PointChaser provides an overview of Simon Mall Visa Gift cards.
I bought my first gift card from them in person about 8 years ago. You can buy them in person with a credit card at Simon Malls locations or you can purchase them online.
In person they cost $2.95 per $500 gift card.
Online there’s a $5.95 shipping fee instead, but when you buy one you get a $2 off code for your next purchase. That means buying (2) costs $9.90, or about 1 cent a point if you’re not earning a category bonus.
That’s $4 more than going to the mall to buy them, but there’s one advantage to buying online which is that you are asked for the gift card recipient’s name, and that name gets printed onto the card.
Having a card with a name pre-printed on it is useful because if you’re loading a card sat a Walmart Moneycenter the clerk may only accept cards with names on them, not generic cards without.
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Just a friendly reminder to remember to verify you are buying the VISA GCs when purchasing online. I made this mistake the first time I ordered.
About how long does it take from ordering online to receiving at your house?
The first time I ordered, rec’d in 5 business days. However, my last order never arrived. After 9 business days I called, they cancelled the card and sent out a new one. Took another 5 business days.
You can also order visa giftcards from giftcardmall with your name printed on them.
Will these count as cash advances on Citi and US Bank?
Not sure it’s worth the extra $4 just to put your name on the card. There are other (cheaper/more creative) ways of getting around that problem…
The Simon Mall in Boston (Copley) only sold Amex about a month ago.
Mark: I just checked Copley today and that is still true.
The Name on the GiftCard for WalMart is NOT the answer to the problem. On Sunday June 22nd, in Boston, my $1000 of Vanilla One Visa Gift Cards did not go thru because of WalMarts software. I called One Vanilla Visa—and they did NOT even see my attempts to load my BlueBird at WalMart.
Their IT people called today, to say the problem is on WalMarts end with a change to their software to not accept the Vanilla One Visas. They also said it will take 4–6 weeks to get a Refund Check. That’s insane!
Anybody have any ideas on what to do with $1000 Vanilla One Visa Giftcards to try to pay my: Rent + Health Insurance + Utilities that is coming up soon???
Kim: There are other gift cards (non-vanilla) that would work on the IT systems at Walmart, but might be rejected by the cashier for not having your name on them. There are plenty of other ways to liquidate vanilla gift cards–read the flyertalk threads.
Tushar: Nope. It shows up as an ordinary purchase. Just make sure you buy the Visa gift card.
@Kim… if money is that tight, you should maybe not play this game.
But where do I choose VISA for GC type? I can’t find the option to do that. Could it be that because I’m in WA, it doesn’t let me to change the type?
Where do you see the type option?
Thanks!
@kim – use evolvemoney.com to pay a bill of up to $1,000
Kim,
I’m of the opinion that ONLY Metabank cards will work on Kate at WM. On the new machines in the lower right corner is a white sticker that says this machine is owned, operated, and serviced by Metabank. They have rewritten the software
(IMHO) to reject OV cards. I’ve been using only VGC (Metabank)from Staples. On getting rid of OVs, nothing new, try Evolve. I had 2 cards, $20 and $25 to experiment with; ended up using Evolve to make an interest payment on my son’s student loan. Not your numbers, but Evolve does accept OVs.
Has anyone used this at WM cashier and/or money center kiosk after the new software update that block vanilla cards? Do you need to assign pin or just use random pin?
Carlos: You need to call and set a PIN.
@Kim – ask at your local grocery store(s) if you can get a money order (or 2) with a debit card. That’s what I did when I got stuck with 4 OVGCs last week. It was a relief to find this outlet (google and ft research), and with this backup, I’ll experiment with other things.
@Russ The Bancorp Bank (TBBK) has run afoul of the FDIC. This is highly likely why their OV/VGC products have been coded out at WM altogether.
Also, I got rid of 2 VGC of another flavor this very afternoon and had no issues. Did have my name on them, but at least in my neck of the woods, I don’t ever get asked for verification at MC or registers.
Russ: US Bank gift cards still work fine at Kate (at least for me they do!).
Sorry…but what do you mean when you say “Kate at WM”?
@Harlan “Kate” is a nickname for the Walmart Money Center Express kiosk, which you can use to load your Bluebird account with some types of GCs.
GCM sells Metabank Visa GC’s with your name on them. You can go through a cash back website and buy personalized AMEX GC’s with your name on them as well. And then you can use those to buy the Visa GC from GCM which you can liquidate through BB. TipsForFreeTrips describes this process in detail for you.
Terrible experience buying Simon VISA GC s on line
Ordered on 5/31 , got lost in mail, 5 phone calls later replacement GC received today 6/25 – FEDEX Signature required !!!
Going to WM tomorrow to load onto my BB Hope for success.?
RossParkMall Pittsburgh , My local one, only sells AMEX!!!
On 4th of July Weekend went to 3 Simon Malls in Boston. NO Visa Gift Cards. ONLY AMEX Gift Cards. Can I use Simon Mall AMEX Gift Cards to load my BlueBird at WalMart??
OR, what is BEST Online place to buy ANY Cards to load BlueBird BUT less expensively than only the $200 Staples Cards?
@Kim, you can load your vanilla gc’s at Family Dollar. Just one a day up to $500. Otherwise, the system will lock up. No, you can’t use AMEX gift cards at WAlmart. You have to have a visa/mc gc with a pin. I’d try your grocery stores to see if they have the variable load gc’s
Travelled from Virginia to Boston, Mass only to find that Simon Malls here sell ONLY Amex GC, no Visa. Of course I am in Boston for an unrelated issue. The Virginia malls seem to get all “funny” whenever you want 2 or more Visa GC at the same time ($500 each)…calls are made to the manager to clear the transaction and they ask you to fill out forms with personal details including your SSN