Seller wants payment via Amazon Gift Card? Safe?

[OneLastStand]

I'm interested in buying something from a member here but he states he doesn't use paypal but accepts things like Amazon gift cards as payments. I suppose I could use paypal to purchase an Amazon gift card as a form of payment to him, but that doesn't seem like a great option from a safety standpoint. What do you guys think?

 

[The Integrity]

It is less safe than using Paypal, but gift cards are not an uncommon payment method here.
It's less safe for the seller during the trade because he doesn't know that the codes are valid unless he tries them, and if they are valid, there is no way to cancel activation. But after the trade it's more safe since the buyer can't chargeback.

For the buyer it's less safe because he can buy the cards and the seller can cancel the trade. He is now stuck with the cards. The seller can also take the codes and report them as not working.

So yes, it's less safe than using Paypal directly, but if the seller wanted to scam you, it won't really make much of a difference.

 

[OneLastStand]

It is less safe than using Paypal, but gift cards are not an uncommon payment method here.
It's less safe for the seller during the trade because he doesn't know that the codes are valid unless he tries them, and if they are valid, there is no way to cancel activation. But after the trade it's more safe since the buyer can't chargeback.

For the buyer it's less safe because he can buy the cards and the seller can cancel the trade. He is now stuck with the cards. The seller can also take the codes and report them as not working.

So yes, it's less safe than using Paypal directly, but if the seller wanted to scam you, it won't really make much of a difference.

Thank you for the response. I felt it was a bit risky buying an amazon gift card and then potentially getting stuck with it, that would definitely suck. Would you suggest a middleman be used in this case especially? Or would that not really make a difference as well?

 

[The Integrity]

Thank you for the response. I felt it was a bit risky buying an amazon gift card and then potentially getting stuck with it, that would definitely suck. Would you suggest a middleman be used in this case especially? Or would that not really make a difference as well?

A MM can protect you from getting stuck with the card and from the seller reporting the codes as not working.

 

[Darvin93]

Actually, afaik gift cards can be recalled. Let's say you're the seller and you accept giftcards. The buyer buys a steam wallet card from a website and goes first. You activate the code on your steam account. Everything seems fine. Buyer then chargebacks/disputes the money spent on the gift card. He gets the money back and Steam punishes the account that activated the code due to "fraud"/chargeback scam.

That's why I accept gift cards from repped members only.

 

[OneLastStand]

Actually, afaik gift cards can be recalled. Let's say you're the seller and you accept giftcards. The buyer buys a steam wallet card from a website and goes first. You activate the code on your steam account. Everything seems fine. Buyer then chargebacks/disputes the money spent on the gift card. He gets the money back and Steam punishes the account that activated the code due to "fraud"/chargeback scam.

That's why I accept gift cards from repped members only.

Well in this case the seller is the one requesting a gift card as payment, and I don't intend on issuing a chargeback or attempting to scam anyone. I created this thread trying to prevent myself from getting scammed. But as I've noticed, people come up with so many different ways of scamming to where there really is no 100% safe route. I definitely think I'll be using a middleman in this transaction though, because I really wouldn't know whether I should give him the card first, followed by him giving me the account, which would leave me vulnerable because he could simply just spend the money on the card in a few minutes and not give me the account. It's a tricky situation.