I had problems applying physical Google Play gift cards on stock, GrapheneOS and even on the web. It doesn't seem specific to GrapheneOS.

Try matching your IP address to location where you purchased a physical gift card, sometimes it helps. This has to be a new gift card, they seem to flag a failed card so it won't work later unless you appealed successfully.

    Scammers often use gift cards like this (they ask the victim to buy gift cards which they then pawn off), so it is understandable that they have measures in place to catch "suspicious activity".

    In my experience Apple is less picky about their gift cards than Google. Some apps (but not all of them) allow you to purchase it on iOS and use on Android. If an app allows that you can purchase it with Apple gift card on iOS and then use it on Android as a workaround.

    DeletedUser115
    I purchased another brand new google play card at the gas station around the corner. So it's a legit card.
    Getting the same error in google play store, as mentioned by the creator of this post (@PhantomRunner).
    I'm NOT using a VPN with an ip address from another location / country. Regular mobile provider, mobile phone is connected to the local mobile network via LTE.
    I don't own an iPhone. So this workaround is not an option.

    So there SEEMS to be a problem with GrapheneOS?!?
    I mean can somebody confirm that google play cards are working with the current GrapheneOS / google sandboxed version?

    Thanks in advance!

        I just had someone in the community test this on GrapheneOS, and it worked fine for them.

        They used a $10 USD card and confirmed that the balance was added. They stressed that they didn't use a VPN, but that's about it aside from that. I'm not entirely sure what, but it looks like the issue is not with Sandboxed Google Play, but something in your setup triggering Google's scam detection.

        The tester's setup: p6 021000 | play store 34.5.10-21 [PR] 508814926 | play services 23.06.15 (190400-509321727) | gmscompatconfig 34

        7 months later
        8 months later

        I am occasionally using a Google burner account with sandboxed Google Play in a secondary profile on my Pixel. Now I wanted to make an in-app-purchase and thought, it would be a good idea to try out a gift card, as described here and there https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/3718-sandboxed-google-play-store-use-guide/2. I bought a 5-Euro-card.

        While my Google account has hardly any information on me, Google asked for my name, address and phone number during the redeem process, i.e. setting up a payment account. I aborted this, because I don't want them to have that information. Lesson learned, 5 Euros lost.

        I am writing these lines because some users seem to have had problems, Google not redeeming gift cards and asking for further info because of "inconsistencies". Maybe those users then entered names, addresses and phone numbers that didn't exist and Google does some kind of plausibility check? Google might indeed have good reasons to do so, to stop criminals making use of gift cards.

        Anyhow a gift card seems not to be an anonymous way (for privacy reasons) of charging your payment account. At least not in the EU.

        a month later

        This is my experience exactly. Made a "dummy" Google account on my Pixel 8a, bought a $10 card at a brick-and-mortar store, and was told either the account or the card was invalid. Since I'd paid for the card in cash, I submitted images of the reciept and the card. After weeks of around and around with Google "support", they ended up just refusing to consider the matter any further. So, that money is gone. Several days after that, the Play Store (installed via GrapheneOS) started forcing me to re-log into my account at least once per day. Finally, after a few more days, the Play Store informed me that my account had been disabled and I'd have to appeal. So, I deleted the account from the phone and disabled the Google Play apps. Frustrating.

        I would be curious to hear from others whose accounts have been disabled. All I ever used it for was to download some free apps from the Play store and then to correspond via e-mail with Google "customer service" (such as it is). So, I have no idea what could have flagged the account. For what it's worth, I do use a VPN at all times, and never attempted to access the account on any device other than the Pixel.

        A bit of follow-up here. I still have my previous Android phone (on which I am able to make purchases) and happened to notice when I was in the accounts area of the Play Store that it says I'm connected to the US instance of Google Play.
        (See motoG.jpg.)

        However, when I navigate to that screen on my GrapheneOS phone, it says "Switch to the United States Play Store". (See grapheneOS.jpg.) There is no button or field to tap on, and tapping that text does nothing. So, something may be amiss with the sandboxed store? (At least, perhaps, for this particular installation.)

          8 months later

          mnifty90987 I don't think so. My
          sandboxed version says I'm connect to united states. Did you come across anything else?

            I stumble across this thread after running into the same issue. Could someone place a warning in a more prominent way that gift cards are incompatible with GOS? I was not expecting this.

              5 days later

              schweizer
              For what it’s worth, I had success in forcing Google support to redeem for me two Play cards on the same – pseudonymous – account, twice. As far as I know, my account has not been unflagged, though, so I’m still relying on communicating with them in order to redeem any new purchased Play card.

              The key is patience and diverse forms of legal threats. I can elaborate if needed, although it’s not very elaborate…

                  leafnose
                  Google support simply told me that my account is not elegible for support.

                      schweizer
                      Oh, I see.
                      The worst I got, after having sent several times images of the card and the receipt, was ‘due to some inconsistencies with your account and the information that you provided, the gift card team isn’t able to help you redeem gift card’ and something along the lines ‘limitation and scope of support’ of the person answering me.
                      That was after more than a month since my first request.