Questions & Answers from the Miles to Memories Facebook Group
As I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, I recently launched a Miles to Memories Facebook group which has now grown to nearly 600 members! Much of what is mentioned in that group is to stay there, but recently I have seen a few questions that I feel can be answered in a blog post to help others out. Feel free to join the group if you are interested in learning more!
Banned by SaveYa
A couple of people have reported being banned by SaveYa after selling gift cards that were purchased from one of eBay’s daily deals. These people are not bulk sellers, but they have been told:
Our compliance partner has viewed your account information and determined a block on your account has been placed and cannot be removed. We are not able to accept new orders from your account going forward.
Yikes! That is really bad considering the cards sold were not second hand. Has anyone else run into this problem? Have you been able to find out exactly what is causing these shutdowns? I have always had good experiences with SaveYa but I am a bulk seller and thus I want to know what you guys are experiencing before I recommend them for a deal, etc. Thanks!
Seperate Amex Platinum Offers
American Express has moved to “once per lifetime” bonuses on each of their products. Someone asked if the Ameriprise and regular Platinum cards were considered the same product. Thankfully they aren’t and thus you should be able to get the bonus once on each flavor of Platinum card. Something I think not enough people know about, but considering there are a limited amount of Platinum cards, the sky certainly isn’t the limit.
Buying Gift Cards to Meet Minimum Spend
Someone asked about how hard they should go when buying gift cards with a newly acquired card in order to meet minimum spend. As in, how much is too much. The answer to that certainly varies by bank (this person was asking about Barclaycard), but there are a few general things to keep in mind:
- Your spending should be in line with your income.
- If you have no previous relationship with the bank then it may pay to ramp up your spending.
- If you have a long history with the bank, it is probably less of an issue.
- Use common sense, especially if you have time to spread out your spending. No need to rock the boat.
Conclusion
These topics are just the tip of the iceberg (there are close to 100 posts so far) as to what is being discussed in the Miles to Memories Facebook group. I personally am answering as many questions as possible, but thankfully other members are really doing a great job of creating a discussion and I am so glad to be apart of it! Feel free to join us!
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I was trying to sell some gift cards recently.
I created a SaveYa account, verified my e-mail, and was immediately suspended. When I inquired as to why I was immediately banned.
The site seems incredibly shady.
I have heard of others who have had issues like that with them. They are so cautious now because of fraud and sometimes I think it ends up working against them.
I changed my address recently. The short of it is that I was banned after that. I had not sold to SaveYa in months; and I have not ever done much business with them since I found better payouts or bulk terms elsewhere. That has changed recently; it seems SaveYa now has a price beating policy. The payouts are now at least a penny better per card than anywhere else I have found. Because of quick payment turnaround, I would now like to do business with the SaveYa I remembered.
Customer service says my address change is likely the reason for the ban. I think it is a smokescreen. With a new pricing policy to get first crack at what cards they want and position themselves as the go-to website payout leader, they likely do not want to absorb the inventory. So they ban resellers to keep inventories managable while still advertising high payouts supposedly open to all. Those quick payments I had hoped for became weeks of delay trying to repeatedly unblock, sell a little, then get another block, and finally a ban.
They are struggling. I told them if they don’t want to buy gift cards, just take down the website and stop wasting everybody’s time. I struck a nerve! That got me over to an account manager quickly after being repeatedly told the supervisor is too busy and there is nothing that can be done about a ban. We will see if there is anything that can be done or not; I’m not holding my breath.
From now on, I will go to SaveYa to check the price and look elsewhere until I find the price match. SaveYa is reduced to a free pricing service board and nothing more. No hassle-free quick payouts, no bulk sales, and worst of all no honesty, who wants to do business like that? For what? Take that penny and shove it!
[…] Banned by SaveYa, How Much Spend is Too Much on a New Card & Getting Multiple Amex Platinum Bon… […]
I’ve been banned by SaveYa because I had the audacity to complain to them (first for the PayPal fees that were taken out because they didn’t use to advertise this fact on their site and second for a canceled transaction and then reduced payout rate). They essentially decided they didn’t want my business because I voiced displeasure. Their customer service is pretty terrible, with their phone agents unable to do anything but kick issues to their online team who emails responses but cannot be responded to. They seem to track banishments by name and address and phone number as I haven’t been able to work around it with other emails, CCs, etc. They generally have the highest payouts, which is great as long as you don’t cross them.
Regarding Amex Platinum offers: I recently took a look at the Mercedes Benz Amex Platinum and discovered this in their small print:
“You can earn 75,000 Membership Rewards® points when you charge $3,000 of eligible purchases on a Platinum Card® from American Express exclusively for Mercedes Benz in your first 3 months of Card Membership starting from the date your account is approved. Points will be credited to your Membership Rewards account within 6 – 8 weeks after the spend requirement has been reached. … This offer is not valid for existing Platinum Card Members from American Express. You are eligible to receive points for only one Card account.”
This is true, however in practice they let you get a bonus on each flavor of the Platinum card once. That isn’t to say they couldn’t change that practice at any time.
It would appear, in practice, that they are explicitly saying that you cannot get the bonus on the Mercedes Benz flavor if you are an existing plain-vanilla flavor Platinum Card Member.
I have never had a problem selling to save ya, but first thing that I did was become a bulk seller… They asked me for a copy of my license, copy of my LLC paperwork, copy of my IRS EIN, and for my bank info. I have literally sold thousands of dollars in ebay daily deal cards to saveya…. So I would guess that it has nothing to do with where you bought them. My guess would be that you are selling as a person and you are selling too much, or they tried to look you up and they weren’t satisfied with what they found when they googled you or whatever they do.
The average person (not gift card re-seller) sells maybe one or two gift cards every couple months… So my guess is you tried to sell more than that. There is a TON of fraud right now especially with the BS that is going going with Target, so websites like saveya have to be cautious. If you don’t show them valid credentials, then they are going to show you the door and honestly I don’t blame them. If you plan to resell for a profit, then you need to form an LLC and show them that your not not going to be like the guy in the park with that trench coat that is selling knock off or stolen property.
I was banned by SaveYa too, after selling a few gift cards from the legit eBay sellers (PPDG, SVM). There email and phone support were no help. I already had a bulk seller app in, so I was able to talk directly with an account manager.
Turns out they look at where you login from. I logged in from home, but also logged in from my work VPN (different state). That looked suspicious to them and they shut me down. After explaining to the account manager I used a VPN for work, they unblocked me and I can sell there again.
Was so stupid though how regular phone/email support refused to give me any info about the block, and refused to unblock me at all.
I’m not banned, but I stop dealing with them after they underpay me . first they promise one amount and after I supply numbers send check for less
I’m not sure if I’m banned by saveya but I’m not able to place any orders at all even though I’ve never ordered or sold to them
I was banned from save ya and only bought cards from them. I never sold a single gift card. Not sure what the deal is.
My data points: I was banned from selling by SaveYa the day after I reported fraud on the one and only (and last) card I ever bought from them (received that same email). I wrote them an email in return pointing out my positive selling history and respectfully requesting they reconsider. Although I did not receive a direct response, thankfully the block was lifted. I had a nearly identical experience with Cardcash – banned from selling immediately after reporting fraud on purchased cards, reinstated IMMEDIATELY after appealing to the dedicated DansDeals representative (was also refunded for the cards though past the 45-day guarantee period). With Cardpool, I had the reverse experience – banned from buying after I had a dispute with them and was banned from selling. To my surprise, I created a new account with Cardpool and have been successful in buying cards through it (didn’t try selling).
Not to say it is always the reason but at least in my case it certainly seemed like buying and selling were linked when it came to account restrictions.
How were you able to successfully create a new account with cardpool?
I am NOT a bulk seller and was banished from selling on SaveYa for unknown reasons. I have called and sent numerous e-mails trying to get an answer as to why I am banned from selling. My account is still active and I can see the inventory that is listed. Luckily for me I was able to sell the inventory elsewhere. This is the response I received in October 2015, “Thanks for reaching out to us. Our Compliance team has viewed your requests and determined a block on your account has been placed and cannot be removed. We are not able to accept orders from you going forward. We do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Thanks for your continued support!!”
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Yes. I did both, same day. No problems.
I’ve been banished from buying or selling on SaveYa since two cards that I sold to them were deactivated after someone bought it from SaveYa. Not that I could do anything about it, since they physically Hamas the cards, but the chargeback and ban have really soured me on gift card reselling. So far so good with Raise…
Would a personal and a business Starwood Amex app be considered different flavors of the card and someone is eligible to get a sign up bonus on both?
Yes.