Why am I being charged for a gift card?

I got a MacBook Pro for 2,299 under educational savings (Gift card offered - 150).

I chose the 1 year monthly payment plan and I bought it in a tax free state.

So, it asked me to pay 191.58/mo (179.08 + 12.50 - confusing to customers but necessary for Apple's accounting).

At 191.58/mo, I would end up paying the full 2,299. HOWEVER - I now have a gift card worth $150 that I can spend on other apple products.

So, we do get the 150 gift card but it's a bit tricky to understand.

First, off, most states don’t tax gift certificates at the time of sale. The tax is charged when the gift certificate is redeemed for tangible property. So, there is no tax benefit. I explained why it’s done the way it is in several prior posts and threads. This enables a much easier return of the computer should they decide to return it. When we used to just give out a physical gift card many times the customer would spend it and then decide to return the computer a few weeks later.

Oops no gift card. So, now you either have to buy a gift card in the store and then just give it back to me, but that is an accounting and inventory headache, or I deduct the cost of the gift from the computer return. Again, not very happy customers. The way it currently is, there is no downside, except for those that don’t understand what happened.

For those that aren’t clear. It works like this. The price of the computer is sold at the educational store price. This is usually a discount from between $100 and $250. That’s a savings over non-educational pricing. The price of the computer is reduced again, but this time by the cost of the gift card, say another $100. That discount is in addition to the educational discount. Now, you’re charged $100 for the gift card. So, the additional discount and gift card are a wash. But you got a gift card worth $100.

It’s several factors, accounting, inventory and returns. I was an Apple Store manager when a physical gift card was handed to the customer. We had to get the card out of inventory for accounting purposes and so the store doesn’t show shrinkage/loss for the item. If the student decided to return the computer, we needed the card back and maybe they already spent it, or figured out was theirs to keep. It created a lot of anger and confusion in the stores and they eventually went to the e-gift cards and doing the accounting the current way.

Paying sales tax on gift cards is an individual state issue. Some states charge tax and some don’t.

The way they do it is that they kind of deceive you into thinking that you get $150 off your order plus an additional $150 gift card but you don’t. They say you save $150 on your total purchase with their “special offer” and then even give you your total price after the special offer is applied, but if you scroll to the bottom where it shows your gift card, it says the gift card IS the “special offer” so it’s more of a hypothetical, “Oh you’re buying this product full price, but you get a $150 gift card so you’re basically saving $150 on your purchase because these are $150 that you’ll save later once you buy something else.” It’s deceiving because they charge you the full price in two portions, one being the price of the product with the special offer applied and then the 150 that you do actually have to pay. You don’t get money off your product, but you do get a gift card, the -150 applied is a hypothetical situation in which you would’ve been able to apply the gift card to your order but you can’t, it’s just future savings for once you do get to use your gift card.

Jeff Donald wrote:

Why is it done that way? It makes returns easier. I >>was<< an Apple Store Manager when it wasn’t done that way. Customers tried to return the product and not the gift card. It was a huge hassle. The process should have been explained better at the POS, if you purchased it in store. sorry there was confusion.

Oh, gosh, yes. I remember that being an issue when I worked at Verizon Wireless. Also, buy-one-get-one-free where people wanted to return the "buy one" and have us charge them for the free one.

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It took a while for me to figure it out. Think of it this way, like I did. I buy a $150 gift card from apple. So I give apple $150.00 and I get a card worth $150.00. Now I purchase a 1,000 computer, but apple deducts $150.00 to represent that gift card. So you can think now that that hundred fifty dollars you paid for the gift card went towards reducing the computer by $150.00. But when you get your computer, you now have $150.00 you can spend on anything Apple and you didn't pay for that $150.00. So thats where the free $150.00 comes from. So you DID get the $150.00 after some accounting mumbo jumbo... Its mind boggling, I don't understand why Apple doesn't just sell you the computer at $1000 dollars, and give you the gift card. Why they need your 150.00 to show a discount on the computer, which is not really a discount makes no sense to me but there has to be some reason for this. Who knows, maybe they can explain it on this forum. Normally you don't have to pay taxes on gift cards, so that can't be a reason.

This makes no sense. I was very confused by the charges I am seeing on my credit statement, and I think the website presentation of the summary of charges is very misleading. I am being charged an extra 150 on top of the summary of charges statement. On the ordering page, it looks very much like you are getting a student discount AND a bonus gift card. If there was an option to remove the gift card, I didn't see it. So the deal is really not what it seems. If paying for the gift card is required for receiving the 150 off, then you are paying full price for the item, and then getting a 150 gift card credit to buy apple products. You are not getting 150 cash off of the item. It's very deceptive and frankly leaves a bad taste hanging over my purchase of a new apple product.

Are you purchasing this under the Back to School promotion? If so, please post a photo of the receipt or a screen shot of the email. Please mark out any personal information, Apple Support Community is a public forum.

The point is, it’s Apple’s promotion and they can run it how they want. Purchaser is still receiving an extra value in the form of a gift card. It’s not costing you anything, so give it away to a friend, relative or co-worker if you feel it won’t benefit you in any way. Apple Gift cards can be used for Tunes, Apple TV, app, subscriptions, product and services etc. I can’t imagine someone not being able to find something of value in everything Apple has to offer.

No, nothing happened. You just don’t understand your receipt.

For those that aren’t clear. It works like this. The price of the computer is sold at the educational store price. This is usually a discount from between $100 and $250. That’s a savings over non-educational pricing. The price of the computer is reduced again, but this time by the cost of the gift card, say another $100. That discount is in addition to the educational discount. Now, you’re charged $100 for the gift card. So, the additional discount and gift card are a wash. But you got a gift card worth $100.

Yes, if the gift card is not redeemed, it could be canceled, but that rarely happens. What normally happens is the extra discount is cancelled and you get to keep the gift card. You can’t have installments on just a gift card. So, all installment payments are cancelled and extra discount is cancelled. Returning a gift would have to be done in-store by a manager. Online would never accept return of gift card.

I hope you have your receipt handy.

If you look at the price of the item purchased (MacBook?), it’s $150 lower than the price quoted. That $150 lower price is the gift card you’re charged for. The gift card is paid back at$12.50 a month, interest free. You also received a $150 e-gift certificate.

So, you got charged $150 less than you were supposed to be charged and you pay that back interest free. You Come out ahead $150, like you’re supposed to.

Why is it done that way? It makes returns easier. I >>was<< an Apple Store Manager when it wasn’t done that way. Customers tried to return the product and not the gift card. It was a huge hassle. The process should have been explained better at the POS, if you purchased it in store. sorry there was confusion.

Apple Retail stores get extremely busy during back to school sales and even busier (if you can imagine that) when a tax-free week happens. Mac specialists get stretched thin and many people/students/parents don’t understand the process and how it works. I see this question a lot across social media platforms.

Price for iPad under the Back to School promotion is $ 549.00

1) I applied a gift card ($150.00) from a previous purchase

2) Price I paid = $ 549.00 + $ 17.96 (Tax) - $150.00 = $ 416.96

3) I was charged $ 416.96

4) I was charged $ 100.00 (in few min after)

5) I received a Gift Card for $ 100.00

So far I have to pay $ 516.96 and $ 100.00 I can use later. But I did pay for the gift card. My actual price is $ 416.96 - I would pay the same price without "gift card" Why it is called "Gift card"?