As of October 2023, >99% of cards on our site are Verified Gift Cards. For Verified gift cards, you'll get the egift card essentially immediately (via email / site within 60 seconds of blockchain verfication). Verified gift cards are ones where a WaterMelonMarkets (WMM)
Service Admin has verified on the brand's official site that the card is valid, and so the gift card redemption information is stored within WMM,
and we can reveal it to you right after you pay for the transaction.
For Deposited gift cards, the actual delivery time is up to the seller, and should be listed within the item itself. If no delivery time is listed within the item,
the default delivery time is within 1 business day (US Eastern Time). By way of example, if you order a Deposited gift card on Monday at 10AM, the seller should reach out to you with the full info by Tuesday 10AM.
If you order a Deposited gift card Friday at 10PM, the seller should reach out to you by Monday 10PM.
Can I buy as many cards as I want?
Yes, there are no quantity restrictions on orders generally. However, for your own comfort, we generally recommend you start with a smaller order, like $200, $100, or even $10, and then ensure you receive your cards fully satisfied before scaling up.
As a buyer, how long do I have to redeem my gift card?
The short answer is 7 calendar days (168 elapsed hours) from the gift card details being revealed to you. The details are as follows: when you receive a gift card immediately (nearly always within 3 minutes) after buying, you are highly encouraged to check its validity and even use it within 24 hours of receiving it. Buyer support issues raised within 24 hours are given priority resolution. Even if the card is good, you have up to 7 days to release the funds to the seller. If you forget to release the funds by day 7, the funds will autorelease to the seller (using escrow intervention if necessary). This will only happen if you haven't locked the funds (due to e.g. the card not being good). If you lock the funds, the funds will not autorelease, although you'll be asked to provide some evidence (e.g. screenshot) of why the card is not good.
Who are the sellers on your site?
Our sellers generally comprise of people who may receive excess gift cards (e.g. teachers during the holiday season) but may not personally have any use for a brand (e.g. a person not into Saks 5th Avenue who gets a gift card of that type).
WMM is a peer-to-peer system, which means for the vast majority of gift cards, WMM is generally not the final buyer or seller for any gift card.
What protections do I have when I buy a gift card?
All gift card purchases on WMM are done using the SafeEscrow system. This means that generally the seller does not get paid until you check yourself
that the gift card is good, providing substantial protection over systems where you e.g. pay a seller in cash,
and then have to fully trust the card is good. In the unlikely case that you find the card is not as described, you can simply not release the funds.
Both Verified gift cards and Deposited gift cards have additional protections as well:
For Verified gift cards, the seller has put the Full Redepmtion Info (all info sufficient to redeem the gift card online,
including serial number, PIN, and other info as applicable) on WMM.
A WMM Admin has manually verified that this information is valid with the brand. (Note that while this does not guarantee the information is forever valid, it does practically provide substantial assurance).
For Deposited gift cards, the seller has put down a dollar amount (Deposit) to back their delivery of a valid gift card.
If the seller fails to deliver a good gift card in a timely manner, the Deposit is forfeit.
Thus, all our gift cards are backed by at least two layers of protection: 1) a SafeEscrow system that minimizes fraud by ensuring sellers don't get paid until you release the funds generally, and
2) a second layer of Verification or Deposit depending on your gift card type.
Can I buy as many cards as I want?
Yes, there are no quantity restrictions on orders generally. However, for your own comfort, we generally recommend you start with a smaller order, like $200, $100, or even $10, and then ensure you receive your cards fully satisfied before scaling up.
Do you accept credit cards / Paypal?
We have not accepted credit cards or Paypal generally since 2022.
We do this to boost customer security and provide you with our top discounts. Gift card sellers are able to give the biggest discounts when they know a buyer has secured funds put in escrow for their gift cards.
Why can I trust WaterMelonMarkets more than any other random site on the Internet, especially since you only take crypto?
WaterMelonMarkets is founded by two highly reputable successful serial entrepreneurs who are staking their reputation on this site. Taking advantage of a few dollars of gift cards makes no sense for them,
they would rather that you love the site and tell your friends about it. More actionably for you, all our founders and software engineers (four team members total) are Americans based in the United States, with a USA service-of-process address that allows you to address any
complaints using legal channels, which we trust you won't need to use due to the quaity of our site.
We take crypto because it's legitimately the easiest way to accomplish our goal of maximizing both buyer and seller trust. Bank transactions and credit cards are slow and rife with chargeback risk for the seller, which results in the marketplace passing on the
insurance cost to the buyer. Using crypto let's us offer buyers cards at the exact same rate sellers are selling them, yielding value to both the buyer and the seller.
Do you accept credit cards / Paypal?
We have not accepted credit cards or Paypal generally since 2022.
We do this to boost customer security and provide you with our top discounts. Gift card sellers are able to give the biggest discounts when they know a buyer has secured funds put in escrow for their gift cards.
How can I find order details for an order I already placed?
Generally, you can find all your past order information by logging in and clicking on your past order page.
If you receive email confirmations, you should also be getting an email for each order that you place. If you need help looking up an order, you can always email [email protected].
How can I pay for my order?
The only way to pay for orders right now using USDC (crypto) with our SafeEscrow system. You will generally need a crypto wallet that can run smart contract transactions, like MetaMask or Coinbase Wallet.
How do I contact you?
Have additional questions or need more information? Our friendly and knowledgable support team is available to assist you. Please reach out via phone to (617) 468-6853, email us at [email protected] , or through any of the other ways on our contact page.
Our support response time is generally end of 2nd business day after your request. By way of example, if your request comes in at Wednesday 10AM ET, we will aim to reply by Friday 5PM ET.
What sort of products do you sell?
Currently, the focus of our site are brand-name egift cards -- gift cards that are electronic and whose Full Redemption Info (serial number / PIN / other info as needed) can be fully transmitted over email.
Our support response time is generally end of 2nd business day after your request. By way of example, if your request comes in at Wednesday 10AM ET, we will aim to reply by Friday 5PM ET.
Did WaterMelonMarkets get an upgrade in July 2023?
Yes! You are now viewing WaterMelonMarkets 2.0 as of July 2023, a highly anticipated, fuller-featured version of our site. The new site features additions like:
Faster delivery: Buyer receives egift cards within minutes for Verified gift cards.
Better privacy: Sellers can now sell gift cards without revealing the card number in Deposited transactions.
Our old site went through an informed deprecation process. Buyers and sellers were notified about the transition and given months to close out transitions. As of October 2023, the Old site is no longer supported and may go offline at any moment.
I was in the middle of using the old site, how do I access that?
Our old site is now fully deprecated as of October 2023. If you are browsing items, the old site has not been supported for new orders since July 2023; all new transactions
(e.g., new purchases or sales) will be refunded or rejected. However, if you are in the middle of completing a transaction started by July 2023,
you may still try to complete it by either A) going to https://old.watermelonmarkets.com or
B) manually reaching out to our support team at [email protected].
