Cardcash Gift Card Balance Disappears Internet

Cardcash has a pattern of fraud according to the BBB.  You buy a gift card, check the balance, then go to use it and there is nothing or less on it.  This happens because the seller continues to use it or even more frequently, it was bought by a stolen credit card.

Cardcash state to the BBB that they would inform customers to use their card within 45 days of purchase to ensure they are backed by their 45 day warranty.  Although their warranty is clearly stated on their site, there was nothing in the email to me that stated I needed to use the gift cards within 45 days or the balance might disappear.  (I live in California, so most gift cards do not expire.)

I lost almost $200 on a gift card bought for my husband for Christmas.  We used it once the week after Christmas.  Went to use it this past weekend and was told there was fraud reported on the card.  (Most likely purchased with a stolen credit card.)  It is past the 45 days, so of course their default response was sent back to me when I inquired about getting a refund or even a credit to buy another gift card on their site:

"Please be advised that we have received this claim beyond our 45 day buyer protection period.

CardCash is a gift card marketplace where millions of sellers can sell their unwanted pre-owned gift cards at a discount. CardCash checks the balance at the time of the listing. Statistically only a very small percentage of our cards have issues where the seller used the gift card or it got canceled after we have checked the balance at the time of the listing. The percentages are kept very low because of all the proprietary fraud technology and KYC measures CardCash has working behind the scenes.

Buying from any Marketplace involves the classical Risk vs Reward decision. Consumers shopping on a marketplace can save up to 35% but will at times receive cards that are invalid or have a balance discrepancy. This is not something we can control. However, in order to make our customers feel a bit more comfortable we offer a 45 day buyer protection guarantee. CardCash encourages all of its customers to use the cards within that time period and if they encounter an issue to immediately let us know.

We also require that all claims to be submitted to us within that 45 day period as that increases the probability of reaching the original seller and receiving a refund from him or her. In such situations, if CardCash cannot recoup the funds from the original seller it will take the loss as part of its guarantee and issue a refund to the customer. For claims submitted beyond the 45 day period, CardCash will still attempt to request a refund from the original seller but if unsuccessful , CardCash cannot absorb any additional liability and is very clear about this policy all over the website.

In your situation, we were unfortunately unsuccessful in recouping funds from the original seller and cannot offer any refunds for this order since it is beyond the 45 day period."