It should be common knowledge NOT to purchase Sephora Gift Cards

[Sid2527]

I received a $50 Sephora gift card as a gift, and upon making a purchase, I discovered it had $0 of funds available. After calling customer service, I was informed that the gift card had been used before I even got to open it, let alone reveal the pin underneath the sticker.

Out of curiosity, I searched online for circumstances identical to mine to see if anyone had experienced a similar issue.

To my dismay, there were many, if not hundreds of instances, including mine, that popped up discussing how many had funds specifically from Sephora gift cards purchased by third parties, online and in-store, were either gifted or personally purchased, only to discover upon first use that the funds were depleted entirely.

This immediately sounds like an issue that should have been drawn to the customers' attention. Scamming is something that happens often, and is growing and changing very quickly with time, but the time frequency and overall consistency are what bring me great alarm. There were posts back on here as far back as March 2023 bringing attention to the gift card thefts.

When I spoke on the phone to customer service, the female representative, in a matter-of-fact and dry tone, adamantly stated nothing could be done. Immediately, that struck me as an odd reaction.

In hindsight, I had the impression that this was a common occurrence but they shut me down before I could ponder further which worked effectively.

My issue with this overall is that we, as customers, are unaware of this vulnerability to “digital theft” happening at an alarming rate with Sephora gift cards. They push gift card purchases, and it is straightforward to add one to your cart online, but there is no disclaimer or mention of the vulnerabies to digital theft, let alone there are no protections against it which seems unfair and predatory to the customer. 

Sephora gets the money either way; meanwhile, people being “gifted” are inconvenienced, angry, and dissatisfied. I will not encourage gift card purchases in any manner to Sephora.