I don’t know, I thought it was obvious, personally.
customers who purchase
In early January, you will receive your gift based on gems you purchase and gem codes you redeem
Both of those kind of indicate that you buy gems with real money since that’s what purchasing is. Converting gems with gold via the trading post would be converting and not purchasing.
I’m sorry you didn’t get them, though. But hey, they’re nothing special anyway! I have mine and I don’t even know what to do with them.
They should just remove the account bound status.