my account cannot buy gift cards

Do you have an actual credit card linked to your iTunes account?
You cannot purchase a gift card using a gift card balance or song balance.

I have the same problem.
My account was accepting my credit card up until a month or so ago. This month it refused to accept my account for payment on a gift certificate purchase.
I have purchased a song (which I didn't really want!) to test the card validity and the purchase was accepted.
Is there a problem with the Gift Certificate module ?
Please respond

I have the same problem...and Apple is not helping at all. I sent a message saying, "I'm getting an error message that sayd that my account 'is not eligible for itunes gift purchases'" and after 24 hours got back the amazingly insightful answer: "I have done some research and I have found that your account is not currently eligible for iTunes Gift Certificate purchases."

Gee, I'm really glad they cleared that up.

I don't know what is the problem but after more emails they are saying, "it is a security trouble they are trying to resolve."

I'm having the same problem. Same scary red message, "This account is not currently eligible to purchase Gift Certificates."

I tried switching credit cards, switching to PayPal, even switching to another account. Nothing worked. What a waste of time!!!

Here's the answer I got back from an Apple customer support person via email, to which she robotically appended, "We appreciate your business and want your experience with us to be as enjoyable as possible":

"I understand that you have been unable to purchase iTunes Gift Certificates with your account ... I know that can be a bit concerning, especially as you mentioned purchasing another gift certificate in the past, and I do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I am very sorry, but this account is not currently eligible for iTunes Gift Certificate purchases. I was also unable to get information on why this is."

If Apple can't explain it, or be held accountable, or fix the problem, who can?

I have yet to explain to my 9-year-old niece why she hasn't received the iTunes Gift Certificate I promised her several days ago. I don't know what to say to her...

Shame on you, iTunes.

Signed, a charter dot-Mac subscriber from 2002 and Mac owner since 1984.

I have seen a great number of hits on the internet about some hackers that have broken the iTunes gift card/cert code and so I can imagine they need to revamp their entire system so they don't lose money. It would be nice if they let us know that it wasn't OUR account and rather it was a security issue on their end.

Probably because Apple dont want people to know that there are hacked gift cards out there... as then they would buy them!

I am having the same problem. I email gift certificates to my kids all the time, but it just stopped working.

Same problem here, bought certificates in the past and now my account is "no-longer eligible". What a shame as it is my Son's Birthday tomorrow and this was to be part of his present. Looks like the money will go elsewhere.

Dave

Over a month later, problem still not fixed.

My neighbour's kid is now going to get an Amazon voucher.

I have had the same run around from what I now think of as (Cr)apple. They clearly have an issue, the scale of which is currently unclear but it appears to lie somewhere along the line from "we can fix it" to "lets all hide in a bunker until it goes away".
My 'help people' responded in a series of messages pointing out that they had many very (in)convenient alternatives, to acknowledging that they had a mess and hoped that it would not put me off using them nor degrade my experience.
My last message to them pointed out that they were doing something less than a successful snow job and I was told that they could not tell me what was wrong but strongly hinted that the 'rumours' on the internet were probably very accurate.
So, it is highly likely that they have a major screw up in their gift certificate security and that they are unable to come up with a solution in anything like real time.
BIG question,
Why do the dummies still have an option to buy certificates when it does not work?
Answer
Because they are less than useful and they are dummies.

Same problem here - even tried different Apple IDs and credit cards with no effect. Since the event was last night's graduation, Amazon came to the rescue.

On my credit card bill last month, I had four $100 charges from iTunes (would this be 4 gift cards??) when in fact I bought nothing. I successfully and easily contested the charges. Then we got new credit cards. My credit card company (B of A) told me that one of the merchants I do business with had a data security breach where many credit card numbers were stolen. (Please - I do not mean to imply that the security breach was at Apple). It is a hostile environment out there! I wish Apple would figure this out promptly!

Here is my favorite line from the email I received from iTunes customer service when I asked who could explain why I was no longer eligible to purchase gift certificates:

"Once again, I apologize, however neither my supervisors or managers or any level of higher assistance at the iTunes Store has more information about this. If there was anyone to direct you to, I assure you I would, however there is no level of customer support that can advise further on the matter at this time."

As an aside: after I spent far too much time on this, I asked my husband to buy a gift certificate on his account. He was able to buy one with no problems. And he used the exact same credit card that I was trying (unsuccessfully) to use. Maddening.

I bet your husband had a credit already in his iTunes account, so that his credit card didn't have to get tapped for him to buy the GC.... (?).

My guess is that Apple is trying to stem the tide of chargebacks they were getting with fraudulent ITMS GC purchases, so they disabled being able to purchase the gift certificates online.

Pretty much *****, though, that they won't 'fess up to this and simply keep repeating "your account is not eligible"...

PS. What a "tight" board. Never had "rhymes with 'pucks', but starts with an "s"" get censored.

Message was edited by: Stringer B.

Message was edited (twice) by: Stringer B.

I just got through a similar exchange with iTunes "support." Incredibly useless. This is not the kind of support I expect from Apple, and I will just take my business to Amazon and other competitors.