the rice cooker from them, have I bought a secondhand rice cooker? My answer is no because merely adding an additional seller intermediary between consumer and manufacturer does not make an item secondhand. Perhaps your answer is yes, but I doubt (and am willing to bet) your rationale for the "yes" answer will not convince a judge in the court, nor does it convince me, nor did it convince other people that you believe they did not understand your reasoning. Perhaps other people understood what you said, but believed it didn't make sense.

PS: I didn't (and won't) have time to proofread my answers. Sorry.