Unwanted gift top shop voucher

skibster

hollydays wrote: »

I don't understand.If you can spend a £100 voucher at £100,why would you pay more.If you had to pay more you may as well use cash.

I asked the same question on another thread when we were noting that Boots vouchers were selling for the full price or more on ebay and I couldn't understand why anyone would pay that. A possible explanation someone gave has to do with people on certain benefits having to report income if money is deposited into their bank account from Paypal (earned from things they sold on ebay), but if they spend their money in their paypal account on other things (such as vouchers they can spend in stores), they never have that money deposited in their bank account and never have to explain it. The problem apparently isn't that they aren't allowed to earn money selling things they don't need on ebay, but that they stop getting benefits while it is investigated as to where the money came from/what items were sold, etc. Then even if it was cleared that they did nothing wrong, they may have gone a couple of months without benefits. I don't really know a thing about benefits or how they work, but the poster who explained it had a friend in that situation who did in fact buy vouchers on ebay to avoid benefits problems.

That may not be the clearest explanation as I'm telling it all second-hand, but basically some people aren't so much looking to get a bargain on the ebay vouchers as they are trying to find a way to transfer their paypal money into funds they can spend in stores. All of which is to say, selling unwanted on vouchers on ebay isn't a bad idea.

edit: Doh, just noticed someone else already explained it, much more concisely, too, lol.

Damzel_In_Distress

can i just ask where people have got the impression that people on benefits arn't "allowed" to sell their own things!! ???

thats like saying people who work cant sell their stuff for money without declaring the money as taxable income!!

i am personally on income support and there is no such rule at all,your allowed money up to £6000,might even be more than that actually.

blue_monkey_2

How would DWP know where the money has come from without investigation? Business? Selling your own things? It is naive of you to think that will not lead to investigation if they can see regular money coming into your account.

I am also sure that while you are honest there are many more that are not and this means people can run a business and get paid into Paypal, spend the money on vouchers, while still claiming benefits.....

There is no way DWP would ignore regular payments into your account so if you are doing this and claiming be sure to keep everything to do with those transactions so you can prove you was seling personal things and not goods that are making you a profit (running a business!!). Hence these people not caring what they pay for the vouchers as long as the money does not go into their account.

In regard to people who are working selling their own things, yes they can, but if they sell for profit then it still needs to be declared to the taxman - and there are many people who do not do that either. Shouls somene who sells a lot get investigated then yes, in the same way the Taxman is going to want to know what you have sold. However, someone working only has the taxman to answer to and not the DWP - and you risk your benefits being stopped while it is investigated - you do not have this if you have a job and still get your wage. Some people do not want the 'risk'.

DID, if I called the DWP today and told them I thought you was working on the side, on the internet, they would call you for investigation, if they see the regular amounts of money going onto your statement they are certainly going to want to know where it has come from and possibly stop your money while they found out. If the money is not there there is nothing to investigate. So these people use the money to buy vouchers straightaway and no-one is any the wiser. That could be a nice little earner on top of benefits. There would then be nothing to stop me picking things up that are cheap, flogging them on eBay and using the money I've been paid by my customers into Paypal to buy vouchers for the high street and still claim all the benefits for not working.

ThinkingOfLinking

Blue Monkey, I just want to say, I have reported two people in the past who were working while claiming benefits, actually make that three, with details including car registration number for one of them, and NOTHING was done; the DWP never followed it up at all!!

blue_monkey_2

That just about says it all to be honest!! Why am I not even surprised??

They are chasing my husband for some 'crisis loan' that he never had. The letter arrived late last year telling us to pay it and I wrote asking them to send the proof, they said it referred to 1990 and that is was a crisis loan - that was it!! I have asked for more details but they will not send us anything to show he had it (his brother used to take stuff in his name so I want proof if DH has not had the money!!) all they tell me is that they can take him to court if he does not pay, then they say they can't as it is too old, then they say it doesn't matter as they can take it from his pension anyway (he is 38!!!!) and in all of this they have no proof to give me that he had the so called loan. Now they are saying they can add bailiffs charges if we do not pay - oh, but they do not need to give him any proof he owes the money they will just take it anyway. They are an absolute shambles!!

ThinkingOfLinking

Blue Monkey, they're currently trying to make ME "repay" money too. Yes, I HAVE been on JSA previously, but they claim they overpaid me which is interesting as I had to wait 6 months to get anything in the first place, back in 2007, and they send me letters 2 days apart. I don't mind paying it if they provide proof but they then turned around and claimed I was working for some company I never worked for, for 2 months. To make matters worse, I did apply for a job with that company, back when I used to have my NI number in my CV. I spoke to the CAB and it turns out some companies take the NI numbers of applicants and pretend they're employees even when they are not, so the employer can reap certain NI or other benefits; not sure what these are. I have heard even a major high street retailer has been known to do this (a sporting shop). Beware.

ThinkingOfLinking

PS, as for chasing up a crisis loan from 19 years ago; !!!!!!? They have way too much time on their hands if they are only NOW going through files etc (1990 was proably files still, rather than computer database). Even if he did owe the money, it is NOT your husbands fault; it's the DWP's fault and they should cut their losses.

blue_monkey_2

Wow, really (the NI number) that is just shocking. Yes, that is what I thought, 19 years ago - they contacted us after we had been 10 years at our last address saying 'you have ignored this debt' and he had been on JSA for 2 months during this time while he was between jobs. Hardly hiding, he had been paying Tax & NI for this time too. I am the same as you, show me the forms and we will pay it, no problem with that, but if someone else has had that money using his NI number then no way. He did not even go to the benefit office that they claim he used as it is too far from us and certainly not one local to us. Daft.

Sorry for hijacking this thread OP. Who mentioned the DWP in the first place to start us off on this tangent, LOL.

I do know someone who grassed their partner up though (he left her to live with someone else - a woman scorned and all that) and they did lose their benefits. Sometimes it works sometimes it does not I guess, depends on the office I suppose.

rosekitten

there is another way of looking at this
if you have a £100 in paypal and an
auction for next vouchers to that value
is ending the same day.Bid and win the
vouchers pay with paypal and the vouchers
posted out the next day on special delivery
you recieve them all within 2 or 3 days.

it takes 5 to 7 working days for withdrawels
to clear into your bank account.
The auction is a quicker way to get your hands
on the money and if your lucky for less than
shop value.

I did this last year and bought Leisure Vouchers
usually saving around 20% on the value of them
it paid for my holiday and made a good saving
as well as saving a lot on the cost of a DSlite
for my son this Christmas as HMV accept
Leisure vouchers as well

were not all benefit cheats just looking to make
a saving

rosekitten

I would sell your gift card on ebay
you will get a good price for it
just make sure to use special delivery
to post out on as your not covered on
recorded post for gift cards and vouchers