Declines on Gift cards
 

Does anyone notice that vanilla gift cards are declining all over the place?

I have two merchant accounts, one they are denied, one they are approved.

A lot of them are purchased from Walmart, but I can't be sure that they all were. These are good customers who have been using my service for a long time, so I know they are legit.

Also, verifying funds on the card before processing, and they are still declining.

You notice this at all?

What is your gateway showing as decline codes? And what are the merchant banks contributing this to?

Make sure you have gift cards active in your gateway.
Also look for a biller that handles gift cards.

Are you talking verified by v/mc giftcards? Or like best buy / home depot etc.

I’d conjecture they were already used and someone figured why not. What % increase are you seeing

Sly as a fox!

34 Fraud. They are still investigating.

Most are vanilla visa. I did, however have an AMEX today, which was active, had money available, and still declined. In both merchant accounts.

there was a news story about people buying new empty cards.

We call the toll-free number on every card BEFORE processing it just to 1. Be sure it's a gift card, and they aren't just trying to avoid giving their real info, 2. That there is money available on the card. and 3. The card is active.

Many of these are good customers who have used my service for a long time with gift cards. This is over the past month it's been happening.

Lost probably a couple thousand in sales.

not good at all... :helpme people don't want you having their name. that is normal.