Stuck in Card Snagger’s Web
I am a big fan of Gift Card Granny and use it to check the buy/sell value of various gift cards. My latest purchase included 2 Barnes and Noble gift cards from Card Snagger. Learn more about Gift Card Granny (Buy Gift Cards for up to 30% Off!).
On Tuesday August 27, I purchased 2 Barnes and Noble gift cards and received the following confirmation email.
After a week had passed, I was getting annoyed. No email to tell me the order was shipped. No email explaining the delay. Why are they so slow? One of the nice things on their site is their live chat feature. Here is a chat from September 9 (13 days after placing my order):
- Thanks for stopping by! Can I help you with anything?
- hello?
- CardSnagger.com: Hi
- I need help with order ID 22056
- I bought 2 Barnes and Noble gift cards on 8/27 and have yet to receive them as of today
- CardSnagger.com: Okay, please give me a moment to look up the order
- Thank you.
- CardSnagger.com: Is this Grant?
- Yes, Grant Thomas speaking
- CardSnagger.com: I see the order Grant and I see it’s still in the “awaiting fulfillment” status, so it doesn’t look like it’s been shipped yet…
- CardSnagger.com: Unfortunately, I don’t see any notes indicating what the hold up is. I will have someone check into this first thing in the morning
- CardSnagger.com: Sorry for the inconvenience
- I needed the cards a few days ago for the a birthday gift, but the dates has passed. Would it be possible to cancel the order?
- CardSnagger.com: Yes, we should be able to cancel this. Please accept our sincere apology.
- Thank you for your help. Will I receive a cancellation email in the morning?
- CardSnagger.com: I’m cancelling it now. I believe an automated email is sent shortly after. So you’ll likely see it sooner than that
- Thank you, I hope my next card snagger order is smoother
- CardSnagger.com: I’m sure it will be as this is very unusual for us. Thank you for considering us in the future. Enjoy your night
- Thank you, you have a good night as well.
I was expecting to receive a order cancellation email in the next few minutes but nothing came that night. Or the following night. Finally on September 11, I received the first cancellation email.
Then another cancellation email.
Then another cancellation email.
And finally on September 15, the refund posted to my Chase credit card.
What a hassle and lack of communication from Card Snagger. I personally will not use them again in the future, even if they have the best deal on gift cards. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
Which gift card exchange sites do you usually use? I saw on your last post that you use Cardpool, any others that you think are reputable? Also, I was wondering if you have ever had any trouble selling gift cards on Card Snagger, or any other gift card exchange sites. I heard from Frequent Miler that Raise.com is pretty decent, too, and might be the safest gift card exchange out there. It’s good to know that they eventually refunded your order, but Card Snagger still seems to be fishy.
I was so close to calling Chase and have them get my money back, but I’m glad I didn’t have to resort to that.
Raise.com seems like a good company. I would trust them.
keep up the good work Grant/lefft you message on tbb
Thanks Ramsey, I hope it was a nice message on TBB :P
Hi Grant. Sorry about your experience. I came across your site when I was searching Card Snagger and selling airline cards and came across your site. I’ve sold several airline cards and bought other types of cards from Card Snagger, so I thought I’d chime in. I’ve had a positive experience with them thus far buying/selling and have been happy with what they pay for a lot of the airline cards. I too use the Granny site and have sold to a few other companies mostly without trouble. I say mostly because I had one case when buying from another gift card company that didn’t return my money when a card I bought came up short. Yikes! Long story that is much worse than yours! I suppose at least some credibility with Card Snagger was established since they admitted fault, apologized and refunded your money.
I like your website by the way, loaded with good info!
Thanks Sean, one bad experience shouldn’t prevent people from using Card Snagger. I just hate that I had to contact them in order to have them look into the problem. They should be more proactive with their customers.
I sold a gift card over a month ago (to cardsnagger.com) and am still in the “pending” status. I have contacted them twice and have only received one response which seemed scripted. I am getting fed up and don’t know what to do.
Yikes! I thought buying gift cards from them was bad, but I’m not surprised that they are so slow with processing gift cards sent to them. It is run like a mom and pop business, so it is hard to get in contact with them. Gift Card Granny should remove them from their site. As for your situation, they seem to be more available in the evening on their live chat system. See if you can get in contact with them. I wouldn’t send any more emails before trying their live chat service. What gift card did you send them? How much was it worth?
I am currently having the same experience. I was worried so I did some online research. Then I came upon this post. Now I feel relieved about my order; however, I will not purchase from Cardsnagger.com again. *Cardpool.com, giftcards.com, abcgiftcards.com offer excellent processing time and service!
I prefer CardPool since they are in SF and are much faster on the buy and sell side.
I am having the same experience ):
I have been running into issues on this but on the selling side: I sent in a $100 Southwest gift card in January of this year and have yet to get my money ($85). I was told over a month ago that my application was processed and that payment was mailed. However, I never received my check and have sent nearly daily e-mails to Cardsnagger with only one or two replies per week and they’re very brief stating they either want to confirm my address (which I have) or state that they sent payment but don’t know why I didn’t receive it. It appears to be fraud and I’m thinking I was ripped off for my card. Any suggestions? I don’t see a phone number and have tried the live chat but nobody replies. Since I have all the risk (buyers at least have their credit card to fight for them), I think I’m screwed.
I will write a new post about Card Snagger telling everyone not to do business with this company.
Wow Drew, that is a bad situation. It sounds like you tried everything but Card Snagger is not being helpful. Since they don’t have any social media presence, it is hard to contact them or make them act responsibly.
Here is their domain information, maybe try calling the number below:
Registrant Name: J Mota
Registrant Organization: CardSnagger.com
Registrant Street: 960 RT 6 #218
Registrant City: Mahopac
Registrant State/Province: NY
Registrant Postal Code: 10541
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.8775235573
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax:
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: customersfirst@cardsnagger.com
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: J Mota
Admin Organization: CardSnagger.com
Admin Street: 960 RT 6 #218
Admin City: Mahopac
Admin State/Province: NY
Admin Postal Code: 10541
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.8775235573
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax:
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: customersfirst@cardsnagger.com
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: J Mota
Tech Organization: CardSnagger.com
Tech Street: 960 RT 6 #218
Tech City: Mahopac
Tech State/Province: NY
Tech Postal Code: 10541
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.8775235573
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax:
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: customersfirst@cardsnagger.com
Thanks – I’ll give this a try and also try chatting tonight using their live chat (haven’t tried evening vs. daytime). I’m wondering if they’re having some cash flow issues or on their way out of business. Considering getting some attorney friends to help me out though and see if there’s anything I can do.
Yes, maybe have your attorney friends send them a letter to their registered address or the address that you shipped the gift card to. I am in the process of selling gift cards to CardPool and GiftCards.com, so I plan on writing a detailed tutorial of how to send in gift cards.
Beware of CardSnaggers.com. I tried to leave a review on Gift Card Granny (they referred me to their site) but they never posted my negative review. I believe they are working together on commission and can care less about Card Snaggers fraud.
It’s been two weeks and they have not mailed me back my sold gift card after they “refunded” the transaction. They responded once by email saying it’s being processed and have ignored all phone calls. Before you buy or sell a gift card from these scammers try to call them at 1-877-523-5573 and you will get a recorded message and no response.
Please anyone who has been scammed by these crooks file a complaint with the New York Attorney General, file a police report with your local law enforcement for theft and mail fraud, and also file a police report with the New York State Police or the Sheriff’s department in their local county. They will take legal action with enough criminal complaints. Also, consider hiring an attorney and fight for your attorney fees in court. Do not let these scammers get away with stealing money from unsuspecting victims.
Sheriff’s Department in Putnam County New York:
1-845-225-4300
New York State Police:
1-518-457-6811
Putnam County New York Prosecutor’s Office:
1-845-808-1050
New York Attorney’s General Office:
1-800-771-7755
I’m going to write a blog post about this company soon, thank you for contributing to this page. This company needs to be shut down.
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Disappointing to see that GiftCard Granny refuses to remove these guys.
I’m not sure what is up with Gift Card Granny. Very disappointing.
They did remove them, but GCG told me they will be re-listed on March 1st.
What’s their rationale behind removing them and adding them back on March 1?
I didn’t ask but probably should have, but if I was looking to buy cards they were happy to help out. Might be worth sending them an email and finding out.
Fire sale on gift cards? Why don’t they just do a bulk sell order to CardPool?
I also feel it prudent to post this excerpt from their Terms and Conditions page. This text can be found in Section 5B part 1 and 2. When I first reviewed their T&C I missed it, but it is very telling. I don’t know what the legality of this text is in a court of law. A judge may consider this an unconscionable agreement. There is also a “rule” elsewhere in the T&C in bold type that you may not join a class action lawsuit. Again, I don’t how much of this would carry water.
i. If you do not receive the payment for a Gift Card within three (3) weeks of the date CardSnagger.com notifies you that it has received and verified your Gift Card(s), you may invoke the Seller Guarantee as follows:
1. Please email Customer Service at customersfirst@cardsnagger.com to file a claim.
2. We will investigate the payment in question and determine whether the payment has already been processed and, if it has not, we will make every effort to do so as quickly as possible. In the event we determine that payment needs to be reprocessed, please allow one (1) week for the receipt of the replacement payment.
ii. The remedy set forth in Section 5(b)(i) above shall be your sole and exclusive remedy for any breach of the Seller Guarantee.
Sorry, I didn’t phrase that properly. They were looking to facilitate me selling cards to CardSnagger.
“Hi Chris,
Their rates will be back on the site on March 1st. Are you looking to sell gift cards to them?”
For what it’s worth I sold CardSnagger about $680 in gift cards and it took 35 days from the date they said they would pay me for the cards until I actually received a physical check. My phone calls went un-returned and answers VIA email were vague. I too received stories about USPS losing the checks and new ones being issued. My gut tells me cash-flow issues because the check I got had been dated about 3 weeks prior. I ended up cleaning the balances off of 3 cards and after the check cashed out successfully I re-imbursed them VIA PayPal. I’ve actually written an entire blog post detailing my experience and would like to link to this blog post if acceptable, Grant.
Feel free to link to this post. Let’s get the word out. I’ll never do business with CardSnagger again.
Finally got paid late last night. Had a few more serious e-mails with CardSnagger and let them know how serious I was. They paid me with Paypal late last night for the full amount. I did fill out a USPS Postal Inspector Mail Fraud claim but have since removed my claim as I received payment, though I felt this in addition to demanding a check stub and bank statement were signs I know what I’m doing (I’m an auditor FYI). I received a follow-up e-mail stating a check was actually mailed and if so, that is the first time I know of lost or stolen mail that affected me financially. However, all it took was a copy of the check or a check stub showing CardSnagger had actually attempted to pay me and I would have calmed down. But waiting over 6 weeks for payment is a little ridiculous. Needless to say I will never be making this same mistake again, even though for me it worked out well in the end. Thanks for all the help, I credit you all for helping me pressure CardSnagger into finally paying me for my card.
Send a message to Gift Card Granny as well with your story to info@giftcardgranny.com.
Every little bit helps.
I second the suggestion to avoid cardsnagger.com. I purchased two $25 Target gift cards from them. One had $25 on it, the other had $2.50. They’ve refused to respond to my inquiries. At this time giftcardgranny has delisted them due to their fraudulent behavior.
I’m sorry you had to go through this Jill. Try to file a complaint with your credit card company. They should be able to help you out.
Jill, my guess would be Cardsnagger didn’t pay the seller for the card but sold it anyway. The seller then tried to recoup their losses by using up the card’s balance. This is what happened to me. They sold my cards almost immediately and then took over a month to pay me.