Good to know - Thanks.

I do one order a month of $10k - I will keep you updated if it gets killed. That doesn't sound so much for a business - are you doing one BB or several?

I tend to do my SGC over 4 BB's and several other cards

I changed to serve about a month ago but I always feed BB/Serve and the, typically billpay and do MO's with remainder of the VGC's.

Is it totally random?
I was able to place an order of $500 + fee online after several tries yesterday.
Not able to repeat that today -- limited to $495 + fee

Others have answered in part, but I'll add. Many locations are now also making customers fill out paperwork for personal orders over $500 and Blackhawk can track you just like corporate buyers. It's not only the cc you use, but your name that you put on the form with your ss which is then associated with the purchased GCs. If they see a large pattern they don't like they have your name and you'll find out the next time you go in. This method is now dead to many ms'ers. It might be okay if you're just trying to meet min. spend for a bonus, but even then it's best to spend a bit at the mall with that gc. Not the news you want to hear, but it is what it is. If your area is different than what I just detailed then it's best to not mention it at all and keep it to yourself. If we see anyone spilling about such and such location allows xxxx without forms we'll know you aren't actually an ms'er, but someone wanting to sabotage so please don't troll here trying to stir ms'ers up. Many of us are just ignoring those types, but you may hurt the new ms'ers who don't know what you're up to.

Once a pin is set they have a good idea of where it us headed,

That said, I am having no problems at the service desk...

When I do, I will not take it personal.

I have used it to move SPG to VISA..1.25 AA Miles, with real spend. United Club Card 1.5 miles...with real spend..

I think I missed it, who else is getting asked to fill forms for as little as $500? I went back through the post-Blackhawk posts and nearly all seem to be referencing corporate accounts. I can't imagine tracking orders that low is particularly efficient.

Computers make this exceptionally easy. If you've ever dealt with POS systems and SQL (and maybe an XML converter depending on the software) its really easy to identify purchasers even without real id. You need two rules for the staff - any personal order over x, and if over x, check the last 4 of the card against this list. Heck, if all the data was fed centrally, you could write a script to fax the list of the last 4 to each location using their site specific history. Wouldn't take more than a day to write tops.

What I really wonder is if Simon expected to lose all this business? Assuming BH gave them a better deal, did they realize they'd have much less revenue with those better deal terms, or do they not read these forums (like BH does?).

The data on this must be fascinating. I wonder who's getting the bonuses at BH for preventing this type of behavior?

It's much more likely that they run a nightly job, and pull out questionable purchases that may run afoul of banking laws. Anything identified gets automatically added to the black list in the POS.

I have a hard time believing Simon is going to want their employees in the mall to "police" who can and can't buy giftcards simply at the say so of Blackhawk when Blackhawk deems them unprofitable, a manufactured spender, or not using them as intended. I understand this can easily be done behind the scenes via the POS upon checkout, but what's it going to say "transaction not approved/customer not profitable." It can lead to some awkward confrontions to say the least on property.

I mean who knows maybe they are getting enough revenue from the partnership where this policing by their employees will be worthwhile, but (and I really hope not) I see them much more likely to implement a daily purchase limit to the point where it'd wead out most MS and also require an ID scan at the time of purchase to track like CVS.

I have to fill form to buy one $500 and the lady on the counter said over $300 needs to file form. I bought 1k before with no form. I wonder this is something new or just depend on the person on the customer service.

What are you doing only buying one ;)

This. Lots of inconsistency at the Simon I frequent.

Yep, I got 4 simons around me. At one I have been buying 1.5K forever with no issues. The other won't ask for forms until 2k, but it is a much further drive for me. The 3rd will hit you for information on anything $500, or maybe even less. The 4th I haven't hit in years, since back when it got used to get cards that could purchase cigars from overseas purveyors.

I don't do any big time MS. Most of the Simon spending is only to meet minimum spending for credit card bonuses. I feel like it is a waste of gas and time to go to a mall just to buy one or two 500's.

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I know when I was shut down at AAA I was flagged when she swiped one of my cards. She had both my AAA card and my cc. Not understanding how this all worked, I'm not sure if she swiped my AAA card first and that's when I got shut down or it was when she swiped my cc. But I'm certain that something appeared with the telephone number suggesting that I call to determine why I was being denied.