liftingbrosef

Tried today in Orange County with $500 on Vanilla Reloads.

Register declined 4 different VR cards. Was not working.


Though i was trying to buy some duct tape too which i legitimately needed. do you think this caused the register to decline any loading of a VR thereafter. Could have been error on my part. crap

terpfan101

Ugh I'm in Europe just when this happens anyone find any in the DC area? Really hoping I didn't miss out on this opportunity!

rdover1

That is what the ID check is for. Or they could be really smart and insist purchases by card only with verified OD rewards accounts so they know your verified ID. Maybe even with a specifically linked CC so they know it isn't stolen. Lots of simple things to reduce fraud smarter than a blanket CC ban.

PdxDfwFlyer

Going with your line of logic, since it was said by many other managers back in february that OD stopped selling the variable GC due to fraud/laundering concerns, and now again with what the manager told CVG Kid, there is little question that this is *not* Chase driven. What do you think?

TheBOSman

Those would both increase costs of doing business, which may not be worth it to OD. They aren't truly interested in reducing fraud, just the costs of doing business. There is a chance that they didn't make enough money from the sales to CCs to be worth doing either of those steps you mention. It isn't the "smartest" way, but it might be the most cost effective for them.

dtwdoc

For the SE Michiganders out there, no luck in Royal Oak, Oak Park, Troy, or Sterling Heights. Finally gave up and bought 2k in $200 cards in Sterling Heights just in anticipation of everything going cash tomorrow.

happy9zz

are you guys sure that these cards will be paid by cash on Monday!!!!! I have found a lot of Vanilla Reload cards at my OD, however, the computer didn't let me to buy with credit cards!!! hic hic hic

aalenya

I went into the office depot on rosecrans/redondo ave in manhattan beach and they had/have a full stock of reloadable visa cards. I got 3k on friday and 3k on saturday and then went back a couple hours later because I decided if they are going to take cash only starting monday i better just go all in and max out both of my chase cards since this is the only chance ill get to do it. Same manager as earlier, said he cant do it and that he wasnt supposed to of earlier and that he got a corporate memo saying to only take cash for gift cards above 200 (something along those lines)
Feeling defeated I drove around to several other office depots and finally found one that still had some in stock and they let me buy 10k worth (5k two transactions on my two different cards). I went back and got a some more a few hours later. I ended up maxing out both my chase cards with 10k on each and its only office depot charges. They had to call for approval and did state i was purchasing "a bunch of gift cards". When i asked who they were calling they said it was their merchant that processes the mastercard transactions. Then I specifically asked if it was chase and was told it wasnt.

KYBOSH

Money laundering could be company employees using a company card to buy GCs. Honestly, if they have been having so much trouble with these cards why bring them back at all? I dont think they make any money off of them. I used to think they stocked them because the sales inflated their sales numbers. Now that its cash online I cant imagine many ppl buying them.

ChrisFlyer66

Are you sure they were Vanilla Reload cards and not visa gift cards?

TheBOSman

Yeah that's my thought. From OD's perspective, they seem to be more hassle than they are worth.

aegt123

So many reloadable card in my territory just when i am out of town.

livestrongforever

OMG. LOL in the san jose area (coleman), I walked and went straight to the Gift Card rack. An employee Immediately came up to me asking if I was looking for the $500 gift card. Being the shy guy that I am, i Just said I was looking for an itunes gift card for my niece. LOL Man, Sucks living in San Jose. Too many follow the game here.

TheChallenge

Many years ago, I had a relative who owned a small town, independent, grocery store. He sold gift cards right when the whole third-party gift cards at a grocery store concept started. One day when I was talking to him, he started telling me the gift card rack happens to be the area of the store with the biggest money maker.

From what he explained, the gift card business is similar to the car dealership business. While car dealerships make money off of the individual buyer, they also receive bonuses and incentives from the auto manufacturer for reaching certain sales numbers. This is why at some high volume car dealerships they are likely and willing to sell the car for under invoice if you really push for it. The dealership knows that whatever they lose on selling the car at a slight loss to the individual, they more than make up for it from the auto manufacturer. This doesn't even include all the extra profit a dealership can make from finance, service, etc.

He explained that with gift cards the retailer who is selling the cards is paid on a tiered system, if you have more in gift cards sales during the year, you get a bigger percentage from the card distributor. He would frequently run promotions on gift cards, simply because whatever he lost on the individual sale, he more than made up for from the card distributor. The gift card sales also brought in foot traffic to his store, so a win-win.

While I have no idea if it still is this way, it would make sense if gift card sales still are based upon our observations. It would explain why retailers often take a loss in our eyes from credit card fees, promotions, and fraud to sell the products.

If this still holds true, OD probably canceled selling $500 denomination cards due to fraud, but a few financial quarters later started to miss the fat checks coming in for selling the mass volume of gift cards. Their solution is to simply sell the cards again cash only, figuring it would cut down on fraud, but also bring in the legitimate gift card volume again. However, the mass volume of sales only existed due to credit card sales, not simply just offering the product. At some point their corporate will figure they can't have it both ways.

sam_goh

Checked Kenwood, Milford, Blue Ash, and Springdale - all no luck. One store did mention the cash only policy too but didn't expect inventory for "a couple of weeks". Going to be a pity