There have been data points this past week that Kroger has implemented a restriction on Best Buy gift cards, hardcoding a seemingly store-wide limit of $1,000.
If you buy any Best Buy gift cards over that $1,000 limit, your credit card will be charged but the extra gift card(s) won’t be activated. You therefore have to go to the Customer Service desk to get refunded for the non-activated cards which is a hassle.
This doesn’t appear to be tied to your Kroger Fuel Points account, nor the checkout you use. It’s not a transaction limit either. You therefore can’t get around it by simply using a different Fuel Points account or check-out, nor by buying cards in different $1,000 transactions. Instead, the limit of $1,000 in Best Buy gift cards is store-wide, with the velocity limit appearing to reset after 10-15 minutes.
This change makes it far more inconvenient to buy cards in volume. It could also prove to be problematic if you happen to visit a store just after someone else in your local area has bought cards from that store as even your first $1,000 of cards would end up not being activated. It’s therefore going to be important to always check the activation receipts printed off when buying gift cards to ensure that the Best Buy gift cards you buy have indeed been activated.
I’m not sure if I’m understanding this correctly…are you saying that if someone with no connection to me whatsoever happens to buy $1000 of Best Buy gift cards in the same day, maybe a few minutes before I do, and then I (or anyone else for that matter) come along and try to buy any amount of Best Buy cards, the cards won’t be activated? Is it a $1000 daily sales limit per store with no connection to the credit card, points account, etc.?
The velocity limit appears to be every 10-15 minutes, so it’s not a daily sales limit per store. It doesn’t appear to be connected to credit cards, fuel points accounts, etc. – just purely based on whether that particular store has just sold $1,000 of Best Buy gift cards.
Due to that velocity limit, it doesn’t seem to discriminate as to who just spent the $1,000 – if you happen to buy just after someone else did, you’ll presumably end up with non-activated gift cards.
What a lovely policy
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Can someone explain to me if there is a significant benefit to buying large Best Buy gift cards from Kroger? (other than just to get the fuel points if you are already making a large purchase at Best Buy)
There can be for gift card resellers due to the fuel points & credit card rewards you earn.
There are some reseller groups that have been “banned” by Best Buy. They typically buy discount electronics from Best Buy in high volumes and sell those electronics on eBay, Craig’s List, etc. Best Buy has probably banned their credit cards or Best Buy Rewards accounts. To circumvent the ban, and hide their identity these reseller groups use gift cards for their purchases.
Safeway was reported to have a similar limitation some time ago. There were a number of brands that had a limit (but not Visa/MC).
Yep, Safeway has had a velocity limit for some time too, although I think their threshold is $500 rather than $1,000.