Review of Plastic Jungle Gift Cards – Is Plastic Jungle a Scam?
This review of Plastic Jungle gift cards is ideal for consumers, as it answers such questions as “Is Plastic Jungle a scam?”. With discount gift card websites in abundance today, it’s important to find those that provide the greatest savings and reliable results. And since Plastic Jungle is one of the biggest names in the industry, I decided it would make the most appropriate subject.
In the following post, we’ll talk about what Plastic Jungle does, how much you can save, and what kind of gift cards are available. While any review of Plastic Jungle gift cards may end up reading like a commerical, we’ve tried to be as objective as possible when presenting the facts.
What is Plastic Jungle?
The first question a consumer might ask is “What is Plastic Jungle?”. Plastic Jungle is a website that offers steep discounts on brand name gift cards. The site provides a platform for people to sell their unused gift cards to those looking to buy such items at low prices. If you’re in the market for a gift card, but don’t want to pay full price, websites like Plastic Jungle offer a more economical option.
Besides saving on gift cards with Plastic Jungle, you can also sell your unwanted gift cards to make extra money. If you’re just going to throw the card away, why not turn it into cash instead of trash?
How Much Can You Save with Plastic Jungle?
So how much can you save with Plastic Jungle? Well, buying gift cards on Plastic Jungle can save you up to 35% over retail prices. They also offer free shipping, so you don’t have to worry about putting your savings back into shipping costs. Plastic Jungle has a wide selection of gift cards from popular retailers and restaurants, which makes it easy to find a great deal on whatever you need.
Selling Gift Cards with Plastic Jungle
Selling gift cards with Plastic Jungle is a great way to make some extra cash. Plastic Jungle allows you to list your cards on their website for free, and they charge a 10% commission fee once it’s sold.
Plastic Jungle guarantees all transactions, so you’ll need to provide accurate information about your gift card in order for it to be verified. To do this, simply fill out a short form with the card merchant’s name, gift card value, number and PIN. The card’s number and PIN are only visible to Plastic Jungle’s verification team, and it will be used for validation purposes only.
When someone purchases your card, Plastic Jungle will notify you by email and send a pre-paid shipping label to be used when mailing your item. When the buyer receives your gift card, Plastic Jungle will send you a check in the mail.
Is Plastic Jungle a Scam?
There have been reports of gift card websites ripping off consumers and not providing the card they paid for or the check they were promised. With any online transaction, it’s very important to stay away from companies that do not adhere to strict consumer protection policies. Unlike scam gift card websites, Plastic Jungle provides a safe and secure platform for both buying and selling.
So is Plastic Jungle a scam? No, they’re not.
All transactions are 100% guaranteed, and Plastic Jungle also offers consumer protection services such as replacement protection. In the event that your gift card is lost or damaged, Plastic Jungle will offer you a gift card of equivalent value or a full refund.
You can also be assured that the gift cards being sold are exactly what they claim to be. Plastic Jungle’s verification team checks every card listed to ensure honest product representation.
Gift Cards Available from Plastic Jungle
The selection of gift cards available from Plastic Jungle is impressive, and fans of movies, television, and video games will be especially thrilled. While the selection will vary, you should be able to find almost any item you’re looking for. Popular gift card categories on Plastic Jungle include:
- Arts and Crafts
- Gas, Fuel and Auto Accessories
- Baby and Maternity
- Beauty and Health
- Books, CDs, Movies and Video Games
- Children’s Toys and Accessories
- Clothing
- College Clothing
- College Dining
- Department Stores
- Dining and Food
- Drug Stores and Pharmacies
- Electronics
- Entertainment
- Flowers and Gifts
- Home Furnishings and Décor
- Home Improvement and Tools
- Jewelry
- Office Supplies
- Pet Products
- Services
- Shoes and Handbags
- Sporting Goods
- Travel
Joining Plastic Jungle
Joining Plastic Jungle doesn’t cost a cent. All you have to do is sign up for a free account to start buying and selling gift cards. If you’re still unsure, you can also browse the gift cards on sale without having to be a member. Then, if a particular card catches your eye, you can complete the quick sign-up form to make your purchase.
Donating Gift Cards to Charity
Not only can you make extra money from your unused gift cards with Plastic Jungle, but you can also make a difference in the lives of those in need. Plastic Jungle offers you the option of donating some or all of your gift card’s profits to charity, and they also offer fund-raising programs for non-profit organizations. These programs allow charitable organizations to collect gift cards from donors and then mail them to Plastic Jungle in a pre-paid envelope. Plastic Jungle will then send the organization a check for up to 85% of the card’s value.
So there you have it: a review of Plastic Jungle gift cards and verification that it’s not a scam. Since Christmas is always just around the corner, I suggest heading over there as soon as possible.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 at 3:49 pm and is filed under Thoughts on Film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
88 Responses to “Review of Plastic Jungle Gift Cards – Is Plastic Jungle a Scam?”
About two months ago, I sent in about $600 worth of Home Depot, Barnes and Noble, and Target gift cards. I used their prepaid shipping envelope, sent two letters as it was about 11 cards. Probably took a week and half the cards were shown as received, a day later, the rest were shown as received. I got my Amazon gift card no more than a week after that.
I am still nervous about buying gift cards from them unless I know I’ll be spending it in a week. (the length of the guarantee) I thought they were working on buying a gift card then transferring the balance to a new number so a seller couldn’t report it as stolen or use it a month later or online.
Good idea and I think with time it could be pretty scam free. (well, as much as that could happen)
Don’t buy from or sell to Plastic Jungle! I purchased $300 card two weeks ago, and did not get the ecode until today. The customer service phone is just a joke, always voice message, and even won’t let you leave a message. It’s horrible, I highly doubt about this website, it’s looks like a fraud.
“It’s horrible, I highly doubt about this website, it’s looks like a fraud.”
Sorry, but you sound like a fool; the website looks pretty professional to me. I think they probably do continue to have CS issues though. Truthfully, I don’t even know how they make money. They buy for 90% value and sell for 9% off. (Lowes)
I am extremely disappointed with Plastic Jungle. Not only did they not follow through with a gift card trade-in they have not responded to any of my many requests for resolution – since January 2011. Although it was only a $25 gift card that I was trading – this is still clearly a case of FRAUD!
Sent me 2 $0 gift cards that were supposed to be $500. Bought them on the 20th of April and the retailer said they were used up on the 12th of April. Bogus. FYI you can get information from the Retailer on when the card was used, and if you pursue legal action you can subpoena the retailer for even more accurate information like items purchased, where and what time. I cannot get PJ on the phone, but they like deleting my posts and sending gift cards that have already been spent.
I have used plastic Jungle and I have had no trouble with them.
Beware of the 100% guarantee. I received a card from them that was almost 66% below the value they claimed. When I tried to get a refund they kept telling me to fill out an affidavit stating I hadn’t redeemed any portion of the card. Since I used the amount on the card (and asked for a refund for the balance) apparently I’m out of luck. My personal experience is that Plastic Jungle is great when it works but their customer service is horrible and they don’t in fact guarantee their product. Buyer beware.
PLASTIC JUNGLE IS A SCAM…THEY LOST MY APPLE GIFTCARD AND REFUSE TO GIVE ME MY $518 GIFTCARD BACK. WHEN YOU CALL CUSTOMER SERVICE IT GOES TO VOICEMAIL AND THEY DO NOT CALL YOU BACK BUT TELL YOU TO GO ONLINE AND FILL OUT A FORM…
IF YOU ARE SMART, GO ON EBAY AND SELL IT…DO NOT USE PLASTIC JUNGLE.
I purchased a $500 Mortons gift card and went to Mortons and was told it was worthless. Get your cards elsewhere. I am in the process of trying to contact PJ. Customer service is lacking but to be expected from a company that will send you a worthless card after you spend over $400 with them.
I was about to sell Plastic Jungle a $100 Apple store gift card before reading these negative reviews. While I appreciate one of PJ’s reps being pro-active by replying to user comments, the negative posts are enough to stop be from doing business. Craigslist it is for now…
if only I’d found this site first..I’ve always considered myself pretty savvy but I sure messed up this time..I sent this site twenty $40 gift cards in a single envelope with a preprinted label from them (which did not come close to covering the postage)..they said they only received 12 of them and haven’t paid me for those..worst ripoff I’ve ever had on the internet..and these people have an “A” rating from sanjose bbb?…are you kidding me??..Plasticjungle = SCAM…expensive and valuable lesson learned..should have known better…buyer (AND SELLER) BEWARE!!!
Wish I read these reviews before buying from them. Purchased $75 Nordstrom gift card last night, the eCODE was sent to me within 5 minutes. I then tried to put an order online. After putting the code in, I was told that there’s 0 balance on the card. I tried to email and call the planstic jungle, no response. I put a dispute through Paypal and now just have to wait and see what happens.
Wow. Thanks. I almost purchase from them but decide to google its name first. Glad to find this. Thanks to all comment instead of the “real” “review” (by title).
I’ve sent my gift cards in before and have had a great experience. Recently I sent in a total of $115 in gift cards. It’s been a month now and they still haven’t paid me with an amazon gift card. They place people on my case and then say it’s solved. Well it isn’t solved since I’m not get my amazon gift card. Not only this but they have actually sold the gift cards I sent them already. I’m never using their site again.
I already had a transaction in process when I started researching plastic jungle rates and reviews. Since I had already sent off my cards and hadnt heard anything, I felt concerned and called, but they just said wait the 7or 8 days, and if I hadnt heard anything after that time to call back. Then I searched my email and there it was. Popped my code in to Amazon and it worked. I just wanted to say PJungle worked for me, and this site had me unnecessarily fearing I had been scammed. But it works. Got shipping confirms from Amazon to prove it.
Charles
DO NOT DO ANY BUSINESS WITH THEM. They are a scam. I’ve purchased Best Buy Gift Cards from them on 8/31/2011. They emailed me a fake UPS tracking number that did not work. When I complained over & over they shipped me cards that have been redeemed exactly the same day the USPS delivered the gift cards. This means they’ve have scratched the card and written the numbers & the code.
I called more than once, the requested that I have to fill an affidavit that I did not redeem these cards!!!!!! Their customer service is in India and their office in San Jose. This town is plagued with scampers and they are one of them. Luckily, I used paypal and I am hoping to get my money back.
I filed a complain against them with the BBB and working with the FTC and the FBI on tracking this work.
BE AWARE OF THIS COMPANY….You’ll lose you money
I wish I had seen these comments before. I am having a similar experience with Plastic Jungle. I sent in cards, decided not to pursue the sale, cancelled it- I even got an email reply that was nice enough acknowledging the cancellation of the sale. A month later I’m still waiting to get MY cards back. And make no mistake, these are my cards. They did not buy them. So essentially they stole my gift cards! I keep emailing to get the situation resolved and have heard NOTHING. That’s just terrible / non-existent customer service.
Decided to take a chance on plastic jungle despite negative comments. I am not happy at this point. I sent my three gift cards via certified mail. They were received by plastic jungle on Oct. 21st and still no payment. I called this week and they told me there was a computer glitch? Now today I received an email telling me to mail my cards to them. What is going on? I am not happy about this!
Julie
I didn’t find this site until after I mailed them a Sears Gift Card for $480. I called their customer service phone number this morning only to be answered by a guy in India. The guy clearly wasn’t fluent in English and the call went nowhere. I checked the status this evening and now it says ‘cancelled’ and ‘The following card was removed from your order’. I call the customer service only to be greeted some from one in India. Won’t answer my questions because it isn’t on his Q&A script. I couldn’t even get an answer where my Sears Gift Card is now… I like to give second chances, but this is pushing it.
It’s interesting to me that the Vice President of Marketing has nothing better to do than monitor some random blog about whether Plastic Jungle is a scam. Woudn’t it make more sense to spend time working on the issues mentioned as opposed to making empty promises on a comment thread?? Yuh-huh, REAL trustworthy.
I HAVE filed a complaint with the BBB. I tried to sell gift cards; I sent them certified mail with signature – they were received on Oct21 and I still have not been paid yet! Every excuse in the book is being used; “We were upgrading our system, someone added on additional cards to your selling order” – I dont care, I just want my money. If a company was going to upgrade and have these issues; they should have stopped business during it. Every time I call, I am told 3 more days, one more day, it will be in your paypal today. Poor business – DONT USE THEM!!! I have been waiting SIX WEEKS for my money!!!!
I just recently got married and moved. So thought what would be better to help my husband and I out is to sell a few of the giftcards we recieved from the wedding because money is so tight right now. I found Plastic Jungle when I did a google search. I had 5 different gift cards they were going to buy off of me. I emailed them reguarding a question about one of the cards before I sent it out, no response. I called and was on hold for 30 minutes, kept getting the same message over and over again so I hung up. After sending them a second email asking them why there was a $1 withdraw from my bank account, still no answer! After I looked into reviews and finding this site with everyones comments, I decided I am not going through the same bs they’ve put others through.
@ GuessWho: I totally agree with you! They have time to get on here and appoligize on their half but they can’t return a email or phone call? WTF!!!
Okay, I just wanted to add a little perspective here and say that I’ve used Plastic Jungle for two years and have not had ANY problem — unless you count them being a little slow to pay out after you send your card in (last time it took 15 days, which was kind of annoying, but not the end of the world). I’m sure there’s some bad apples among the gift card sellers, but unless I’ve been ridiculously lucky I think the bad apples are the exception, not the rule.
I wish I would stumble on this thread sooner
plastic jungle is the WORST, HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE THIS GUYS ARE IDIOTS!! I recently sold a Walmart Giftcard for a balance of $350 a week later i received an email that was removed because it had a zero balance I had to call the merchant and activate gave them a call back to notified them it had a balance on there two weeks later have not received payment they keep saying they’re making a note of it is a new order bla bla bla SCAM SCAM SCAM they wont even send me back my giftcard save yourself the trouble of dealing with this horrible company .
I sold few gift cards to Plastic Jungle in late December 2011. I checked my account few hours later for shipping labels and printed the labels and shipped the items out in three diffrent envelopes of three diffrent orders and cards. In less than 24 hours they cancelled my order, when I called they told me my order was cancelled due to technical dificulties but they have it in their system. Even though i told them that i have shipped the cards they did not add the orders back into my account and still haven’ emailed me of the status or sent me the money. Seems like i’m out of over a $1000. Possibly be more if I decide to take ‘em to court over this but that’ll be for just the principle of it.
I need to add to this negative stream of reviews for Plastic Jungle. I sold a gift card to Plastic Jungle. I received 2 confirmation emails from PJ telling me to expect payment in Paypal within 2 days, and TO DESTROY MY GIFT CARD. I never received any further communication from PJ, but finally went to the website to check the status and saw that it was “canceled”. I wrote several emails to customer service with no response. I created a login on PJ website and issued a complaint. I finally got a lame response to my complaint. I responded to their response, and the next day I got another identical response TO THE ORIGINAL COMPLAINT, not to my response and further questioning. My second response has not gotten any response from them.
Very poor customer service.
plastic jungle is 100% a scam. they take your money and send you an email claiming to have a link to your electronic code. there is no link in the email. you can call and customer service will not answer. i called pretending to want to buy a gift card and finally got in touch with someone who still refused to refund my money. SCAM SCAM SCAM STAY AWAY
Sold Walmart giftcard to plastic jungle on 1/18 for $46. Went to website this morning 1/27 and it showed that they had cancelled the sale. Looks like I’m out a $50 Walmart giftcard. Had sold to them twice before, smaller giftcards,with no problem. Gain trust and then whammo! I’m so upset!
I ordered approximately $1,000 of Lowe’s gift cards from Plastic Jungle on 1/21/12 for a project that is time sensitive. It is now 2/1/12. I have no gift cards, and the website still shows my order is being processed. I called customer service 1/31/12 and was told they would expedite my request, and someone would contact me within 24 hours. I have heard NOTHING. Prior experience with PJ was good, but this is TERRIBLE SERVICE.
they are definitely a scam. i sent them a card and never got credited in my paypal account. 4 months later they said it didn’t meet the minimum balance amount (although i thought i checked it). they never sent the card back and so owe me at least $28. Do not use these people!!!!
This company sounds like they do not know what they are doing from all the posts. Lots of hype and probably poor security to protect the balances on the cards. BEWARE
There are probably scaammers both selling the card to plastic jungle and then retaining the serial numbers and then buy things online before the new owner has a chance to use it. BEWARE This industry is NOT secure.
The plasticjungle.com company is operating on the fringe of good practice. I used them about a dozen times and was flat out ripped off. I should have learned the first time and found another. If you send your order return receipt requested it will go all right. Otherwise, your card could be used up or they will just tell you it’s balance was zero. I was ripped off for about 200 bucks.
I am about to sell a GameStop $25 and I want to link it to PayPal, will it work or is it a scam?
Judging from all the comments from pissed-off customers of Plastic Jungle, I would advise extreme caution.
DO NOT USE THIS PLASTIC JUNGLE!!! Wish I had found this site before I sent them my $320 gift card…they promised to deposit $263 in my paypal account within 3-5 days…it’s been over a week and no money and no response to numerous emails. I tried calling, but only reach a call center in India whose reps actually lie (“sorry, Leon Dsouza isn’t working today” How the hell would they know? They’re in India, he’s in California????) I DID submit a complain to my state attorney general’s office in PA where I live. Next step is to contact my local media news consumer department. Also, BBB of San Jose. These rip-off artists need to be STOPPED from taking people’s hard-earned money!!!!
LP
Good to know…I was about to use Plastic Jungle, but it appears they have more problems then they resolve.