Pre-Paid Credit Cards

[Trillion]

Hi - Does anyone have experience using pre-paid cards to purchase items online? Do they work ********? Are they safe?

thanks for any help...

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T

[Keith K Stone]

Yes they are safe, no bank account etc. And you can make online purchases.

[trevor_wood]

I bought a Vanilla One Visa gift card from my local 7-11. It cost about $5. You just pay the clerk in cash however much you want on the card. Then you go online to activate the card with your zip code (no name necessary). I have used them with ******** pharmacies with no problem. I don't know if there is any recourse for fraudulent charges, however the whole point it to limit the amount that you can lose. You can also go online and see the balance on the card. When you order online you can list any name because it is only the zip code that they really need.

[Trillion]

@keith stone - thank you so much
@trevor_wood - thanks - good info - THUMBS up to both!

[Bellavista44]

@Trillion. I consider them safer then using your own cc or bank account cc. I sure don't want to give carte blanche to an OP on my accounts. Many pre-paid cc's do not work on international. I believe the permanent Green Dot cards do and the Netspend refillable does. I have heard not-so-good reports on the Vanilla One working for many OPs.

Most OPs process international and most refillable are not international.

[LemonDiesel]

I have noticed there are alot of sites that only accept visa, no mastercard, and i was wondering if the green dot cards work at places they accept visa BUT NOT GIft cards. Green dot is basically a debit card and to me it looks like they are accepted anywhere visa is accepted but i am not completely sure.

Does anyone know if greendot is accepted EVERYWHERE VISA is Accepted?

[olyomega]

I've had good luck using a pre-paid visa to order cigars online from Switzerland, small hassle for maximum anonymity.

[auburnfan123]

where would one buy one of these pre-paid visa cards other than online?

[trevor_wood]

They sell them all over. I bought mine at a nearby 7-11. I've seen them at various drug stores, grocery stores, convencience stores, etc.
Some of them are reloadable, but I think there are fees for reloading and/or ongoing service fees. The gift cards are not reloadable. You just pay about $5 for the card and load it at the time of purchase. Once your gift card is depleted, you just throw it away. See my post above for more info.

[cv2006]

I bought one planning to use it for an ******** purchase, and it didn't work. As soon as I bought in, I got in my car and looked more closely at the packaging and noticed that it said it could be used domestically only, but I tried anyways, and sure enough it didn't work. It was a Visa Vanilla card.
I only wasted $5 putting money on it and used most of it already for gas, groceries, etc. But I wouldn't think that if the card specifies "domestic purchases only" that there's any way around that.

[auburnfan123]

Which ones can be used abroad?
Green dot i think will work, any others?

[Art Vandelay]

Which ones can be used abroad?
Green dot i think will work, any others?

Green Dot is your best bet. It's like 5 bucks to start and then like 4 bucks a month to maintain funds on the account. I don't know of any others that work abroad.

[Bellavista44]

@LemonDiesel, @auburnfan123. Most people swear by the refillable Green Dot Visa. Make sure you have received your permanent one. If for some reason that doesn't work, Netspend.

[olyomega]

I don't recall the name but the last card I used had a gift box on it and was usable when buying in euro's online.

[Torr]

I would recommend the green dot card. They have both Visa and MasterCard you can purchase depending on website acceptance. This is a great alternative if you do not want your bank information out there with sometimes unreliable sites.

[Gullible]

That sounds really interesting but no one seems to know if you can do a charge back or not. If you could, it would make no sense to use a regular card. Just find out how much your order is going to be with shipping and get a card for that amount. If it goes through, you toss it away. If you don't get the order... then what?

[Torr]

That sounds really interesting but no one seems to know if you can do a charge back or not. If you could, it would make no sense to use a regular card. Just find out how much your order is going to be with shipping and get a card for that amount. If it goes through, you toss it away. If you don't get the order... then what?

Well I assume if they are a Visa or Mastercard they have to abide by federal regulations and refund any money that was used fraudulently just like any other bank since you are essentially depositing money into their "bank".

[cohen]

FWIW, I was able to do a chargeback on a NetSpend credit card a few months ago. It was just like doing a chargeback with my regular bank or credit card.

[themoshx2]

This was my experience as well.

[veri]

so there is alot of advice here, thanks, but how do i get a greendot card? or a netspend card...how much info is required, i remember trying to do this once with a card from walmart and the info theywanted to me almos t a half hour to put in and then the card still didnt work well, the business said it was a gift card... thanks,
veri