I purchased a $100 Circle K gas gift card via eBay a few weeks ago, a few days ago I started to use it, and I found the initial balance is $75 instead of the $100 as advertised. See below, I spent $12.xx on the gas (imagine that a few years ago), and I saw $62.xx remaining.
So I was worried the card is stolen, and I filed a claim on eBay and whined about it on wechat. This afternoon I decided to cash out the card via other gift card, and to my surprise, it has the correct value: after I bought $75 other gift card, it still has $12.xx remaining. I was wrong. The reason I worried it could be stolen is I saw people talked about stolen gas card (same brand), and it’s not too hard to crack a 16 digit code.
You may wonder why I just pay credit card for gas, and go through the trouble of buying gas gift card, and had to use it at a specific store, also keep track of balances. Well, there is some savings, to be short. Basically I can get some rebate via eBates (going to eBay), I also get some eBay bucks, plus sometimes I buy $100 eBay GC at $95. Last but not least, I paid $95 for $100 gas card. So the savings add up. I spent somewhere between $85 and $87.5 for a $100 gas card. On the other hand, nothing is truly free, with the savings comes with risk. I think from now on, I will stick to credit card: this quarter I can use either Chase Freedom/Discover Cash Bonus for 5% cash/points back, and in normal times I could use the Sam’s Club MasterCard, which also gives 5% cash back (in a check issued once a year).