Chinh Do

How to Use VISA Gift Card on Amazon

9th January 2009

How to Use VISA Gift Card on Amazon

posted in Tips |

I googled and didn’t find anything useful so I thought I’d share this. If you have a VISA gift card and want to use it on Amazon.com in conjunction with a credit card (to pay for any amount over the gift card value), the trick is to use the VISA gift card to purchase an Amazon gift card of the same value for yourself (search for “gift card” on Amazon.com).

Once you have the Amazon gift card, you can then use it to pay for part of your order, with the remaining balance being charged to another credit card.

I am sure this trick works with most other online merchants too.

Ordering gift card on Amazon

This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 5:57 pm and is filed under Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

There are currently 18 responses to “How to Use VISA Gift Card on Amazon”

  1. 1 On April 23rd, 2009, John said:

    Thanks for the tip!

    posted on April 23rd, 2009 at 12:27 am

  2. 2 On May 4th, 2009, Joel said:

    Yep, thanks… I appreciate it too!

    posted on May 4th, 2009 at 9:42 am

  3. 3 On May 13th, 2009, Chinh Do said:

    John/Joel: Glad this helped you. Thanks for leaving a message.

    posted on May 13th, 2009 at 9:27 pm

  4. 4 On May 27th, 2009, Graydon said:

    Can you use for the whole purchase if the amount on the gift card will cover the amount of the purchase?

    posted on May 27th, 2009 at 8:28 pm

  5. 5 On May 27th, 2009, Chinh Do said:

    Graydon: Yes I am sure you can do that. Chinh

    posted on May 27th, 2009 at 10:33 pm

  6. 6 On June 6th, 2009, tm said:

    Just be careful not to use the entire amount of the giftcard. You need to leave at least a dollar on the card otherwise it will be declined. So if you have a $100 giftcard you will only be able to spend $99.

    posted on June 6th, 2009 at 1:36 am

  7. 7 On January 1st, 2010, Rebecca said:

    thanks so much for posting this information

    posted on January 1st, 2010 at 1:23 pm

  8. 8 On January 13th, 2010, Jay Wiener said:

    Aaaaah, good idea Chinh!

    posted on January 13th, 2010 at 3:42 pm

  9. 9 On January 13th, 2010, Chinh Do said:

    Rebecca/Jay: Glad this helped you.

    posted on January 13th, 2010 at 5:00 pm

  10. 10 On January 23rd, 2010, Adam said:

    This helped me as well. Unfortunately I only had a $25 gift card so I had to leave that one dollar on there. It is sort of obnoxious that my $24 gift card because a $24 dollar gift card plus the 3% they charge you to buy a Visa gift card…

    posted on January 23rd, 2010 at 11:40 pm

  11. 11 On January 24th, 2010, Chinh Do said:

    Adam: I don’t remember having to leave $1 on my gift card so perhaps that’s specific to the gift cards or recent policy change by Amazon. Chinh

    posted on January 24th, 2010 at 2:40 am

  12. 12 On February 17th, 2010, James said:

    I just want to say thank you so much for the great idea. Unfortunately, it’s been the habit of many companies offering mail-in rebates to provide the funds in a pre-paid card form, which I personally loath. Thanks to your advice I’m now able to apply the funds to Amazon.com and save on my next purchase!

    So thank you, thank you and thank you for the great idea! =)

    posted on February 17th, 2010 at 12:50 am

  13. 13 On March 27th, 2010, Stepherz said:

    Ah, thank you =) Something I did not think to do lol

    posted on March 27th, 2010 at 9:02 pm

  14. 14 On April 5th, 2010, itunes gift cards said:

    Everyone loves free vouchers right? I get mine on this new facebook app: http://rewardsrave.com Hope you’ll enjoy :)

    posted on April 5th, 2010 at 9:36 pm

  15. 15 On July 1st, 2010, Kim said:

    I recently tried using my visa giftcard to buy an amazon giftcard, and it was declined. I had multiple visa and it wouldn’t go thru! Any suggestions?

    posted on July 1st, 2010 at 1:07 am

  16. 16 On July 1st, 2010, Brandon said:

    Hey Kim (and whoever is curious),

    I found this site when my Visa giftcards kept being declined when trying to purchase an Amazon giftcard.
    I was able to get one of my Visa giftcards (out of 3) to work.

    What worked ->
    Selecting an Amazon Giftcard for $1 less than my total Visa Giftcard amount ($49 out of $50).
    Entering my name as the credit card holder.

    There were some differences between the card that worked and my two other Visa giftcards that didn’t work.

    The card that worked had a raised credit card number on the front (like a real credit card).
    The card that worked was issued by The Bancorp Bank.

    The card that didn’t work had a flat/smooth credit card number on the front.
    The card that didn’t work was issued by MetaBank.

    Hope this helps.

    posted on July 1st, 2010 at 10:40 am

  17. 17 On July 1st, 2010, Brian said:

    I am also having a problem buying a GC. I have a Visa Debit card that is flat – no raised numbers. It’s a $25 card.

    posted on July 1st, 2010 at 1:22 pm

  18. 18 On August 25th, 2010, jennifer said:

    does it also work on amazon.ca ?

    posted on August 25th, 2010 at 2:49 pm

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