Vanilla Gift Card didn't work

boysangur · #1 06-21-2015

So I guess these no longer work. I just got a $25 Visa Gift Card (non reloadable) and PP tells me the information I entered was incomplete or incorrect (tried 5 times).

Anyone use anything similar with success recently?

jeffweico · #2 06-21-2015

My guess is you tried this on Amazon? Just type Amazon and Vanilla in the search box, there are quite a few threads about this.

boysangur · #3 06-21-2015

Nope. Tried it on PP.

jeffweico · #4 06-21-2015

I was not aware of any problems with Vanilla and PayPal. However, there are lots of options for eBay and PayPal. You can use a VCC from one of the sellers in the forum. They are about $10 or so. There are also other cards that work with PayPal.

Would you be willing to share the first 4 digits of the card number and what type of packaging it came in? The last time I used a Vanilla Visa to verify a PayPal account was a few months ago, but it worked fine.

boysangur · #5 06-21-2015

I'm a little worried about any potential ebay trolls here to provide numbers but the card came in one of those silver paper packages, with a purple gift box on it. It's the silver card with DEBIT between VISA and the dove.

I went to the vanilla site, looked up the balance, added the zip but PP doesn't accept it.

jeffweico · #6 06-21-2015

The card I last used for PayPal begins with 4847 35** **** **** and expires 03/22. It is the same silver card as you descried, but I do not remember what color the packaging was.

You don't have to provide the numbers, I should have just shared in the beginning. My bad. The first six digits of ANY credit or gift card is a BIN number which identifies the card issuer and the industry.

For example, bank cards from WoodForest begin with 5146 16 and the the rest of the numbers are unique.

I wonder if this was a glitch? Maybe someone else will chime in.

boysangur · #7 06-21-2015

OK, after further messing around, the card worked and here is what's up:

Link the card on PP's page (after registering zip code). Do not wait for eBay to reroute you to PP to add a card. That's where it wouldn't work no matter what.

Anyway, just got my first stealth with 0/0 limits. Yay.

jeffweico · #8 06-21-2015

What did you use for the phone number?

boysangur · #9 06-21-2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffweico

What did you use for the phone number?

I'm not telling because it's embarrassing (two words, one starts with a g and the other with a v).

This was a trial run to get a sense of the process, since it's been awhile creating a PP account for me. All info bogus, all cheapest options used. I might actually call to raise the limits to see what they say.

jeffweico · #10 06-21-2015

I believe that Google Voice was the culprit. Their phone numbers are overused and recycled. I recommend TracFone.

GhostOfAmazon · #11 06-21-2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffweico

I believe that Google Voice was the culprit. Their phone numbers are overused and recycled. I recommend TracFone.

Jeff is right. I have yet to make an account with Google Voice that did not get 0/0 limits. There ARE reports of people who claim they have, but I haven't personally seen it.

Sometimes I use GV to sign up to intentionally get 0/0 limits, as after calling in, they raise it to either 25 or 50 items per month (I always get one or the other, not sure why) which is 500% higher than the average new account limit.

jeffweico · #12 06-21-2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by GhostOfAmazon

Sometimes I use GV to sign up to intentionally get 0/0 limits, as after calling in, they raise it to either 25 or 50 items per month (I always get one or the other, not sure why) which is 500% higher than the average new account limit.

That is an interesting strategy... I never thought about that, but it DOES make sense. I have no problems on the phone. I don't know why so many people are afraid of a phone - what is the worst that could happen? And it almost always goes well, just call in, play dumb, be friendly and make the eBay rep WANT to help you. No big secrets there. But for some people a phone call always seems to end with confrontation.

Anyway, thanks for sharing!

GhostOfAmazon · #13 06-21-2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeffweico

That is an interesting strategy... I never thought about that, but it DOES make sense. I have no problems on the phone. I don't know why so many people are afraid of a phone - what is the worst that could happen? And it almost always goes well, just call in, play dumb, be friendly and make the eBay rep WANT to help you. No big secrets there. But for some people a phone call always seems to end with confrontation.

Anyway, thanks for sharing!

Ha, no problem Jeff! I'm honored that one of my posts helped you, the GURU of eBay and Amazon. That makes me pretty happy.

Anyways, thanks for giving away my "young and dumb" secret the other day...that's one of my tricks when calling. Tell them I just turned 18, and I want to get rid of my comic books/videogames before I move to college, because "my parents are turning my room into an office" lol. Never failed me once!

jeffweico · #14 06-21-2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by GhostOfAmazon

Ha, no problem Jeff! I'm honored that one of my posts helped you, the GURU of eBay and Amazon. That makes me pretty happy.

Anyways, thanks for giving away my "young and dumb" secret the other day...that's one of my tricks when calling. Tell them I just turned 18, and I want to get rid of my comic books/videogames before I move to college, because "my parents are turning my room into an office" lol. Never failed me once!

Thanks for the compliment, but I am just like everybody else here. I got kicked off of eBay and was searching to see if any appeals were possible. I found this place, bought the stealth guide and never looked back.

Many members here helped me, people like Greenbean, Slapped, HereWeGoAgain, Aspkin and several others.

I've developed some tricks of my own over the years to extend the life of my accounts, just like everyone else has. But I don't have all the answers.

boysangur · #15 06-22-2015

Thanks for helping me figure this out guys. As promised, I gave them a call last night and got things sorted.

At least, we can confirm that you can still do it with GV and Vanilla a certain way.

GhostOfAmazon · #16 06-22-2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by boysangur

Thanks for helping me figure this out guys. As promised, I gave them a call last night and got things sorted.

At least, we can confirm that you can still do it with GV and Vanilla a certain way.

Google Voice results in 0/0 limits, which can only be resolved via a phone call to eBay.

As you have just verified, calling eBay increases limitations on accounts most of the time (even when they are 0/0).

doL · #17 06-22-2015

My most recent account using GV resulted in 5/1000 or something silly like that. Had to wait a month to get an increase no matter how much I pleaded with them lol

GhostOfAmazon · #18 06-22-2015

Quote:

Originally Posted by doL

My most recent account using GV resulted in 5/1000 or something silly like that. Had to wait a month to get an increase no matter how much I pleaded with them lol

That's interesting. I wonder what causes them to give 0/0 vs not?

I have ALWAYS gotten 0/0 when using Google Voice, never had that issue with Tracfone.