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We have received a few reports from readers about a few Simon Malls being out of stock of $1K Visa Gift Cards. I posted a picture in our Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook group of some swag I got when picking up gift cards the weekend before last and that was where we first received a report. Over the past weekend, I heard a couple more reports of malls that were out of stock. Official word is that this is a temporary issue and stock should be restored by late April / early May. Still, we thought it was worth a quick post to alert regular purchasers that there may be a coming supply shortage.
Note that I don’t know that this issue is widespread at this point — we’ve only received a few reports and I was able to purchase recently without issue at a busy shopping center. I imagine that some malls are more heavily trafficked than others, so you may need to make a trip out of your way if you’re looking to stock up in the coming weeks. Keep in mind that if you’re approved to make larger purchases (i.e. up to $25K in a single transaction) and you’re looking to purchase at a different mall than usual, you should likely reach out to both malls in advance to be sure that you will be able to purchase the amount you’re expecting.
These cards have obviously proved to be quite popular. Hopefully, this is indeed resolved by early May and only turns out to be a short-term supply crunch.
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Still going strong with 1k Simon Visa Gift Cards at the Nashua NH Pheasant Lane mall. The only time I’ve had them run out was during the Christmas shopping season.
Are those scammers pretending to be from IRS back asking for gift cards ? Tax time.
Memphis, TN is out until May. Per the email I received they’re switching to J-Hook Visas which have a max limit of $500. They are NOT waiving the second $3.95 fee.
By “switching”, I think you mean switching to those for now (until they are re-stocked with the $1K cards).
Word from corporate is that they can’t waive the second $3.95 fee. I’ve heard some anecdotal reports of malls doing it, but I imagine that won’t continue.
That is correct. I took the email to mean those are what they’ll be issuing in the meantime until they get more of the regular cards in May.
Let me guess, made in China? Victim of Chinese New Year and Covid-19?
This will be a hard fit for SM.
As noted in my response above, they say no.
[…] Update 3/11/20: Some locations are out of stock currently. This is a supply issue and Simon Mall are not discontinuing this cards currently. Supply is expected to return by late April early May. Hat tip to FM […]
KOP, PA is out. Heard the same line about restocking by early May. Bummer.
Any idea about Gloucester Premium Outlets in NJ?
I’d bet the Over that part (creating PVCA) of their card production process takes place in China, hence the two month “optimistic” hope of restock.
They tell me that the cards don’t come from China, but of course I have no idea where every bit of material used to make them is sourced and supply chain is obviously becoming an issue for a multitude of businesses, so yours is a natural guess. My sense is that they feel reasonably hopeful that they’ll be re-stocked by early May though. Like everything else right now, we’ll see.
Wow? Late April/early May? That’s quite a delay.
Went over the weekend in Westchester, Ny and got the last nine cards.
Knoxville TN Simon Mall is out.
I’m pretty sure my SM just uses variable load cards because they always thank me for letting me know I’m going to be coming in so they have time to program the cards. I always buy 24 $1,000 ones and 1 for $900…..
I don’t get swag, just a bag of chocolate chip cookies…. Which I’m fine with!
They aren’t the same ones that are out on the rack (the ones on the rack can’t be loaded with more than $500). They are of course still variable load, so they do have to swipe and load them, but we’re all loading them with $1,000. By only making them available to those of us who know to ask for them, they effectively avoid wasting a card that can be loaded with $1K on someone looking to buy a $50 gift card for a gift.
So, they aren’t running out of “$1,000 Visa Gift Cards”, but instead they are running out of variable load cards? That makes sense, now.
Well, putting it that way is confusing IMO. They sell lots of variable load cards. They aren’t running out of $500 variable-load VGCs or variable-load Amex GCs or the multitude of variable-load 3rd party merchant gift cards they sell. They’re running out of the Visa gift cards you can load with $1,000 in some locations.
I see your semantic point that they aren’t fixed-denomination cards, but I think we’ve all been referring to them as $1K Visa gift cards since Simon introduced them last year because MSers are always looking to load the max amount.
Not confusing at all IMO. Have you not seen all the posts on the various blogs from people saying they can’t find anything higher than $500 at SM because they don’t know that there aren’t “$1,000 Visa Gift Cards”???
Semantics aside, I contacted my SM and they said they have plenty and will have my order ready when I get there!
No, I haven’t seen any posts like that. To my knowledge, we’ve never had anyone comment with something like that. Maybe that’s because we’ve been clear about the fact that you get the $1K cards from customer service by asking for them? I’d think you’re more likely to cause confusion if you walk in asking for variable-load cards because the cashier would likely point you to the ones on the rack that can only be loaded with $500.
Any way you slice it, if you want the ones that can be loaded with $1K, you have to ask for them. I ask for them by saying I’m looking to buy the $1K cards. We’ve been calling them $1K cards since last July:
https://frequentmiler.com/1k-visa-gift-cards-w-3-95-fee-at-simon-next-week/
https://frequentmiler.com/mistakes-to-avoid-on-1k-simon-visa-gift-cards/
https://frequentmiler.com/week-in-review-07132019/
So has DoC:
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/simon-mall-will-sell-1000-visa-gift-cards-with-3-95-activation-fee-from-july-17th-august-4th/
And Miles to Memories:
https://milestomemories.com/simon-mall-1k-gift-cards/
and most other blogs I’ve seen talk about them.
At any rate, glad your mall has plenty of stock. That’s good news!
They also didn’t have embossed numbers at my local SM, only printed numbers which I’m not such a fan of
Same on the most recent batch I picked up, but that doesn’t bother me much.
Camarillo, CA location was out this last week. Only had the $500 options. They were willing to waive the activation fees on the 2nd card due to being out of $1000 cards