How do I add a Visa gift card balance to my Amazon account?

[PaunchyPirate]

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Originally Posted by audreyh1 Seriously, can you elaborate? Did they have the card credentials and were waiting for the card to be activated? I’ve only received e-gift cards thank goodness,

I'm not really sure how it happened. The gift card was purchased from Target on 11/1. It was given to me on 11/3. Today, I attempted to use it at Amazon, but it was not accepted, but no real reason was given.

I then looked up the card balance at the www.mybalancenow.com website that many of these cards use to track the balance. This is the website shown on the back of both of my Visa gift cards.

The Balance shows as $0. It shows it was funded with $200 on 11/1 (the date of purchase at Target.

It then shows 2 transactions done this morning at 6:49 am at TARGET 00020263. One is for $157.32 and one is for $42.68. Nicely totally wiping out the $200 balance.

I tried to use the card around 3:45 pm, I guess. So it would seem that they used the card up several hours before I happened to try it at Amazon. It doesn't seem like it was tied to my attempt to use it. Although, it's a bit of a coincidence that they used it on the same day I tried to.

I called the number on the back of the card and eventually figured out how to speak to a person. He could see the 2 transactions. He took my info and I have to send an email with a copy of the card, the receipt it was purchased with (which I happen to have) and my drivers license. He says they will investigate and get back to me. There were no promises of anything.

[audreyh1]

Thanks for the details.

I had read about problems like this long ago, but thought they had put preventions in place like inability to see card details by the casual shopper.

It’s ridiculous if this is a common occurrence.

[PaunchyPirate]

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Originally Posted by audreyh1 Thanks for the details. I had read about problems like this long ago, but thought they had put preventions in place like inability to see card details by the casual shopper. It’s ridiculous if this is a common occurrence.

The card came nicely concealed in a cardboard wrapper. All that showed was a bar code for the Target clerk to scan to ring it up and to activate it. There are bunch of digits visible as well, but not the card number itself or the expiration date. The Target sales receipt says the card would be activated within 60 minutes of purchase. I did not have to do anything to activate the card to use it.

Very weird. I have sent the required info to the email address I was given. I won't hold my breath that I will see anything. Time will tell.

[cathy63]

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Originally Posted by braumeister I've found supermarkets are generally easy for this at self-checkouts. When the gift card is used up, it just starts to prompt you for a method to pay the remainder.

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Originally Posted by jollystomper If one shops (or if one dares to shop ) at Walmart, the self-checkout handles this very easily. You choose to pay with debit/credit and pay with the gift card first. It will charge up to the gift card balance, and then display the remainder that you then use another card to pay off.

I usually avoid self checkout at the grocery store (hate looking up produce) and don't have any Walmarts nearby, but I suppose it would work at other stores with self-checkout. It's good to know this is an option if the Amazon hack stops working.

[Sunset]

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Originally Posted by PaunchyPirate ........ Oh, my friends also gave me a $500 Walmart gift card... that one I'll just use up at Walmart buying groceries over the next several weeks. Edited to Add: It turns out to not be an Amazon problem. Upon checking the balance of the Visa card using the card's website, someone made 2 transactions at Target early this morning, wiping out the full value of the card. Upon doing a little research, this is a huge problem. And the criminals tend to like to spend them at Target.

It's a real problem with gift cards.

There are many ways criminals set people up to be robbed of the money. So basically you can't tell if the gift card you get is going to soon be zero'ed out of money.

Real gift cards, which of course to me seem "more real" are actually the ones most in danger of being worthless within a day or two of being purchased.

Better go spend that $500 card tomorrow...

[Calico]

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Originally Posted by PaunchyPirate I'm not really sure how it happened. The gift card was purchased from Target on 11/1. It was given to me on 11/3. Today, I attempted to use it at Amazon, but it was not accepted, but no real reason was given. I then looked up the card balance at the www.mybalancenow.com website that many of these cards use to track the balance. This is the website shown on the back of both of my Visa gift cards. The Balance shows as $0. It shows it was funded with $200 on 11/1 (the date of purchase at Target. It then shows 2 transactions done this morning at 6:49 am at TARGET 00020263. One is for $157.32 and one is for $42.68. Nicely totally wiping out the $200 balance. I tried to use the card around 3:45 pm, I guess. So it would seem that they used the card up several hours before I happened to try it at Amazon. It doesn't seem like it was tied to my attempt to use it. Although, it's a bit of a coincidence that they used it on the same day I tried to. I called the number on the back of the card and eventually figured out how to speak to a person. He could see the 2 transactions. He took my info and I have to send an email with a copy of the card, the receipt it was purchased with (which I happen to have) and my drivers license. He says they will investigate and get back to me. There were no promises of anything.

I'm trying to understand why they would need your driver's license. It's not like the card was purchased in your name.

Given the fact that the card was already targeted and used by criminals, I would be very leery about giving anyone my DL info, but that's just me. Super paranoid about things like this!

[PaunchyPirate]

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Originally Posted by Calico I'm trying to understand why they would need your driver's license. It's not like the card was purchased in your name. Given the fact that the card was already targeted and used by criminals, I would be very leery about giving anyone my DL info, but that's just me. Super paranoid about things like this!

This is a common complaint with the company that sells/administers these cards. Most people don’t like that they have to provide the ID. But it’s well documented online that they request it. I suppose I could have not sent it, but I’m willing to prove who I am if that helps prove I’m not someone trying to further scam them for money.

[Calico]

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Originally Posted by PaunchyPirate This is a common complaint with the company that sells/administers these cards. Most people don’t like that they have to provide the ID. But it’s well documented online that they request it. I suppose I could have not sent it, but I’m willing to prove who I am if that helps prove I’m not someone trying to further scam them for money.

That certainly makes sense. As I said, I just fall into the "super paranoid" group of people who trust no one!

[CDRE]

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Originally Posted by cathy63 Yes, this is exactly what you do. Every Amazon account has a reloadable gift card associated with it, so you just reload your account's gift card from your Visa gift card. You can't use two credit/debit cards to pay for one Amazon order, but you can use an Amazon gift card and a credit/debit card together so if you don't have enough left on the Visa gift card to pay for your order, converting it to an Amazon card makes it usable. First login to your Amazon account. Go to your payment settings and add your Visa gift card as a payment method. Then go to this page: https://www.amazon.com/gp/css/gc/balance Click on the yellow button that says Reload Your Balance. Enter the amount of the Visa card in the "Other" box and then click Buy Now. Choose the Visa gift card as the payment method. You can put any amount in the "Other" box, so even if your Visa card has an odd amount like $1.87 left on it, you can enter that amount and get the Visa balance down to $0.

Thanks cathy63! Worked perfectly!!

[GalaxyBoy]

I just got an email from the electric company saying my reward for the BYOT (bring your own thermostat) program had arrived. Of course, it was in the form of a Mastercard gift card. I opted to receive it virtually vs. physically, and within five minutes I was able to use the full amount to reload my Amazon gift card. Easy peasy.

[PaunchyPirate]

I just thought I’d post an update on my stolen card issue discussed up-thread. I was out of town all week for the holiday, but when I got home this evening, I found a replacement Visa card in my mail for the full $200 that was stolen from my original card. I’m not going to do anything with it tonight, but I’ll try to apply it to my Amazon account in the morning. It only took a couple weeks for the replacement. Not bad at all. Assuming it works!

[PaunchyPirate]

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Originally Posted by PaunchyPirate I just thought I’d post an update on my stolen card issue discussed up-thread. I was out of town all week for the holiday, but when I got home this evening, I found a replacement Visa card in my mail for the full $200 that was stolen from my original card. I’m not going to do anything with it tonight, but I’ll try to apply it to my Amazon account in the morning. It only took a couple weeks for the replacement. Not bad at all. Assuming it works!

Follow up: The replacement gift card activated and shows a full $200 balance according to the website you use to check the balance. However, Amazon does not like it as a source of funds for a gift card. I used the same exact process to use it on Amazon, but it errors out as a funding source. I’m not sure if they have flagged my account for the previous failure of the first card or if there is an issue with the card. I’ll next try to use the card at a store somewhere.

[audreyh1]

Excellent. This was a timely how-to. I was able to unload a $2.29 gift card associated with an old utility account.