Best Buy Gift Cards Can Not Be Used With Guest Checkout
Well 2020 just keeps rolling in with the hits. I had heard some mumblings last night about the Best Buy gift card reselling game shutting down somewhat over night. All of the buying groups had lowered their availble inventory to 0. If you were not aware, people have been able to buy and sell Best Buy gift cards for very high rates in certain circles. This has been a windfall of points, and other store perks, but it seems to have potentially ended. I was hopeful it was a temporary thing until I saw GC Galore reported that Best Buy gift cards can not be used with guest checkout right now. That is most likely why the Best Buy gift card buying halted to a complete standstill.
Update: Stephen has updated his post to say that some items are still available for guest checkout. It appears they are only targeting certain items with this ban. My guess would be the loss leaders that resellers covet.
What Does This Mean?
My guess is Best Buy is trying to fight against resellers buying their goods. One way around limits, or account bans, is to use guest checkout. If you use a gift card when checking out that makes it even more difficult to track. With that backdoor closed then the need for gift cards dries up instantly.
This can also be annoying for anyone that gets a Best Buy gift card for the holidays and wants to make a simple purchase online. They would now have to set up an account even if they don’t want one. They should anyway, with Best Buy rewards, but some people will only shop there because they were given a gift card. You only get Best Buy rewards when purchasing a Best Buy gift card and not when you redeem them so signing up for an account adds no value (HT Reader FD). This is simply a nuisance to a small group of people though.
Potential That This Is Temporary
This has happened in the past, like during Amazon Prime day. With the recent PlayStation 5 launch and Black Friday days away, I think Best Buy is trying to block resellers where they can. When this happened in the past they reversed course so it is possible this is temporary.
To be honest, I think resellers have been propping this brand up for years now. I have to think they will notice a big chunk of sales falling off. Hopefully a big dip in sales has them questioning this “solution”.
Final Thoughts
If you have been stocking up on Best Buy gift cards for merchandise or to resell then you should stop immediately. The market is soft or non existent right now and redeeming them may be tougher than ever. Hopefully this is a temporary freeze for Black Friday and holiday shopping but only time will tell. But it is best not to get in too deep until we know for sure.
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Personally, in order for me to buy a 3rd party gift card, the savings needs to be at least 8% or it is just not worth the hassle. The puny 2.5% discount at raise or cardcash is just worth it.
You can get BBY rewards when purchasing gift cards from them, but not redeeming. So those with a gift card already get no benefit from setting up a rewards account to use just gift cards.
That is true FD – forgot about that.
It there a link on how to play this leg of the game (or how it was played before)? With Simons & Walmart drying up I for sure need another leg to study so im ready in case things go back to normal. Best buy resealing is new to me.
A lot of people get into gift card reselling with The Card Bay. I have never personally used them but only heard good things. Can take a while to get approved I guess so starting now isn’t a bad idea.
https://thecardbay.com/
Thanks for the link 🙂 Just FYI, I’ve posted an update as things might not be as bad as they initially appeared, but there could still be a big impact on reselling nonetheless.
Thanks – I will add it in. I am sure they are still targeting the items that the gift card buyers are going after 🙁
Hopefully just a short term thing.
Yep, agreed.
Um, this “Dying Brand”? Really? Stock might be down today but is still priced over $100 a share. Plus read this. The company is doing very well. I doubt very seriously that Gift Cards and Resellers are what is keeping a multi-billion dollar corporation afloat.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/best-buy-earnings-q3-2020-124930661.html
I most likely took it too far but we are likely talking hundreds of millions in sales per year from resellers and these gift card buyers. That is not small potatoes.
I softened it up some.
The headline is poorly worded though. I had a head scratch wondering when was there a Best buy gift card reselling play but that’s not what is described in the article which is referring to using BBY gift cards to purchase items for reselling (and not reselling BBY GCs which is what the headline alludes to)
I explain in the article how this leads to a gift card play dying – which it has been shut down overnight. I guess I don’t see the disconnect you are having. The change in redemptions led to the end of Best Buy gift card reselling…the title is accurate.