First off, there is NO SUCH THING as $75, $150, $200, or any other extremely high or unusual iTunes Gift Card. The only cards iTunes makes are $15, $25, and $50, and some $10 and $30 in limited quantities exist ($100 does now, though it is not yet confirmed if it is a permanent card). Ever wonder why they can offer these, but Americans selling their own cards never do? Short answer: they can't.
Have you ever gone onto eBay and seen people selling multiple $50 cards for prices such as $45, $40, even $30? And I don't mean someone selling one or two cards, but people like me, selling many, many cards. The first thing that should come to mind is: How can they sell these at LESS than face value? Short answer: they can't. Let's look a little bit closer at these sellers (I have done research on this, including personal experiences almost a year ago).
One of the things I make very important in my eBay listings for iTunes is that I am a United States-based seller. I want people to know I am not one of those people registered in China, Vietnam, or even in other places like Australia or Switzerland. Now, I'm certainly not saying those places are bad. But you have to wonder...if people like you are coming to me because you need US iTunes cards, how in the world can these people be selling them outside the US, in such large quantities, and at lower-than-face-value prices?! Again, the short answer: they can't.
Many of these sellers, including people that are registered in places like Australia (this is from a personal experience) ultimately are Asian sellers. If you see sellers based in the United States, yes, you WILL find they actually are Americans. However, you will also find that their suppliers are Asian. Now why do I bring this up? Because at first glance, it's a bit suspicious that all roads lead to Asia.
Now comes the interesting part. If you email any of these sellers, you'll also find that their codes, for some reason they claim not to know, strangely become canceled soon (day or two) after they are given to you, unless they are entered into an iTunes account. But the thing is, true iTunes cards don't expire. They say nothing about expiring, and I've seen cards, old and new, that can always be redeemed.
So what is going on here? Why is all this happening, and strangely enough, with every single seller on eBay selling their cards for less than face value? It's FRAUD. That's right, think about it. Information like credit card numbers, PayPal login info, bank account numbers, they all get compromised by thousands of people EVERYDAY. Phishing emails, bogus phone calls, viruses, they all contribute. So what happens when someone gets this information? They go out and use it as much as possible until someone catches on.
So here is the series of events: Information is stolen, someone in China gets that information, they use it to buy things like iTunes codes online, at some point they either use the codes on eBay or sell them to unsuspecting American resellers, and once the banks catch on to the fraud, they cancel the transactions, Apple iTunes cancels the card/code purchased (if it hasn't already been redeemed) and the buyer is left wondering what the heck happened?!
The reason I mention all of this is to really emphasize that when I provide you with codes, they are straight from the back of cards that I have gotten here in the US. I scratch them off myself, I type them up myself, I enter them into iTunes myself to verify there are no mistakes, and then I sell them to you. DO NOT BE FOOLED or let your friends be fooled by these people on eBay that sell their cards at suspiciously low prices.
While I'm sure you must already have some idea since you may be buying from me, and not them, I wanted to put a public service announcement on here to remind you that when things seem too good to be true, they usually are.
Thanks again everyone for your purchases and have a great buying experience!
