Post
Topic
Board Project Development
Re: [ANNOUNCEMENT] BTC Buy (www.btcbuy.info): trade BTC for gift cards
by
coga
on 14/06/2012, 20:00:01 UTC
I searched through the thread and didn't see mention.  Any reason not to offer eBay GC's ? (other than the evil by association of PayPal  Smiley )

PS: Have bought multiple Amazon GC's through here, always lightning fast.  Also appreciate the updates as technical/hosting/etc. issues have arisen.  Excellent job.

Yes, problem with eBay GC's is that they have to go through PayPal, and it has been known to manage their customer's funds very liberally. I did not have trust so far, that they will not just start withdrawing money at will, base on some of their "process".

Another reason is that I was able, in this or another form, to get some sort of cashback mechanism with most of the cards that are sold. It's not much, but at least it gives me some motivation to keep the business running. It is a lot of work, and sometimes a lot of stress, and definitely a lot of risk, sometimes major money are getting stuck, and you never know if you ever see them back. Anyway, this is not to complain; it's just when there is no way I could get any kickback for a purchase, I have to charge big %% off face value for commission, which drives customer away. One of the reasons why Walmart cards are not sold.

And the last, but not least is legal: bitcoin is already a gray area, and as anyone else I would hate to find myself in a pokey for breaking some "law" that I'm not aware of. Gift cards are not money, so I feel fairly safe that I can not get into too much trouble. But sending someone actual money will bring business into completely different category. I am trying to avoid this. It probably is the major reason, why I am not getting involved in PayPal, Amazon or Google payments.