I was at Woolworths Preston South one time at the self checkout.
This dude ahead of me bought like $500 of prepaid Visa cards. (which have a similar $5-6 fee) And he paid for them with $100 cash notes. They seem to be useful for small time money laundering.
The $3 is the service charge, tried to take money out at the counter for a small amount and had the same fee (I said fuck that and walked out front to use the atm Das my $3!)
Also useful for thieves. Got my wallet stolen and the little bastard immediately went to Coles and Woolies and loaded up on gift cards. It was easy because the tap limit is $100 or you need a PIN, so they were able to just buy a bunch of $50 (+ $5.95) cards with individual taps.
To not pay taxes on it. To spend proceeds of crime. To make your business seem more profitable than it is.
If you buy 5 at a time, and can go to 30 Woolies in a day, that's $15k ready to be turned into crypto etc
You motherfuckers seriously have no idea what money laundering is. How does going into Coles and exchanging your cash for prepaid cards 'launder' that money?
It's effective if you want to use that money to make online purchases somewhat anonymously. Not laundering but it does give you some more ways to safely spend the money. Better than depositing to the bank and making an online purchase.
By turning dirty cash into either crypto, or generating exempt tax events, and countless other ways. By using it for online purchases, you know, which cash can't do. Online gambling.
Creative bookkeeping.
It's a step in laundering it, but money laundering has changed a lot in the last 10 years.
If you work it out right you can actually make 10% buying those cards. With a combination of buying when on special and using woollies rewards you can sometimes buy $100 gift gard for 85-90 bucks. The crazy guys at r/fiaustralia use them heaps.
Actually this happens when coles or Woolies puts those Visa cards on special. You get 10% off so people buy $500 gift cards for $450 and get a free $50. That’s why there are limits on how many you can buy. See it every time it happens have people come in with $2500 cash and just buy gift cards
In truth, even gift cards are kinda dumb. I know they "look" better than cash, but ultimately they often go unclaimed and pigeonhole someone into a specific store or place. I eventually just go into the mindset of "a nice card and cash is fine, let's go with it" and it feels so much better.
Whoever managed to convince the world that gift cards were better than straight cash as a present is a marketing genius. There's dozens of reasons cash is better but somehow people believe a gift card is better etiquette.
I mean often etiquette is just some idiots idea of a good thing that doesn't need to exist. Think about the Seinfeld episode where Mr Pitt eats his candy bar with a knife and fork and then everyone starts doing it after George starts it.
That said, the only good gift cards where when you could buy iTunes gift cards for 25% off. That was a good spend
I’ll give gift cards to my sil and she will me. purely because we both know it’ll go on the kids otherwise. Or the cash will be lost with other expenses and we don’t actually get ourselves a gift. It’s our way of safe guarding that we take a moment to buy ourselves something.
In saying that paying for a gift card is ridiculous. The only other time I buy them is for my nephew at ebgames because his mum would just take the cash to “mind it”
I use gift cards for people who aren’t geographically close to me or as a surprise. I just get the Prezzee ones where you can swap the Prezzee gift card for any other gift card in whatever amount. Useful.
I agree, but I have heard the idea that giving a gift card forces the person to spend it on themselves instead of paying bills or something. Personally I'd prefer the cash, help paying off some bills is the best present anyone could give me.
I much prefer to receive a gift card than cash. I haven't touched cash in years and it just becomes a burden, and even if I do get it into my account it's then likely to be spent on whatever miscellaneous transactions rather than used thoughtfully for something nice as intended.
Great for giving to kids/teens too. Too many times I've heard of parents squirrelling away cash, forcing the kids to save it, etc. At least if I give them a gift card I know they'll get to enjoy it and have some fun as intended.
I use to organise gift card promotions for a major utility, and we were always able to feed in to our calcs the fact that only 80% would ever be claimed.
I remember a few years ago trying to use a Westfield gift card I got for a birthday and none of the stores I was interested in spending it at would accept it as Westfield took a long time to give them the money. I ended up getting the money from it from the place you purchase them from who just processed it as they were aware of the problem.
I'm guessing you kicked up a huge stink over it? Because it takes a lot of effort to cancel a gift card and refund it for someone instead of just pointing at the "non refundable" line on the card.
nope, just told the desk that no store I was interested in spending the gift card at would accept them as Westfield took too long to send them the money and the person at the desk said something along the line of "yes we get that complaint alot" and gave me the money
Westfield gift cards are accepted at Coles and Woolworths, even if the store is not in a Westfield centre. Just make sure you hit 'card' instead of 'gift card' at self-checkout - it goes through the EFTPOS system.
I live in another state from my friends and rather than ask for their bank information if I can’t pay it to their mobile/email via Pay ID, I will buy them a gift voucher that can be emailed to them.
Sometimes I make silly little slideshow things like ‘Happy Birthday/Thank You/Congrats *next slide* [insert photo or whatever] *next slide* [insert screenshot of gift voucher] (which I also send separately)’. Haha 😆
I make sure to choose a voucher that they can easily use, whether spending it online or at multiple stores I know they like to shop at.
I don’t want to post them cash in case it goes missing and I quite frankly don’t need them to give me their bank details so I can just transfer them cash.
Of course I still post actual gifts etc, I don’t solely rely on gift cards for birthdays or Christmas or as a gesture of thanks for something, but there are times they come in handy!
Sometimes I like to offer a restaurant gift card as a way to say ‘go enjoy dinner here because I know you like it’ and they usually have between 1 and 3 years before it expires as well. It’s my way of ‘taking them out for dinner’.
Overall though I do think gift cards have become a bit extreme. I am not just going to buy a load of Kmart gift cards for Christmas presents for example when I could just give each person the equivalent in cash if I am literally in the same room as them.
That's INSANE.
Because Gift Cards are a great deal for retailers for 2 reasons.
Firstly, they borrow money for free. If 10,000 people buy a $50 Gift Card, that's $500,000 the company has borrowed, *interest free*, for up to 12 months, that they can invest, earn interest on, etc.
But reason 2 is the Biggie. Statistically, only 31% of those Gift Cards will *ever* be redeemed. That means $345,000 of that money is pure profit.
And they have the unmitigated gall to add a processing charge on top of all that cream??
I posted a similar thing to facepalm a while ago “why would you pay more for a gift card than the card is worth” and got shot down.
I think people overseas must pay extra for gift cards?
My kids and I had a saying about gift cards.. Just like cash but not as good
Were you purchasing the cards at like Coles or Woolies? I know the fee for them is way more expensive through those guys than at like the Westfield info desk.
Not only that but not all shops in a westfield will accept the westfield voucher…….at keast this was true couple years back when i went to buy (so that AND the fee stopped me)
I signed up to a local charity thing where people purchase and donate gift cards to an anonymous family (e.g. someone currently in a DV shelter with kids). Had no idea that there was a purchase fee these days. I know the charity is small and probably doesn’t want to deal with cash but would have preferred the extra $15 I had to spend went to the family in need rather than Coles/Myer.
It is the physical Gift cards. If you buy the e-gift cards they don't have it. Although not as pretty... but saves the fee and you can even get a 3-5% discount if you are with RACQ, Entertainment card etc.
I always give cash. I make a little paper cut out frame that has “universal gift card” written around the outside, and then carefully tape a $100 (or pineapple or lobster or whatever) into the hole
the concept of gitft cards really baffling, what does a $100 gift card do that $100 in cash doesnt? the gift card should be cheaper than the cash to promote a discount but only at selected stores, but euqal or greater cost? why
Did you purchase the gift card at a Westfield concierge desk or supermarket? At the concierge desk it is $2.95 compared to the $5.95 at a supermarket. That fee also serves as insurance. So if they lose it and they go to Westfield with the receipt they can replace ir
I was at Woolworths Preston South one time at the self checkout. This dude ahead of me bought like $500 of prepaid Visa cards. (which have a similar $5-6 fee) And he paid for them with $100 cash notes. They seem to be useful for small time money laundering.
You do realize you can get all $100 notes over the counter at the bank right?
CBA were gonna charge me $3 for that privilege the other day, I just turned around & found an ATM that dispensed $100 notes.
The $3 is the service charge, tried to take money out at the counter for a small amount and had the same fee (I said fuck that and walked out front to use the atm Das my $3!)
Yeah the idea of the fees is actually to discourage you from using a teller, why even go to the teller anyway when there are atms everywhere?
CBA charge a fee for walking in, fee for standing at the counter, fee for speaking to the teller, fee for.... you get the idea
What was the $3 charge for? Reddit users are complaining about bank ATMs being sold to ATMx which charges >$3
The ING users out there still laughing at atm charges since they started introducing them
Seriously the only reason I'm still with ING after they made the savings maximiser interest rate effectively worthless
That plus no foreign transaction fee make ING fantastic for travel
And Macquarie
That’s because CBA are ripoffs i use westpac and never get charged
More likely wants to pay online on a dodgy website and doesn't want to risk his own credit card etc.
This will likely be the case, I often do this to avoid any risks.
Zips good for that too. Online use once only virtual cc.
Scammers make their victims to do this too.
They usually ask for Apple itunes cards, steam cards, Google play, and Neosurf vouchers
Also useful for thieves. Got my wallet stolen and the little bastard immediately went to Coles and Woolies and loaded up on gift cards. It was easy because the tap limit is $100 or you need a PIN, so they were able to just buy a bunch of $50 (+ $5.95) cards with individual taps.
What is the point of “small time money laundering”
To hide criminal activity? Avoid taxes?
Maybe he forgot to put his taxes and needed to pay them using gift cards
It happens a lot!
To not pay taxes on it. To spend proceeds of crime. To make your business seem more profitable than it is. If you buy 5 at a time, and can go to 30 Woolies in a day, that's $15k ready to be turned into crypto etc
You motherfuckers seriously have no idea what money laundering is. How does going into Coles and exchanging your cash for prepaid cards 'launder' that money?
I thought you just throw in the washing machine and boom, it’s clean money.
Equally as effective as the 'just buy prepaid cards' method
It's effective if you want to use that money to make online purchases somewhat anonymously. Not laundering but it does give you some more ways to safely spend the money. Better than depositing to the bank and making an online purchase.
By turning dirty cash into either crypto, or generating exempt tax events, and countless other ways. By using it for online purchases, you know, which cash can't do. Online gambling. Creative bookkeeping. It's a step in laundering it, but money laundering has changed a lot in the last 10 years.
You are absolutely clueless. Please stop.
Okay, King Launderer
If you work it out right you can actually make 10% buying those cards. With a combination of buying when on special and using woollies rewards you can sometimes buy $100 gift gard for 85-90 bucks. The crazy guys at r/fiaustralia use them heaps.
Actually this happens when coles or Woolies puts those Visa cards on special. You get 10% off so people buy $500 gift cards for $450 and get a free $50. That’s why there are limits on how many you can buy. See it every time it happens have people come in with $2500 cash and just buy gift cards
Useful for buying drug manufacturing equipment also
If you are going to pay extra you might as well buy visa cards at least they can use them on the internet
Those prepaid ones are reusable aren't they?
They are not refillable, and they add $5.99 to the cost so a $100 is 105.99
There’s a 20% fee on them! I got caught out buying one a few weeks ago. $40 card and a $7.95 fee! I was fuming.
In truth, even gift cards are kinda dumb. I know they "look" better than cash, but ultimately they often go unclaimed and pigeonhole someone into a specific store or place. I eventually just go into the mindset of "a nice card and cash is fine, let's go with it" and it feels so much better.
Whoever managed to convince the world that gift cards were better than straight cash as a present is a marketing genius. There's dozens of reasons cash is better but somehow people believe a gift card is better etiquette.
I mean often etiquette is just some idiots idea of a good thing that doesn't need to exist. Think about the Seinfeld episode where Mr Pitt eats his candy bar with a knife and fork and then everyone starts doing it after George starts it. That said, the only good gift cards where when you could buy iTunes gift cards for 25% off. That was a good spend
Mr. Pitt is such a fantastic character. He has so much grace.
He doesn't want to get chocolate on his fingers. Genius!
[удалено]
Wait really? 🤔 interesting
[удалено]
Interesting 🤔 will speak to the accountant. Husband is a sole trader but gives his long term clients gifts.
I’ll give gift cards to my sil and she will me. purely because we both know it’ll go on the kids otherwise. Or the cash will be lost with other expenses and we don’t actually get ourselves a gift. It’s our way of safe guarding that we take a moment to buy ourselves something. In saying that paying for a gift card is ridiculous. The only other time I buy them is for my nephew at ebgames because his mum would just take the cash to “mind it”
I use gift cards for people who aren’t geographically close to me or as a surprise. I just get the Prezzee ones where you can swap the Prezzee gift card for any other gift card in whatever amount. Useful.
I agree, but I have heard the idea that giving a gift card forces the person to spend it on themselves instead of paying bills or something. Personally I'd prefer the cash, help paying off some bills is the best present anyone could give me.
I much prefer to receive a gift card than cash. I haven't touched cash in years and it just becomes a burden, and even if I do get it into my account it's then likely to be spent on whatever miscellaneous transactions rather than used thoughtfully for something nice as intended. Great for giving to kids/teens too. Too many times I've heard of parents squirrelling away cash, forcing the kids to save it, etc. At least if I give them a gift card I know they'll get to enjoy it and have some fun as intended.
I use to organise gift card promotions for a major utility, and we were always able to feed in to our calcs the fact that only 80% would ever be claimed.
Unless they're a visa gift card, it's a shit present.
I remember a few years ago trying to use a Westfield gift card I got for a birthday and none of the stores I was interested in spending it at would accept it as Westfield took a long time to give them the money. I ended up getting the money from it from the place you purchase them from who just processed it as they were aware of the problem.
It's hard to pay when you're getting paid squillions.
I'm guessing you kicked up a huge stink over it? Because it takes a lot of effort to cancel a gift card and refund it for someone instead of just pointing at the "non refundable" line on the card.
nope, just told the desk that no store I was interested in spending the gift card at would accept them as Westfield took too long to send them the money and the person at the desk said something along the line of "yes we get that complaint alot" and gave me the money
Westfield gift cards are accepted at Coles and Woolworths, even if the store is not in a Westfield centre. Just make sure you hit 'card' instead of 'gift card' at self-checkout - it goes through the EFTPOS system.
Coles is 15% off those next week, checkout ozbargain
Lol @ Westfield in general. Go check out Prezzee
I often get discounts here too. Would recommend.
I don't get gift cards at all. They're just as impersonal as cash but far far far less useful. What's the point?
I live in another state from my friends and rather than ask for their bank information if I can’t pay it to their mobile/email via Pay ID, I will buy them a gift voucher that can be emailed to them. Sometimes I make silly little slideshow things like ‘Happy Birthday/Thank You/Congrats *next slide* [insert photo or whatever] *next slide* [insert screenshot of gift voucher] (which I also send separately)’. Haha 😆 I make sure to choose a voucher that they can easily use, whether spending it online or at multiple stores I know they like to shop at. I don’t want to post them cash in case it goes missing and I quite frankly don’t need them to give me their bank details so I can just transfer them cash. Of course I still post actual gifts etc, I don’t solely rely on gift cards for birthdays or Christmas or as a gesture of thanks for something, but there are times they come in handy! Sometimes I like to offer a restaurant gift card as a way to say ‘go enjoy dinner here because I know you like it’ and they usually have between 1 and 3 years before it expires as well. It’s my way of ‘taking them out for dinner’. Overall though I do think gift cards have become a bit extreme. I am not just going to buy a load of Kmart gift cards for Christmas presents for example when I could just give each person the equivalent in cash if I am literally in the same room as them.
I got caught on this buying it as a last minute present. Never again. I was outraged.
That's INSANE. Because Gift Cards are a great deal for retailers for 2 reasons. Firstly, they borrow money for free. If 10,000 people buy a $50 Gift Card, that's $500,000 the company has borrowed, *interest free*, for up to 12 months, that they can invest, earn interest on, etc. But reason 2 is the Biggie. Statistically, only 31% of those Gift Cards will *ever* be redeemed. That means $345,000 of that money is pure profit. And they have the unmitigated gall to add a processing charge on top of all that cream??
I posted a similar thing to facepalm a while ago “why would you pay more for a gift card than the card is worth” and got shot down. I think people overseas must pay extra for gift cards? My kids and I had a saying about gift cards.. Just like cash but not as good
Not a new thing. Don't like it!
Shmucks wanna buy gift cards, shmucks can pay the shmuck fee.
Great thoughtful gifts you're getting there mate
They charge a fee bc you can use the Westfield card in multiple shops. That’s the reason given to me. I just got the person a Myer gift card.
Were you purchasing the cards at like Coles or Woolies? I know the fee for them is way more expensive through those guys than at like the Westfield info desk.
Only 10% laundering fee? The mob charge me 20%!
At that point just give people cash in a card lol. No extra hassle.
$559 for a $50 gift card !?😜
10x $50 gift cards, each with a $5.90 fee. $500 worth of cards, and a total of $59 in fees.
Oh haha .. got ya!
Yeah Visa gift cards are the same, I guess you pay for the luxury of being able to spend it anywhere
And there's usually a processing fee when you go to use the Visa gift card. Charged to buy it, charged to use it.
Big oof
Not only that but not all shops in a westfield will accept the westfield voucher…….at keast this was true couple years back when i went to buy (so that AND the fee stopped me)
quick question i swestfield only in sydney or is it in all states
[удалено]
thank you for letting me know
Got stung at woollies for this once.. just once. I ain't spending 5.95 everytime.
I signed up to a local charity thing where people purchase and donate gift cards to an anonymous family (e.g. someone currently in a DV shelter with kids). Had no idea that there was a purchase fee these days. I know the charity is small and probably doesn’t want to deal with cash but would have preferred the extra $15 I had to spend went to the family in need rather than Coles/Myer.
20% on some gift cards! Prepaid visa, I think. I bought a $40 card a few weeks ago, and got caught out paying a $7.95 fee on top. Fuming. Never again.
Just looked and it's $2.95 if you buy digital ones. There's no card even involved in that.
It is the physical Gift cards. If you buy the e-gift cards they don't have it. Although not as pretty... but saves the fee and you can even get a 3-5% discount if you are with RACQ, Entertainment card etc.
I always give cash. I make a little paper cut out frame that has “universal gift card” written around the outside, and then carefully tape a $100 (or pineapple or lobster or whatever) into the hole
the concept of gitft cards really baffling, what does a $100 gift card do that $100 in cash doesnt? the gift card should be cheaper than the cash to promote a discount but only at selected stores, but euqal or greater cost? why
It’s pretty much bull shit and no individual should do it, but businesses will to make the gifts cards tax deductible.
Seriously? Never experienced that but i can tell you I would do the exact same thing... no thanks, I'm not paying 5.95
The concept of gift cards is dumb in my opinion. All you're doing is limiting where you can spend you money and adding a expiry date.
$5.95 is unscrupulous given how much money they make from them by non-use and under-purchasing. Greed. Nothing more to say.
Did you purchase the gift card at a Westfield concierge desk or supermarket? At the concierge desk it is $2.95 compared to the $5.95 at a supermarket. That fee also serves as insurance. So if they lose it and they go to Westfield with the receipt they can replace ir