How to Get Cash from Your Vanilla Visa Gift Card
After draining your resources, you wonder if that cash you loaded on your Vanilla Visa gift card can sort out your financial problems. You begin thinking of how the few hundred dollars in the prepaid card can pay for some of your expenses.
Since you know that you cannot get cash off your MasterCard or Visa gift card, you ask yourself if a Vanilla Visa gift card has the same restrictions? Unfortunately, you cannot get money directly from your Vanilla Visa gift card, but you can explore other alternatives listed below and see which best suits you.
1. Add Your Card to PayPal
According to Logical Dollar, one of the methods to get cash off your card is by transferring the money to your PayPal account. It is not a challenging process; all you need are a PayPal account and a gift card registered in your name. Once you visit your PayPal account, go to the “PayPal Wallet” then click “link a debit or credit card.”
You will have the option to link the card manually or through the bank. Choose “Link a card manually,” then enter the gift card information. Complete the process by clicking “link card.”
However, sometimes you might encounter an error code when attempting to add the gift card to your PayPal account, and if this happens, you are supposed to register the gift card with the issuer. Gift cards come with instructions regarding registration, so you can get an address linked to the card for PayPal to accept.
2. Sell Your Card on Apps and Websites
According to MoneyTamer, selling your gift card is the most straightforward way of getting your cash back. When linking it to PayPal, you will have to go the extra step of transferring the balance to a bank account. On the other hand, by selling your card, you get cash immediately.
The amount of money to get off your Vanilla Visa card depends on the vendor. For instance, on eBay, you pay a fixed fee of 10% of the sale amount, whereas Raise charges a fixed fee of 15 of the sale amount.
A 15% commission is quite steep, especially when you consider you are desperately in need of cash. GiftcardOutlets and EJGiftCards give you up to 90% cashback but do not charge fees. All you have to do is visit the website of the vendor you prefer, and enter the details of the gift card, such as the merchant name and current value.
The site then indicates the amount of cash you will get, then you submit the offer if you are comfortable with it. Remember that dealing with digital gift cards is much easier than physical ones.
A digital gift card only requires you to submit the details, but a physical one will have to be posted by mail. Some sites cover the postage fees, but others do not, so you will have to do the math to avoid wasting so much money in the process of getting some cash from your gift card.
3. Sell Your Card to Friends and Family
Before you even go through the hassle of sending your card through the mail, hoping to get some cash in return, you should think of selling it to those close to you.
Your family and friends might be interested in getting that gift card, but you will have to give them a reason to buy it from you. Note that if they want a gift card, they can get it from a vendor, so the incentive to purchase from you will probably be a discounted price.
Still, not getting the face value of the gift card is much better than having it lying around until you require the items you can buy using the card. On the other hand, as Bible Money Matters enlightens us, the amount of money you get in return for your card will depend on its demand.
4. Buying and Reselling Items Off Your Gift Card
With this option, you need to have an enterprising spirit. You need to check discount items to ensure that you will get a profit when you resell them.
You could also be on the lookout for those goods with high demand so that the buyer will be ready to pay higher than the face value of the card. While this is ideal because you are guaranteed of receiving more money than what you would expect from selling to friends or through apps, it is quite inconvenient.
You will have to wait for the opportune time to sell the item and do your homework regarding which items could fetch a higher price.
Why Vanilla Gift Cards are Popular
In December 2020, Finextra published that VanillaGift.com had launched an enhanced customer experience by providing custom gift options and integrating the cards on certain mobile wallets.
The article explained that consumers were provided with the option of buying physical or digital gift cards and customizing them using colors and stamps; businesses could even upload logos and photos. The changes came at an ideal time because the COVID-19 pandemic brought the need for contactless payments.
Consumers preferred mobile wallets, and the gift card market took advantage of that. Vanilla Visa gift cards are open-loop. You can use them at any place that accepts that Visa cards. This is for both online and physical retail stores. Also, even with as little as $10, you can load your card.
However, it has the inconvenience of having to check your balance frequently. Unlike debit cards, where cashiers can find out the balance, prepaid gift cards do not permit this. It is up to you to check the balance before transacting to avoid failed payments.
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Written by Allen Lee
Read more posts by Allen Lee
