Amazon Gift Card Code Cancelled

Today, I redeemed 5 Amazon gift cards/claim codes that were issued to me four years ago and when I entered the claim codes, two came back with a message indicating they had been cancelled and one came back invalid. What could have caused this? I thought these codes never expire.

Maybe the code expires. Or maybe amazon do some updates on their system 4 years ago that makes this code invalid.

Maybe it's just the credit that never expires, not the code. Why would you wait four years to redeem amazon codes anyway?

Quote from SJGUY99 : Today, I redeemed 5 Amazon gift cards/claim codes that were issued to me four years ago and when I entered the claim codes, two came back with a message indicating they had been cancelled and one came back invalid. What could have caused this? I thought these codes never expire.

If you had called Amazon.com, maybe they would have solved your problems asap.

I haven't called them yet . When I retyped the codes in, I now get a message on two of them indicating that the card (in this case an e-mail gift card claim code) has been refunded to the purchaser (both codes were sent to me from same purchaser). I thought Amazon claim codes couldn't be returned/refunded to the purchaser?

Quote from April_Lee : Maybe it's just the credit that never expires, not the code. Why would you wait four years to redeem amazon codes anyway?

For the same reason I keep U.S. Savings Bonds for a long time--because they don't expire and I can use it at my leisure. If the purchaser of the gift card has the ability to request a refund on the gift card without informing the recipient, then what good is the gift card?

Quote from SJGUY99 : For the same reason I keep U.S. Savings Bonds for a long time--because they don't expire and I can use it at my leisure. If the purchaser of the gift card has the ability to request a refund on the gift card without informing the recipient, then what good is the gift card?

My guess would be that the purchaser didn't request the refund and that Amazon refunded it automatically after a certain period of time to get the unused card off of their books.

Quote from SJGUY99 : For the same reason I keep U.S. Savings Bonds for a long time--because they don't expire and I can use it at my leisure.

Except I think its the credit that doesn't expire, not the actual code itself.

I went to redeem a gift card that's two years old from the same purchaser (small online survey company) and got the same message--that the card has been refunded back to purchaser.I don't think the issue here is length of time, since I just redeemed a couple more 3-4 year old small amount claim codes. If the purchaser has the ability to request a refund on a sent gift card, then they could do it 5 minutes after a code was sent. I am also hesitant about immediately redeeming gift card codes and leaving them in the account, because if my account were to become comprised or have unauthorized use, I would be out of luck.

Quote from SJGUY99 : I went to redeem a gift card that's two years old from the same purchaser (small online survey company) and got the same message--that the card has been refunded back to purchaser.I don't think the issue here is length of time, since I just redeemed a couple more 3-4 year old small amount claim codes. If the purchaser has the ability to request a refund on a sent gift card, then they could do it 5 minutes after a code was sent. I am also hesitant about immediately redeeming gift card codes and leaving them in the account, because if my account were to become comprised or have unauthorized use, I would be out of luck.

Don't you have the option of them sending you the gift card? That way it would not be left on their books for someone to take...(you purchase with the code and buy a card from Amazon, that they send to your mail.)

Quote from augustina : Don't you have the option of them sending you the gift card? That way it would not be left on their books for someone to take...(you purchase with the code and buy a card from Amazon, that they send to your mail.)

No, the survey companies I am with don't send out physical gift cards. It's just odd why some gift card claim codes that are old work flawlessly, all from one sender say they have been refunded to purchaser/sender and others say invalid code/code not recognized.

Quote from SJGUY99 : I went to redeem a gift card that's two years old from the same purchaser (small online survey company) and got the same message--that the card has been refunded back to purchaser.I don't think the issue here is length of time, since I just redeemed a couple more 3-4 year old small amount claim codes. If the purchaser has the ability to request a refund on a sent gift card, then they could do it 5 minutes after a code was sent. I am also hesitant about immediately redeeming gift card codes and leaving them in the account, because if my account were to become comprised or have unauthorized use, I would be out of luck.

Length of time actually does apply. In my state there's a law about physical gift cards and expiration dates. They can't have one. As for codes issued online for surveys and rewards companies I would read the fine print and redeem promptly.

Online codes don't charge fees that I know of and I think it's in the best interest of the company, as Iaaaiws pointed out, to get their money back.