I used to buy for Buyers for points but their payments are very slow(last payment took 4+ months) and I stopped doing Business with them last August after requesting last check. It took them forerver to send the check after multiple reminders.

POINTSMAKER stiffed me by taking my money and items received first week of December 2024 and not posting as received until end of December to intentionally stall payouts. I requested money the end of the 3rd week of December 2024 when he posted items as received an he has not paid me out now nearly a month later. He owes me thousands of dollars. Hopefully he won't run flee the country without paying.

in the last 3 months, PM has taken between 15-22 days to pay out for me. It�s been slower recently probably due to holidays, but basically don�t expect to get paid for a month at most around holidays.

I requested early Dec but still did not receive payment yet.

DP for PM: my last payment was requested 12/27 and was paid out on 1/29.

Hey all. I've never used a BG before, and with all the DPs for lost packages, I'm still pretty nervous about it. However, I've got a lot of $$$ in Amazon GCs and it seems like BGs are the best way I have to turn that into cash short of selling them at a very deep discount.

So, I'm thinking about trying it out. I saw all the DPs that say Amazon will not allow a purchase with GC if the shipping address is known BG. So, I was thinking of using my Prime benefits to have items shipped same day to my own house, then shipping them myself to the BG address. I could buy my own insurance on the packages this way when I ship (cost at USPS is about 1%) and even if this is less than break even, it's still a lot better than the 80% or so I could get selling the Amazon GCs outright.

This is all just brainstorming right now, half baked. Wanted to get opinions of those of you who do BGs a lot. Is this idea feasible? Would having my own insurance eliminate the risk of lost packages?

Got any friends who need things from amazon? offer them a slight discount?
I dont think buying groups are worth the hassle

I'd like to get into BGs, but any items shipped to my home incur 9.75% sales tax. Assume you factored in sales tax, or live in a low tax area?

All just brainstorming. Yeah, sales tax would be an extra drain on the idea.

No. Shipping insurance is just like any other insurance where they try to weasel out of paying out by trying to leverage every technicality they can find. On top of this, most if not all shipping insurance does not cover loss after a package is marked/scanned as delivered. All "lost package" disputes with Buying Groups involve packages marked as delivered, but the buying group claims they can't find it. Whether the buying group lost it or whether the courier stole it, or if they got stolen by an opportunistic thief, your insurance will not cover you.

If you ship directly to the buying groups, their shipping addresses are conveniently in Delaware, New Hampshire, or Oregon where there is no sales tax. If you order to you and then reship, then yes, it would incur sales tax. Sometimes (although they are getting more and more rare) deals are lucrative enough to where if you deal with enough volume, you may still come out ahead for very high demand items such as US Mint collector's coins, camera bundles, new gaming consoles, etc.

All good info. I'm pretty sure I'm going to abandon this brainstorm. Seems like a lot of hassle for very little reward.

That Amazon GC thing is not true. I've shipped orders paid for with a gift card to a BG with no problem for years. I'm using PointsMaker and right now they have a deal for iPad where you lose $7 with each order but if you need to liquidate ASAP that's one option. Or wait for a break-even deal.

Interesting. Do you use a P2 account, or do you purchase through your own personal Amazon account? I've had prime with them for many years now, and wondering if (a) my long relationship with them would help and/or (b) I'd be putting my account at risk of a shutdown I don't want.

I'm curious to try and figure out why you're getting away with it when qburke and LoungeLass had the experiences they reported above.

Interesting. I have seen multiple DPs about getting clapped by Jeffrey for useing Amazon GCs for BG. Thankfully my account is still open but I'm doing small fry amounts and velocity (<10k total so far). What's your amounts and velocity if you don't mind sharing?

I use my personal Prime account.