The max is still 7 swipes. It's irrelevant how you use the increments on them.

I haven't bought from CVS over a year...Will AMEX GC autodrain if I buy a VGC with it?

Yes, assuming u don't have the manager who will save the company by taking the initiative and not allowing gc with gc

anyone else having issues with Vanillas?

I purchased 3, but was only able to liquidate 1.

The 2, when I check on website, says:
Details could not be found using the card number entered. Please try again

The 2 that I can't use matches the receipt.

I just liquidated 6 at PO that I got 2 days ago. How old are yours?

just purchased this morning.

I called Bancorp and they weren't activated correctly.

When I looked back at the receipt, 1 says activated, the says Accepted. Bancorp told me to go back to CVS and see if they will help. The cvs manager wasn't there when I went back. He knows me so hopefully he will help.

Bancorp is being lazy. Call them back and tell them your cards didn't activate. CVS wont be able to do much

Ditto. Open a case with IFC.

IFC? Incomm?

I have about a 25% success rate buying one vanillas at CVS with $200 five back cards, the thing that shuts it down is when I run the card as credit and the cashier needs to type the last four numbers in the register.

My question is, if I were to run the cards as debit and use a PIN number, does the cashier still need to see the card?

Also, if they do not need to see the card when running it as debit, would the card still auto drain or would CVS attempt to charge the full $504.95 amount of the transaction on the single $200 card, which would decline? I have been running them as credit when the cashier allows because I know auto drain works that way.

It depends on store / cashier. They do not need to see your card for the 4 digits but some stores / cashiers still insist to see the card. No telling how your stores will react as it is totally store policy.
Again it depends on the POS of your locale. Read the Five Back thread for DPs - some stores can do split payments on debit auto-drain, some stores (my area) cannot do split payment in debit mode. The former is rare and the latter seems prevalent. Even the cashier put in the specific amount, i.e. $200, the system wants full amount. A cashier turned the screen for me to see - so we changed it to credit mode.

No matter what, they would KNOW it is a gift card because ONLY gift card would auto-drain. A credit card would simply take the full amount of the balance owed.

Thanks a lot, went and read the five back thread and decided it was not worth the hassle. I'm just going to go liquidate these $200 five back cards at walmart unless I see a cashier at CVS that looks like they are in their early 20s or a student, those are the only ones that I have had success with.

Now that simon malls are selling five back cards with a max value of $500, I'll try buying a one vanilla for $490 so that the entire five back card can cover the purchase. That way I will be able to run as debit, and hope that the cashier does not want to see the card. I feel like this will be much more likely to work cause the cashiers won't be required to enter the last four.

Again even you run it as debit, some stores will still ask to see the card.

Since you have read the Five Back thread you would have noticed that debit mode does NOT generate the rebate automatically. You would need to call to open a ticket and chasing the rebate. There were a period in Oct when the system had glitches, nobody got their rebates for transactions done in a 2 days period. You may want to go back and re-read how PITA it was to chase the rebate. It is almost sure debit mode at CVS does not generate the rebate automatically. So that is added hurdle to get your $25 back.

It's been my experience in the last week that more often than not at both CVS and Kmart they are asking to see the card I am using and won't let me use it once they see it is a VGC. I bought 6 $500 Simon Five Backs at the beginning of the week and was only successfully able to buy one VMCGC with it at a CVS after 4 attempts at other CVS stores in my area. Not worth my time, even with the 5% back, at that fail rate to keep attempting to use them at CVS when I'll have to go to another store or the PO to liquidate via MO in the event the CSR does let me use them.

Kmart was only slightly better than CVS regarding Five back usage. I was able to get a $499.61 MO at Kmart with a Five Back on my third attempt there, but stuck out 5 out of 6 times total due to the CSR asking to see the card and not allowing VGC usage for MOs. The POS system will process it, but it is a store and WU policy that the don't accept anything other than cash and personalized bank based PIN debit for MOs. If you find a CSR at Kmart that doesn't ask to see the card then this is your cheapest liquidation methood, but the only Kmarts in my area are pretty solid at asking to see the card.

As far as buying a VGC or MCGC with a Simon Five Back VGC at Kmart, the only problem I found was that they did not stock any VGCs or MCGCs at the Kmarts in my area in denominations greater the $200. So while they did not ask to see my debit card when I purchased a $200 USB MCGC, the $6.95 fee really eats into the 5% profit and makes this not worth using as a liquidation method for me personally.

**DP** Using my Simon Five Back VGCs in DEBIT mode at both CVS and Kmart triggered the 5% back in just over 24 hours. I did not have to call in an open a ticket for it like I have in the past when I bought them at OD/OM.

Were you buying the VGCs at CVS for like $490 or $495 so that the entire simon five back card could cover the transaction? Also, were you running them as credit or debit? Like I said earlier, I feel like running them as debit would be less likely to be rejected by the cashier because they do not have to type in the last four.