Since I posted about my manufactured spending roundup last week, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about The Plastic Merchant seller approval process. The Plastic Merchant, it’s a manufactured spending-friendly gift card reselling site. What makes them so great is that they inform registered sellers of gift card deals. Sellers can do this while breaking even or making a small profit.
The Plastic Merchant does have limits on the number of gift cards they can purchase from members, but it is possible to reserve a certain number of cards so that you do not end up losing out on a reselling opportunity before the gift cards arrive.
New Account Approval Process
The most common question I’ve gotten this week was about The Plastic Merchant’s approval process for new accounts. A few readers have submitted their seller applications and haven’t heard back after a week. This is actually not abnormal. If I remember correctly, it took about a week or slightly longer before my seller application was approved.
The Plastic Merchant aims to provide their partners with fraud-free gift cards, so they take the screening process seriously. At the moment they have a long waitlist but will be providing updates to applicants in the coming days.
Through Mike, the company’s founder, I also got a bit more feedback about how the screening process works. Many people wondered what criteria The Plastic Merchant looks for in new sellers. Apparently what hurts most applicants is not providing detailed answers. Avoid one or two word answers, as those tend to be the quickest way to get your application tossed.
Readers who have expressed worries about not having prior gift card reselling experience will be glad to know that won’t disqualify them from getting approved. Having gift card reselling experience gives you a leg up, but The Plastic Merchant does accept new members who have no previous experience.
In short, be sure to answer each question on the application fully and be detailed. While there is currently a waitlist and it may be a while before (or if) you are accepted as a seller, you shouldn’t lose hope due to a lack of previous experience.
[jetpack_subscription_form title=”Subscribe via email for more points, miles and free travel”]
Is the process difficult or relatively easy? And how time consuming?
Relatively easy, depending on how many you do. Some cards do take more time than others.
Hi Ariana – When you applied to TPM, did you get an email confirming receipt of your submission. I didn’t…
I want to say yes, but I honestly can’t remember.
Hi Ariana- How does TPM pay you? Direct Deposit to your bank account?
dwolla or check
Dwolla or check. I choose the later, since I don’t like setting up yet another online account, and payment comes through pretty fast.
Well, two months later, I am happy to join the ranks at TPM — and I much appreciate the positives you mentioned in your posts. the one HUGE negative I’m seeing is the major delays in getting paid. Mike had a recent post where he talked (all too vaguely) about how TPM will be moving away from DWOLLA — to something else. But in the end, the payments will still take well over a week.
WHY? What’s the horrendous hold up? With raise, we get paid within 3 business days after a confirmed transaction. This is really disconcerting. Since starting with TPM, guess what, I find myself still doing the bulk of my sales via …. Raise.
Glad to hear you got in! I don’t find the wait to be too bad. As long as I can pay my credit cards off in time, I’m honestly ok with it – especially since TPM lets us liquidate in larger increments than sites like Raise. I’ve also only received checks – never used Dwolla.
🙂 Many thanks again, Ariana, for sharing your experiences with TPM. I’m learning — and confidence growing.
That’s awesome! Glad to hear it.
Do you have to commit to a certain level bulk selling or is it whatever & whenever you can?
As far as I know, there is no minimum.
kind of wondering if anyone see their account inactive? I recently setup some reservation for Cabela Gift card, right after that my account won’t let me login and shows as inactive.
Maybe it has to do with the data breach thing. They sent out emails asking people to reset their passwords. I would send them an email.