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Writer's pictureTara Wilson

Helpful Tip: Prepaid Cash Gift Cards

Here's a helpful tip on how to use up the remaining balance on your prepaid debit gift cards!



POV: It's after the holiday season, you've been gifted several Visa cash gift cards, did a little shopping, and are now left with random amounts of change on your gift card balances. Sometimes, the remainder of these balances are easy to use - for instance, I've used them at restaurants that were able to swipe them, and the gift card balance would be applied to my subtotal and I could cover the rest of the bill with other payment methods.


However, most of the time I find that this is not the case when I'm making payments online. Since Visa gift cards act like debit cards online, if my gift card balance doesn't cover the whole purchase, my online order will decline until I use another form of payment - I'm not given the option to use two different debit/credit cards.


So when you're left with, say, $7.83 on your Visa gift card, how do you make a purchase online that will equal that specific total after tax? You don't want to throw the card away, since there's still some cash left on it. So how do you make use of that remaining balance?


My favorite way? Load the balance onto your Amazon account!

I've used this method every time I wasn't able to use up the whole gift card balance, and even when what's left is less than $2, at least I'm able to use it instead of throwing it away or holding onto the card but never using it. So if you've got a bunch of gift cards lying around with some dollars and change left on them, try out this method!


Step 1: Find out the exact remaining balance on your prepaid debit gift card.

For example, here is the balance left on one of my Visa gift cards.



Step 2: Go to Amazon.com and type in "Amazon Reload" into the search bar.


Step 3: Click on the option that says "Amazon.com Gift Card Balance Reload."

It should look like this when the search options come up.



Step 4: On the right side of your screen where it lists possible amounts, click in the bar that says "Other" and type in the exact amount left on your gift card (in this case, it's $7.83). Then click on the "Buy Now" icon underneath, which will take you to the Checkout screen.



Step 5: On the Checkout screen, the first option should say "Digital Delivery." The second option should say "Payment Method." For Payment method, click on "Change" and click on "Add a Credit or Debit card," then type in your gift card information to add it as one of your payment methods. Once added, select the gift card as your payment method.

For Vanilla Gift Visa Debit cards, I've found that I can just put my name under "Name on card" and it works fine. Be sure to check your specific gift card's instructions on what to write when checking out.


Step 6: Double check that your gift card is your selected payment method, and that the total matches your gift card balance. Then click "Place Order."


Step 7: Voila! You'll receive a confirmation in your email associated with your Amazon account, and the balance from your gift card will be added to your account as an Amazon gift card within five minutes!



The next time you check out on Amazon, you'll see this newly added balance labeled as "Gift Card Balance" under your chosen payment method, and it should also already be applied in your Order Summary section (unless you're trying to buy more gift cards - gift card balances can't be used to buy other gift cards).


Now there's no more worrying about making a purchase that's less or exactly the same price after tax as the balance on your gift card. Have $1.97 left on a gift card? Upload it to your Amazon account, and that cash will be applied to your order so you can use up the entirety of your gift card, and then can cover the rest of your total with another payment method.


Of course, the only downside to this method is if you're not planning on making an Amazon purchase any time soon. However, this method is amazing if you have several different debit gift cards with random balances, and those individual balances can't cover a purchase you'd like to make. This way, you can combine all of the balances you have leftover onto one account, and you can use up the entirety of the balances by making a purchase on Amazon.


Hope this tip helped, and happy holidays!

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