People ask why I buy iTunes gift cards, and it’s not an easy answer. A lot of people assume I am using my card to buy from iTunes, but this isn’t always the case. There is a reason to buy iTunes, and I will explain this to you in a minute.
But what I do want to tell you is that you can buy these cards cheaply and safely.
You don’t need to go to the Apple Store and waste your money. Yes, there are a lot of scams (I cover this a lot more later on), but when you’re done reading this article, you’ll be able to cut through all of the scams to find your iTunes gift card for cheaper.
Before we go any further, what can you use these cards for?
A lot.
– Music
– Books
– Games
– In-app
– Apps
– Movies
Keep in mind that your gift card cannot be applied to Apple products. You can’t just buy one of these cards and go out and buy an iPhone or apply it to the cost of the phone. This isn’t the purpose of these gift cards – at all.
But, you can buy most downloadable content through your gift card.
Choose Online Retailers Over the Apple Store
Apple is a lot like other retailers, but the company doesn’t discount their gift cards often. I am not sure I have seen a sale on the gift cards, and this is one of the reasons that I don’t recommend buying your gift cards directly.
Yes, if you do buy directly, you’ll avoid scams and paying higher prices.
If you don’t mind paying more, then by all means go directly to the source. But if you value your money and are like most people, shop online first. You may find better prices on gift cards online than from the source.
And you’ll almost always find better deals during major events, such as Black Friday or during holiday sales. Amazon’s Prime Day had a $100 card for just $85, and guess what? A lot of other retailers matched the deal, leading to tens of thousands of people buying gift cards.
I can normally find cards for a lot less online from Fortune 500 companies and smaller retailers, too.
OffGamers.com, for example, is one of my go-to places to purchase gift cards. The company has one of the best prices, but even when they don’t have better prices than the competition, you’ll be able to purchase your cards differently.
Everyone has their money tied up differently.
But if you go through a traditional retailer, good luck trying to have them accept digital currency or a bank transfer. It’s unfortunate, but traditional retailers don’t offer this level of flexibility. You would be lucky to find many retailers accepting PayPal.
It’s a shame, but it’s also an area that many online retailers have tried to fill.
OffGamers.com, for example, knows that to get a “one up” on the competition, they need to offer payment methods that others don’t offer. These payment methods work well for the tech-savvy crowd that wants to spend their money differently.
When you choose online retailers, you’ll be able to make your purchases using:
– Credit card
– Mobile payments
– E-Wallets
– Bank transfers
– Western union
– Cryptocurrency
– Moneygram
– Tons more
It’s a great way to make purchases, and you’ll be able to make many of these purchases anonymously. You’ll find that there are all of the options above and more at OffGamers.
If you want to be able to buy iTunes gift cards without anyone knowing, a lot of the options above will provide you with the anonymity that others don’t offer. It’s a great option for all consumers. Checkout takes minutes and is as fast and easy as any other form of checkout.
But let me tell you something: People are out to get your money.
Gift cards are one of the most commonly used items in fraud. I have seen people go online, go to some random site that asks them to put in their gift card code, and expect to receive something back in return.
What they receive back is a gift card that has been depleted.
Older people are often the center of these scams, too. You’ll find that older people are easy victims of phishing, so scammers target them, and the person might not realize what happened for weeks or months even.
I am going to help you cut through the scams once and for all so that you know you’re making a purchase with confidence.
Where to Buy iTunes Gift Cards: Avoiding Scams
Anytime Apple comes out with anything, people want to mimic the company and start scamming others. It’s a shame really, and it’s been going on forever. The problem is that everyone is now connected, so we’re seeing a lot of people get scammed in masses.
It’s just too easy to scam people online.
If you want to be safe when making your purchase, you need to know about the most recent scams to see what people are doing:
Push people to pay with gift cards. The FTC released an announcement that scammers had been pushing consumers to pay for items with their gift cards. If you buy a gift card, don’t fall for this scam. You should only be purchasing items from iTunes and Apple-related stores with your card.
Automated phone scams. I don’t know how people are falling for this, but it seems that they are, according to the IRS. What’s happening is that a lot of robo calls are being made, asking for taxpayers to make tax payments using iTunes gift cards. The government doesn’t want your gift card, and they definitely aren’t going to be calling you during the summer asking for payments unless you haven’t paid your taxes.
Fake retailers. It doesn’t take much to make an ecommerce store. You can make a store in the next hour, and you can start selling cards you don’t own. This scam has been happening for too long for people to still fall for it – yet here we are. When a deal seems too good to be true, it’s usually some sort of scam. That’s just the way it is.
So now that we know the most common scam when actually purchasing your gift card, it’s important to know how to start analyzing the sites that you make purchases on. Yes, you can use Amazon or any major online retailer with little concern of being scammed in the process.
We’re not talking about these sites by any means.
What I am talking about is finding out which retailers, often the smaller ones with the better deals, are trustworthy.
Now, you may ask me about OffGamers and why I recommend the company, and the answer is simple:
– They’ve been in business for over 10 years
– They sell all sorts of gift cards
But let’s say that you just heard about the site and want to do your own research. I recommend doing the following to properly vet the site before even opting to buy an iTunes gift card.
Check to see if the site is secure. Since you’re going to be spending money online, through a credit card, for example, I want you to go to the site and see if it has “https” instead of “http” in front of the URL. You want a site that is using SSL encryption, and this means that the site is using the latest technology to keep your information safe. Your browser should tell you if the certificate on the site has expired or if the site is not secure. If the site is secure, let’s move on to the next step.
Reverse search. A reverse search is 100% necessary, and it’s something I recommend that you always do. You’ll want to type the URL into a Google search to see what comes up. Feel free to add in any modifiers, such as: +scam. OffGamers is listed on TrustPilot, and from here, I can see that out of 1,842 reviews, the company has an 8.2 rating – that’s impressive.
Trust sites. You want to check the most common “trust” sites to see what others have to say about a site. A few of the most popular are bbb.org, Trustpilot and Sitejabber. You’ll find a lot of others, too. When you go to these sites, spend a few minutes reading through the reviews. A lot of companies will buy reviews, but when you start seeing negative and positive reviews, you’ll know that this is more realistic. There are always people that complain, but they shouldn’t be complaining about the site being a scam.
Once you start reading through the reviews, you’ll have a better overall understanding of the company you’re dealing with and if they’re trustworthy or not. It’s always best when you look at the positive and negative reviews to gauge your own risks.
I do want to make mention of the language used in a review and grammatical issues.
People online tend to forget basic grammar rules, but you can still spot a review written by a non-native speaker. When you’re seeing a lot of reviews that seem like they’ve been written by someone just learning a native language, you need to be concerned because competitors do buy fake reviews.
You can easily spot fake reviews, especially when you see reviews that say basically the same thing over and over with slightly different wording.
OffGamers does have its fair share of reviews, some bad and some good, but the majority of the reviews are good, and the site has been around for over 10 years. A site will not maintain its domain name and credibility for a decade if it’s a scam.
People will complain.
I also suggest using Reddit to find out what others are saying. I did a search in Google, “reddit offgamers.com,” and I come up with a bunch of posts. One states, “do not use OffGamers unless you want a 4 hour delivery.”
The user complained that he was still in the “verification” process, but reading what others say in the thread, and you’ll see that no one had an issue. A lot of people got their codes instantly and for others, it took 5 minutes to get their code.
Sometimes, delays happen when you make a purchase online, so keep this in mind.
I am forgiving, so if my code comes in 2 minutes or 5 minutes, I am not going to complain.
When you follow all of my instructions above, you’ll have a much easier time buying an iTunes gift card from a reputable seller.
If you’re trying to find a gift for someone, choose an iTunes gift card. There’s a lot that you can do with these cards, and almost everyone can find uses for them. What I do want to say is that every time I buy one, they’re used quickly.
People always have gift cards that they let expire or collect dust somewhere. Not when it’s an iTunes card. These gift cards not only hold their value, but they are just a great overall gift to give anyone.
Studies show that 27% of Americans actually prefer a gift card over a regular present. And there are also statistics that show some people are actually afraid to ask for a gift card because they don’t want to be rude.
Younger generations are craving independence and freedom, so these individuals will often want a gift card over a traditional gift anyway.
My niece and nephew, for example, prefer gift cards. I would buy them a present that I knew they liked, but now that they are in their teens, it’s very difficult to buy for them. I can’t find just the right gift like I was able to in the past when they were younger, so now, I buy them a gift card. Everyone is always happy with the items they purchase.
It’s a win-win for everyone involved, and it makes choosing a gift a lot easier and less stressful, too.
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