Gift cards as payment?

[FLFunSized]

I recently hired a new provider. Communication with him was very good and I had a good feeling about meeting him. When I asked what forms of payment he took he gave me the usual electronic sources and then added “Amazon gift cards”. It seemed funny at first but the more I thought about it the more it made sense for both of us. No “paper trail” this way for either of us. So I’m just wondering, what are the downsides to this type of transaction? Would you as a provider consider it a red flag if someone offered to pay you this way?

[ShortCutie7]

I think it’s totally fine and actually a good idea as long as it’s something the provider approves of in advance. That said, if I were a provider, I would be angry if I received payment in the form of an Amazon gift card since I don’t use Amazon… it’s like getting expensive sports memorabilia as a gift from someone who has no way of knowing whether or not I am interested in sports.

[maninsoma]

It's obviously a problem if they ask you to give them the gift card details before you meet them since that's the same as sending money in advance via Venmo or Zelle.  

I'm not sure why someone would ask for a gift card versus cash, though, since it obviously limits where they can spend their earnings.  And, as a client, the gift card can be traced to you unless you buy a physical card in a store using cash.

[urbanfetish]

1 hour ago, FLFunSized said:

No “paper trail” this way for either of us. 

Actually, I think there would be a paper trail with a gift card unless you bought it at a store with cash. There would definitely be a paper trail if you use your CC to buy the gift card and especially if you use your Amazon account to send the gift card to the provider. If you are going to go to all of that trouble to bring $200, $400 or whatever amount of cash to a CVS to buy a gift card, you might as well just bring the cash with you to the session. Also, buying expensive gift cards tends to get you unwanted attention at stores due to fraud/scam protection. Seems like more of a hassle to me IMO. I've also heard about stings where if you bring specific items, it helps the cops to prove your intent. It's one thing to have cash on you, but to agree to bring gift cards, it is very specific and can link you to texts. 

Edited yesterday at 02:12 PM by urbanfetish
typo

[Mark_fl]

I'd caution a provider not to do this as well. What's to prevent someone from paying with a gift card and then canceling it somehow or reporting it stolen? 

Once used, the police can track it to you, and then you have to explain how you got it, etc. 

[SecretProvider]

I have accepted amazon gift card as deposit from a client who lived abroad and was traveling to my city, as a non American electronic payments like venmo and cashapp were not available to him. I wouldn't accept it as payment for service as there you need to load it to your amazon account before you can verify it is  valid card. There wouldn't be much to stop  "client' giving you a used card as he leaves.  

 

With the deposit i was able to just receive the code. 

[ACluelessGent]

You must be joking. What comes next? Food stamps? 🤣

[+ SirBillybob]

On the one hand, cash neither expires waiting to become money nor presents hoops to jump through such as with misplaced PIN codes or the $0.13 expenditure beyond redemption limit. 

On the other hand, cash unambiguously obligates income taxation.

Edited 22 hours ago by SirBillybob

[BuffaloKyle]

You could certainly do an Amazon gift card as payment. My advice for clients is to not give the redemption code though until the actual session. And my advice for providers is to have items in your cart all ready to check out with said gift card as soon as you receive the code. I wouldn't even wait until the client left as they could redeem the gift card pretty quickly themselves.

Edited 22 hours ago by BuffaloKyle

[DunwoodyGuy]

Life was simpler when all you had to do was this:

[jonasfoleson]

It's not common. Though i suppose they can spend it how they wish. Typically, most payments evidently are in terms of cash whether physical or electronic.