How do people use their rebate visa cards

IrfanPathan said: simple.. I logon to tmobile.com and pay my bill or comcast.net and pay bill .. I agree, paying bills with prepaid credit card is the easiest way to use the entire balance

trishshack said: I use mine at Kroger to get groceries or fill prescriptions. The system at Kroger will deduct the amount that is left on your card and then you pay the difference.

same thing at shoprite

humbleone said: I also use them on cell phone or other utility, anything that I can enter a specific amount. I had more difficulty at Kroger trying to use the exact amount, cashier always gave me a problem, not sure why.I use them to buy grocery store gift cards at the customer service desk, cashiers can deal with multiple gift cards more easily than multiple debit cards.

I buy gas. Must go inside and tell cashier "$20 on pump #x". Watch the balance on the web or phone.
I once got scr*wd as I paid Skype phone and due to some posting of the amount an additional $0.12 were posted . Luckily next gas purchase I requested the exact balance to be used.

I either:

-buy a target gift card in the amount of the visa card. Target's gift card system is easy to mix payment, they don't expire, and I shop at Target a lot anyway.

-use them to make a one-time payment of my eBay fees. You can use the whole card even if it's more than the amount of your fees, and "prepay" your fees for the next time.

Similarly as mentioned by others, take the card and buy a store card.

The store card doesn't expire
and it is easier to deal with the cents that are left over as seen in other postings where a poster asks about what to do with the leftover cents on cards from a bunch of rebates.

the wisest thing that i did is to use it as a fund to your paypal.

at the first it will need $1 temporary authorization, but yeah you can still get $1 back.. in the other words, you can transfer it to your bank account after..

i sign up for sketchy trials and try to make a buck. for ex., there's a $25 GC to buy.con for signing up for something. check HD.

I buy Amazon GCs for myself...

cnIsfg said: VivYip said: i use them for WalMart GCs to use at Sam's Club

Plus Sams Club has some additional hidden benefits most do know,:

1. You can buy a prepaid MasterCard CC up to $500 for a $2.95 fee at Wal-Mart using your Rebate Visa card and then take it to Sams and get up to $200 per transacion Cash Back at the register.
2. You can use any Discover or MasterCard CC at the register to get up to $200 Cash Back by simply purchasing at least one item (ie a 78 cent soda cup) and the entire transacion shows as a purchase on your statement.

for 1., why not just do what VivYip says & avoid a $2.95 fee? Sam's accepts Wa1mart GCs.

i just bought myself an Amaz0n GC. it's delivered via email in minutes or you can print it out at home.

ahhh...i see what you're saying. thanks.

I would not use paypal. I did this twice, once to try to use up $4.85 remaining to pay eBay fees, they authorized 1.00 and then the 4.85 failed. It has been almost 1 week, they haven't released the auth yet. I also used one to open a new paypal, same thing with the auth, tied up my money.

I recommend Target or Best Buy, both systems can find out automatically how much is on your card and use up the remaining amount. You can pay with another card after that too.

amejr999 said: Just call the number on the back of the card and tell them you want a check instead. It comes in about 2 weeks.I remember someone else (CrazyRus I think) mentioning this in the past. I cannot confirm this yet myself (havent tried yet). Definitely the way to go.

I took a $20 symantec rebate card in to Key Bank, They were able to give me a $20 cash advance on it. So there is a cash option on them.

Taken from another thread that has been locked. Finance Locked Thread. :)

scrouds said:

1) Just spend it and suck up your "loss".
2) Don't patronize debit card rebates.
3) Some places will let you turn them back in for a check. Expect to wait 2 months.
4) You can sell them. eBay is ok, friends are better.
5) I've heard one that can be used as a cash advance / balance transfer card. You may pay fees for this.
6) Buy/return? Merchants are supposed to return funds to the card, but if you don't have it they may just cash you out.

badboi said:

#2

Glitch99 said:

Thats like saying "Dont accept a job from XXX employer because they dont offer direct deposit and will only pay you in a check." You still base your decision on the compensation being received, even if you need to discount the value of that compensation to account for the inconvenience of the method it is received.

Of course, if you had to choose EITHER a cash rebate or a gift/debit card of equal value, you should choose the cash offer.

But skipping a rebate offer just because of how it is paid out is ridiculous - there's still value being received, even if extra steps are needed to benefit from that value.

badboi said:

Would you work for an employer that paid you with a Symantec debit card?

Why not give the customer a choice of gift/debit card or check?

The extra steps should be avoided.

badboi said:
#2

Don't patronize debit card rebates.

Here's the scenario.

Symantec stock is at $13.12 at closing on 3/05/09. Forward 4 to 6 weeks. Stock plummets 50%.

Stock holders: "What the fark is going on over there at Symantec?"

Board of Directors at Symantec: "blah blah blah"

Stock holders: "Well then start issuing farking checks." "What the hell are you waiting for?"

Board of Directors at Symantec: "Yes Sir."

forbin4040 said: I buy Supermarket cards, since I shop there anyhow.

It sounds like people rather deposit a check into thier account.

Just got this email from Am@zon.

-------------------------

Thanks for contacting to Amazon.com.

I'm sorry you had trouble updating your payment information for this gift card order. I've cancelled the problem order.

While processing your order, we may have to authorize your credit card multiple times:

- First, when you place your first order with us, we contact your card's issuing bank to confirm that the card number has been entered correctly and hasn't been reported as lost or stolen. This verification uses a $1 authorization. However, we don't actually proceed with this $1 charge; this is simply one of the security measures we use to protect our customers.

- If the $1 authorization is approved by the card issuer, we proceed with your order by requesting an authorization for the full amount of your order. If we can fulfill your order without any problems, we will charge on the second authorization. However, if something goes wrong when we're preparing your shipment and we need to obtain a new item for you, we may need to authorize your order again when the product becomes available.

Unused authorizations that do not result in a shipment to you will be released by the card issuer after 7 days. If you're using a credit card, these authorizations will be invisible to you; however, they may temporarily reduce your available credit by a dollar. However, if you're using a gift card, which has limited funds, these authorizations may impact your available balance and cause your transaction to decline until the authorization is released.

We're working on improving our systems to eliminate this $1 authorization protective measure so that our customers can easily use the full amount of their gift cards. However, at this time, if your transaction paid by a gift card is declining, please provide an alternative form of payment such as a checking account or credit card to make your purchase.

We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused you.

moneynomore said: I just received over $500 of rebate cards from christmas shopping. Who sells Costco gift cards? I want to turn them into these.

Costco?