Originally Posted by Sammy87 (Post 36665009)

Is anyone else having the same issue with Pointsmaker owing them lots of money requested for payout almost one month ago? Very frustrating and made worse when they buy e gift cards and post they will not even give the option to request payment for 3 weeks. That means they can be holding thousands of dollars for another 4 weeks beyond that making you go dry for almost two months while they have your money to use. I recommend looking into other groups with faster payouts than 4-7 weeks.

Originally Posted by Road_Dog (Post 36665050)

All BGs basically suck now. The glory days are over. It was great when they bought everything from Amazon at cost. Even better was Prime Days and Black Friday when they would offer commissions on items. I’d take off work and just buy on Amazon all day.

But the groups got bigger and the groups realized they could skim more profit off the top and ask for 2-3%. They justify it because “you’re getting 5% with your Amazon card!” when in actuality, most of us just wanted to hit SUBs, not grind 5% profit on our Amazon card (although it was a nice passive income stream). Going through the risk of lost packages, returns, and scan-in delays (and payment delays) is not worth a 2-3% fee to meet a signup bonus, especially when gift card reselling eliminates a lot of that risk for basically the same fee.

As someone who has sent $500k to BFMR and likely into the millions with TDB (now BuyingGroup), PM, MYS, and MaxOutDeals, I gave up earlier this year. It was a nice 4 year run. But gift card reselling is just much easier and has been very profitable this year with Pepper.

Originally Posted by qburke (Post 36702998)

Just had an issue with two Pepper Amazon cards - used them for purchases and the next day got an email from Amazon.ca that the orders were cancelled and the gift cards voided because they were Amazon.ca gift cards, not US. Reached out to Pepper this AM and waiting for a response. Anyone else run into this? Tried Amazon help but they couldn't do anything.

Originally Posted by LoungeLass (Post 36704402)

Not this issue, but I had a huge order voided from using Pepper GCs. It was BG stuff sprinkled in with personal orders (as I usually do, to preserve my account). Subsequent orders for BG items got cancelled. The email SAID my GC balance would be forfeited, but I actually still have it and can order personal/organic stuff. So now I have $1400 I've fronted and have to pay off myself, *sigh*. (don't float what you can't afford! I can afford, I just wouldn't have wanted to have that much $$ outstanding)

Originally Posted by egathis (Post 36706660)

Amazon has a history of not allowing gift card balance for Buying Group purchases

Originally Posted by Kpoxa (Post 36741920)

Tried to reach out to EMBDeals by opening a support ticket and via WhatsApp regarding a package that was delivered and never scanned. I am getting no response whatsoever. Doesn't even look like WhatsApp message was read. Are they still in business? Are there any recent experiences communicating with them?

Originally Posted by dwatcher (Post 36743466)

See this https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/35347222-post1186.html

Their CS is non existent unless you escalate.

Originally Posted by Kpoxa (Post 36744473)

Thanks for the advise. Did you have any success contacting their parent company?

Originally Posted by yydv (Post 36798297)

it's really out of date. many new ones have come up that are not listed on the wiki. also, some groups have gotten much better about payment times and policies, and some groups have gotten way worse.

Originally Posted by Sammy87 (Post 36815077)

Many group have slowed down payments and increased alleged damaged received items (damaged for real or overstock of the items?) that need to now get returned. Pointsmaker has not paid out requests made since Mid-December. That does not count the many days it takes them to actually scan in or add the money available to request for payout to their portal. They likely delay posting received items to be able to hold onto the funds for longer, all at the expense of those who bought the items for them and are waiting to get paid.