Expert: Marvinator - 3/10/2007

Question
Is there any good way to buy a gift card through ebay at a discount?  Most
completed listings I've looked through, either the card sold for nearly the
amount or the listing was canceled due to the item was no longer available.  If I
do find what looks like a good deal, how would I know whether it was real and
unused (and not stolen).  If I took a stolen gift card to a store, would I get in
some trouble?

Answer
Though I am not personally acquainted with the sale of Gift Cards on ebay, I can only guess at the way in which they were purchased.  

There is really no way  to know if a deal is real or not on Ebay.  The problem comes in that EBAY itself is not the selling agent. You end up buying from an individual, and yes, it could be stolen - but it could also be good.  As you have already discovered, there is no way to know for sure.  (Even if some seller were to say 'Hey, this is real, it's risk free!" that wouldn't make it so.)

If you take a stolen card to the store, it will not read in the computer.  I do not know the sequence of events which would follow, but i"m sure it would involve a bit of questioning by store management and maybe even the police.

I'm sorry I can't be of more information than that.