What can you use a amazon gift card for

• You can use a prepaid Visa gift card to make purchases on Amazon, but you have to work around the system to make it happen.
• Amazon will not allow split payments between gift cards loaded onto an account and other payment methods, so you have to line up the price of your purchases with your gift card balance.
• Here's how to load a Visa gift card onto an Amazon account so you can use it to shop with the online retailer.

If Amazon had its way, everyone would stick with Amazon gift cards. And while an Amazon gift card is a great gift and all, a Visa gift card is even better — in fact, a Visa gift card even beats cash. Why? Because you can't use an Amazon card at the local pizza restaurant, a gas station, or to buy movie tickets, and you can't use cash to shop on Amazon or other online retailers. 

To use a Visa gift card on Amazon, you essentially have to trick the site into thinking you're simply adding another credit or debit card onto your account, and not using as gift card at all. So before you add the card's balance to your account, you need to make sure the Visa is ready for action.

And note that you can't split purchases between a gift card loaded onto your account and another payment method, so be sure to shop with care and your balance in mind. Or better yet, see the hack at the end of this article.

Make sure your Visa gift card is activated and ready

First, make sure the gift card has been activated (which should have happened at the time of the sale). You might have received a gift receipt or a card holder confirming its activated status, but you can also just call the phone number on the back of the card.

Next, check the card's balance. This is especially important if you have already used it, but as gift cards often have activation fees, that $50 card may actually have a $49 balance. You'll need to know the exact dollar and cent number, so don't skip this step.

Loading a Visa gift card on Amazon

To get started, go to Amazon's homepage on your computer or pull it up on your phone. 

1. Go to the "Your Account" page from the dropdown menu from the three parallel lines at the top left of the page on the mobile app, or by hovering over the "Account & List" tab at the top right on a computer.

2. Click or tap the "Manage payment options" link.

3. Under the words "Amazon Gift Card," click or tap "Reload your balance."

4. Enter in the balance on the card in the "$ Enter an amount..." box, then select "Add a card" down below.

5. Add the info exactly as shown on the card, meaning the card number and the "name," which may be "A Gift for You" or some other short statement, and the expiration date.

6. Enter the address as your own when prompted (though the card is not technically tied to any location).

7. When next you shop on Amazon, make sure to select the gift card you just loaded as your payment method — you can identify it by the last four digits of the number on the front.

Another hack for using Visa gift cards on Amazon

It's kind of annoying that you can't use a gift card along with another mode of payment, right? But you can use your card's balance to buy an Amazon gift card (or code) that you give to yourself, and that can be used for anything on the site and combined freely with another payment method.

Related coverage from Tech Reference:

• How you can use PayPal on Amazon, despite it not being directly accepted

• How to return a gift or purchased item on Amazon

• How to return a gift or purchased item on Amazon

• How to contact a third-party seller on Amazon

• How to reload your Amazon gift card balance online, or set up an auto-reload schedule

Steven John

Freelance Writer

Steven John is a freelance writer living near New York City by way of 12 years in Los Angeles, four in Boston, and the first 18 near DC. When not writing or spending time with his wife and kids, he can occasionally be found climbing mountains. His writing is spread across the web, and his books can be found at www.stevenjohnbooks.com.

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Amazon gift cards have become the go-to choice for many people, right from Christmas or birthday presents to year-round bonuses. However, receiving one may not be as useful either because the product you want may not necessarily be listed on Amazon or you’d rather have actual cash to spend on essential stuff like pay rent and bills. Thankfully, there’re a few little-known ways you can trade and use unwanted Amazon gift cards for money or use them besides on Amazon.

How to Earn Free Amazon Gift Cards

Aside from getting lucky and receiving gift cards from your friends or family, here are the best ways to get Amazon Gift Cards for free.

1. Start a blog or YouTube channel and sign up for Amazon Associates to share affiliate links through your posts.
2. Use Amazon’s Trade-In program to exchange unwanted devices, electronics, video games, and more for Amazon Gift Cards.
3. Earn Amazon Gift Cards by taking surveys (Swagbucks, Survey Junkie, MTurk, etc.).

In this article, we’ll go through ways to use your Amazon Gift Cards besides Amazon. While these methods work directly for people in the US, others can also benefit from most of the services using a VPN.

1. Sell Amazon Gift Card for Cash

Websites like Gameflip, Raise, Gift Card Granny, and many others allow you to sell your unwanted Amazon gift cards directly in exchange for cash. Generally, Amazon gift cards are listed at 2% to 15% off the card value. For example, if you have a gift worth $100, you can expect around $90 in cash.

All of these websites are highly secure and reliable as they verify each user registration manually. For instance, Gameflip requires users to provide a government ID with a selfie. Plus, it’ll take up to 2 to 3 days to verify all the details manually by Gameflip employees. 

Once the buyer receives your gift card code, redeems, and completes the transaction by rating, the money is deposited into your wallet which you can withdraw anytime. Also, these websites will charge you a small amount of commission for the sale you make. 

Disclaimer: These methods will only work if you have an Amazon gift card code. Once you redeem the code in your Amazon account, you won’t be able to sell it. However, even if you have redeemed your gift card, there’s still hope. You can buy another gift card from the Google Play Store using your Amazon gift card balance and then sell the Google Play gift card instead.

Aside from the above, you can also use classified sites like Craigslist, Letgo, Oodle, and others to list your Amazon gift cards just like any other item. All you have to do is simply list your gift card for a certain price and interested parties will contact you. Mostly, you’ll meet people in your city so you can make the transaction in person as well.

2. Sell It on eBay

eBay differs from platforms like Craiglist, Letgo, and Oodle for several reasons thanks to its popularity and bigger reach. If you know how to sell on eBay, you can actually buy products that are in high demand (mostly electronics) from Amazon using your gift card and sell them on eBay in exchange for cash. At times, you can potentially get more money for products that are otherwise hard to get.

Pro Tip: You can actually list your product on eBay before you buy it, and only buy after it sells. That way you can have it shipped directly to your customer from Amazon.

3. Trade It for Bitcoin

If you’re not in need of cash, using your Amazon gift card can be a great way to start investing in Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency for that matter. This way, you can start investing a small amount regularly and diversify your investment portfolio. Websites like Paxful, Purse, and LocalBitcoins allow you to buy/sell Bitcoins using Amazon gift cards.

The way it works is that both parties involved need to agree to the exchange rate, and the platform charges little to no commission on each trade. While buying bitcoin from the exchange is generally free, the seller may have to pay an additional fee for each transaction made.

From there, you can transfer your Bitcoins to a wallet of your choice (like Coinbase, Binance, Robinhood) using peer-to-peer transfer. If not, you can always trade your Bitcoin for actual money or use it to buy other things as it is becoming a widely accepted payment method. 

4. Sell It via Reddit or Facebook

Social networking sites like Facebook and Reddit are other places where you can sell your Amazon gift cards.

Reddit has a separate subreddit called r/giftcardexchange for trading unwanted gift cards. Users can create a post with all the necessary details and interested parties will contact to make the exchange happen. Additionally, subreddits like r/barter can also be a great place to do the same. 

Facebook also has its own peer-to-peer platform called Facebook Marketplace just like Craigslist which brings buyers and sellers together on the social network. Apart from that, you can search for groups that buy and sell gift cards in your area. Another way is to put up a post in your timeline or send a group message to a number of people to let them know about the offer.

5. Shop for Someone Else

Another simple yet effective way to use Amazon gift cards and turn them into cash is by reaching out to friends and family. You can get to know if they’re planning to make a purchase on Amazon and trade your gift cards for cash. Also, you can offer them a 10% discount to create a win-win situation. Needless to say, that’ll be a much safer option than selling to some unknown person on Reddit or Facebook.

6. Buy Google Play Credits

If you often spend money on Google Play store for apps, games, books, audiobooks, movies, and more, you can use your unwanted Amazon gift money to make those purchases. All you have to do is buy a Google Play gift card on Amazon using your Amazon gift card. With that, you’ll be able to buy audiobooks and even rent movies on YouTube which you can’t do with Amazon gift cards. For instance, as there’s no option to pay for Audible with my Amazon gift card, I started using my Google Play Credit to pay for the same books on Google Play Store.

Another example, I switched from paying $3 per month using my Debit card to Google Play Credits, which I bought from an Amazon gift card.

If you are in Apple ecosystem, you can do the same thing by buying an Apple Gift Card.

7. Buy an Online Subscription

Similar to the Google Play credits, you can also buy gift cards for entertainment services like Netflix Hulu, etc., and use them to pay for your subscription fees.

So, next time instead of paying with a credit/debit card, you can start using Amazon gift cards to buy Netflix gift cards. And then you’ll be able to pay for a subscription using those gift cards. Similarly, you can do the same for all other services like Hulu, Spotify, Disney+, and more. Sadly and surprisingly, Amazon Prime Video is an exception here.

8. Buy Grocery for Yourself

If the above methods are too much for you to handle, you can always use your gift card to shop from your favorite websites. While Amazon gift card is not a widely accepted payment method, there’re a few online retailers who accept Amazon gift cards instead of cash.

So next time when you’re shopping online, don’t forget to use your Amazon gift card balance. This way, you’ll get full value for your money and can avoid the hassle of following tedious steps.

Wrap Up: Where Can I Use Amazon Gift Card Besides Amazon

With so many ways to get rid of your unwanted Amazon gift card, you can get pretty much all you want in exchange. Given the trend, investing in Bitcoin might be a good option. Alternatively, shopping for your loved ones is a straightforward solution. If not, you can always save the gift cards for future use as Amazon gift cards never expire.

Also Read: How to Use PayPal on Amazon from Anywhere in the World

Pankil Shah

Pankil is a Civil Engineer by profession who started his journey as a writer at EOTO.tech back in 2016. He joined TechWiser in March 2021 as a freelance writer to cover buying guides, explainers, and tips & tricks for Android, iOS, Windows, and Web.

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