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People on Ebay are selling itunes gift cards for %40 off?

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I bought two gift cards on ebay recently at less than half price. 2 $200 cards@$75 each. I buy a lot of stuff on itunes so it is saving me quite a bit of money. The guy I bought it from had a huge feedback number so I just did it and he emailed me the codes within 5 minutes and they both worked.
 
Here's a possible scenario

Sorry to bump the thread but I just found this while googling to make sure I wasn't setting myself up for a problem by selling my iTunes card on Ebay, and thought I would offer an alternative opinion as to why you might find cards listed for prices less than their value (i.e. ostensibly losing money).

Some people use... other methods of adding to their digital music library. Sometimes these people have well-meaning friends and family who either do not realize this, or who are lawyers and therefore do not approve of such activities. Either way, a person may get a gift card to iTunes that is completely useless to them, particularly if they are a student who needs cash.

I, for instance, am about to list a $50 gift card for sale, so I wanted to thank those in the thread above who mentioned that they have had a successful transaction.
 
thanks for telling me about this! just bought a $100 one for 58 dollars. The first code he sent me didn't work, so he gave me a new one after I sent him a screenshot. The second one didn't work at first either, so I sent him a screenshot of that, and he sent me another one. But while I was waiting for his response, I tried again, and it worked. Then he sent me the third code, and that worked too. $200 in itunes credit for $58. Time to by some apps! (ps: sorry if what I did was immoral, but I'm sure what this guy is doing isn't even legal, so)
 
ditto. I just got a $200 itunes code for $60 on Ebay. They emailed me the code and boom. I now have $200 showing in itunes. :p
 
Yes the codes will work at first. But a few months down the line you will see your account has been disabled and all money taken from it.

This is because these cheap iTunes vouchers you often see on ebay are bought using stolen credit cards. So when the credit card companies find out, they take the money back from Apple and Apple then takes the money from your account.
 
hvfsl said:
Yes the codes will work at first. But a few months down the line you will see your account has been disabled and all money taken from it.

This is because these cheap iTunes vouchers you often see on ebay are bought using stolen credit cards. So when the credit card companies find out, they take the money back from Apple and Apple then takes the money from your account.
Click to expand...

has this actually happened to anybody?
 
hvfsl said:
Yes the codes will work at first. But a few months down the line you will see your account has been disabled and all money taken from it.

This is because these cheap iTunes vouchers you often see on ebay are bought using stolen credit cards. So when the credit card companies find out, they take the money back from Apple and Apple then takes the money from your account.
Click to expand...

I doubt it.
 
hvfsl said:
Yes the codes will work at first. But a few months down the line you will see your account has been disabled and all money taken from it.

This is because these cheap iTunes vouchers you often see on ebay are bought using stolen credit cards. So when the credit card companies find out, they take the money back from Apple and Apple then takes the money from your account.
Click to expand...

This is likely the case. I talked with a store manager I buy my music/videos from, and he said that the iTune cards are like cash. To activate it, the money goes from an account to Apple.

The blank itune cards are probably stolen, then they are activated on an account that was stolen as well (whether that be a bank account or credit card account).

I don't think that you will loose your iTunes credit, as the stolen money is insured some how.

Buying these things "cheap" just means you're involved with this fraudulent business.
 
Maybe they work for a supermarket that can activate them, and they steal them and activate them.
 
Yea I bought 2 cards of $50 for ~$36CAD.
Now I feel bad since this is my first attempt to legally download TV shows, songs, etc. I would buy the gift cards from the store, but hell Canadian iTunes store sucks!
So from now I will just get my cousins or friends in the States to buy me a $50 every month and I give them cash :D

Oh and I just googled and read up some of the reports of stolen credit cards.
That sucks!
 
Karpfish said:
I bought two gift cards on ebay recently at less than half price. 2 $200 cards@$75 each. I buy a lot of stuff on itunes so it is saving me quite a bit of money. The guy I bought it from had a huge feedback number so I just did it and he emailed me the codes within 5 minutes and they both worked.
Click to expand...

could you pm his ebay username? that would be cool. thanks
 
emt1 said:
I have bought codes from eBay. Worked fine. They expire though.
Click to expand...
Expire as in how long you have to use the code? or how long the credit lasts? I have credit still in my account since this time last year and nothing has happened so far.
 
Hello all...

I just stumbled across this thread while perusing my morning macrumors!

I haven't read the thread in its entirety yet but it caught my attention as i have a US itunes account, and as im based in the uk frequently buy US iTunes vouchers from ebay and other online stores....

The reason i post is that i just bought $100 for £35 the other day and a couple of days later i received an email from ebay saying that the sellers account had been suspended....

I have already activated the voucher on itunes and have started to spend. Now I had no idea that these cards may or may not have been 'stolen', i use ebay as you quite often find excellent deals such as this on many items, if iTunes or Apple were to suspend my US account based on the fact that an iTunes voucher i purchased was 'stolen' or fraudulent the i would be very disappointed.

These sellers on eBay have no loyalty to iTunes and you can see that they are obviously not spending the vouchers themselves if they are selling them on the web.... Apple shouldn't (and personally i dont think they will) punish the faithful who are actually trying to legally purchase music online from their store.
 
These cards are in no way connected to Apple itself. There isnt a special apple "sale" or whatever. Selling gift cards on ebay is very common. Althought you may think $100 gift card is like $100 of cash, its not. Its worth alot less (until you actually use it in a store). For example, $100 of walmart gift card to me is not worth $100 since I dont go there. Same type of thing with itunes card. The seller is getting this from a third party and selling it at a rate that is still higher then what they paid for it.


Will they always work? Dont know
Is something illegal going on? Dont know

Use at your own risk...
 
cobaltdragon23 said:
Sorry to bump the thread but I just found this while googling to make sure I wasn't setting myself up for a problem by selling my iTunes card on Ebay, and thought I would offer an alternative opinion as to why you might find cards listed for prices less than their value (i.e. ostensibly losing money).

Some people use... other methods of adding to their digital music library. Sometimes these people have well-meaning friends and family who either do not realize this, or who are lawyers and therefore do not approve of such activities. Either way, a person may get a gift card to iTunes that is completely useless to them, particularly if they are a student who needs cash.

I, for instance, am about to list a $50 gift card for sale, so I wanted to thank those in the thread above who mentioned that they have had a successful transaction.
Click to expand...

This scenario makes sense, except obviously you are only going to sell a few cards this way. A bulk seller isn't going to be able to generate high volumes by reselling his unwanted birthday gifts.
 
hvfsl said:
Yes the codes will work at first. But a few months down the line you will see your account has been disabled and all money taken from it.

This is because these cheap iTunes vouchers you often see on ebay are bought using stolen credit cards. So when the credit card companies find out, they take the money back from Apple and Apple then takes the money from your account.
Click to expand...


hahaha I love how some people just make **** up. Stop trying to scare people. That wont happen.

the thing is..nobody knows where they get these cards/codes.
Some may be stolen..some may be gifts they dont want..so they sell to make whatever they can.
 
iOrlando said:
For example, $100 of walmart gift card to me is not worth $100 since I dont go there. ...
Click to expand...

Here in the US (at least), a $100 store gift card is typically worth $100. You can go into most chain stores and ask for $100 cash for their $100 gift card, and you will get it.

I'm sure this is NOT true for an iTunes card (since retailers must be taking a cut when they sell them). All I'm saying is that store gift cards are fundamentally different from the iTunes card, and they are pretty much like cash.
 
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