Brendan

No mention was made of a guarantee other than PayPal/ Ebay Buyer Protection. Indeed, these ebay postings said 'Returns Not Accepted.' It clearly said, 'GC expires in 3 (or 4) weeks.'
http://www.ebay.com/itm/500-Hyatt-Ho...25.m3641.l6368

cdancer20

Interesting that they quote "No Paypal". That makes it a bit more risky to me. I feel like Paypal's customer protection is better than just ebay alone. (Which sometimes can be flipped on the seller.) In a case like this though, I would be too scared to even try.

josephstern

eBay is rife with Hyatt GCs all at much larger discounts than I typically see.

This is basically an admission that the card is fraudulent? Given that Cardcash, for one, has none, but that eBay has them at extremely nice discounts, this whole area is extremely suspect.

Too bad for me - I need some new ones.

Here's the current discount situation on eBay:

ClarkGriswold

Yeah, I'm coming up on two weeks of travel at various Hyatt properties and would love me some gift card discounts. I've been eyeing those too, but won't because...shady

josephstern

I've heard of people buying these on eBay literally at the front desk of the hotel at checkout, and using the number right then and there. But if it's already a bad number, I'm not sure how that helps.

Reid

I've got someone on eBay offering me $1000 in Hyatt gift cards for $550 if I pay through Authorize.net instead of eBay/Paypal. The person has 10 eBay feedback, all positive so far. Does anyone have experience in filing a chargeback direct with Visa/MC/Amex if the deal turns out to be a scam?

seawolf

A 45% discount is most likely funded with stolen credit card or otherwise fraudulent gift card to begin with.

You are braver than I.

josephstern

So easy to get a feedback of 10 on eBay - especially if it's all as a buyer. But even as a seller, easy.

What seems legit about this transaction?

creativeguess1

bought a 500$ ebay GC around 6/10, current balance today 311$.......ugh note from the Seller today, "you should use them right away........." oh, this is legit. for sure! can't believe eBay is continuing to let these cards get listed.....I'm part of the problem! there's a headache attached, but "GREED IS GOOD" "DISCOUNTS FOR EVERYONEEEE!!!" lol

tom911

What did you pay for the $500 card? Could that alone have sent up a red flag?

Does eBay offer any type of protection if you've been defrauded?

josephstern

Be sure to quickly file a dispute with PayPal and eBay and your credit card company (if you used a credit card with PayPal).

cdancer20

While unfortunately, the seller is right about using them immediately based on our experiences here, you definitely are due your money back. So the seller wasn't willing to refund at all? If not, yep file a dispute with ebay and PayPal first. Leave your credit card as the last option.

SportsTech

Purchased 3 cards on April 15: $250, $200, $100. Checked all 3 at purchase and the $250 card only had a balance of $14, both of the others were fine; Cardcash resolved the missing $236 with credit back to my Paypal account in about 4 days.

Just checked the balances again because I'm traveling next week, and the $14 card and the $100 card are fine - but the $200 card has a zero balance. Called Hyatt customer service and they say they can confirm the zero balance (and that the card was drained on June 17th) but can't do anything to help me since the card was purchased from Cardcash. Called Cardcash CS, and they're closed for the day - they're only active 9-5 eastern time - so will follow up in the morning and see where it goes.

I'm done with Hyatt gift cards after this, regardless; I love the discount, but the lack of security on these transactions is unacceptable.

Brendan

Supplies of Hyatt GCs are dwindling on Ebay. Also, many of those still offered are from someone with 0 feedback--brand new member !

CubsGirl

Just had the balances of my replacement gift cards also drained. Such a frustrating experience the first time; infuriating the second time!