I sometimes get these variable version of these cards from Coles and Woolies when they have promos for the week without paying any card fees.
Are there any reliable websites which sell these with a slightly small card fee or any worthwhile alternatives?
I have a few bills I'll like to pay online.
How much can one save by paying bills via these cards? Let's say a $300 bill?
Honestly, it usually does not make a lot of sense to purchase one of these prepaid gift cards for the sole purpose to pay a $300 bill, because the fees would probably negate any savings from fees. It would ultimately depend on how you pay a bill and the payment methods accepted and any payment fees that are applicable, but here are two examples to consider:
If I have a $300 Origin Energy bill and used a credit card to pay it online, the payment fee would be 0.56% for Visa (equating to $1.68) and 0.64% for Mastercard/AMEX ($1.92). However, if I purchase an Activ Visa gift card online (with a $4.95 purchase fee) and then use it to pay off the $300 Origin Energy bill, the payment fee should be 0.24% (equating to $0.72). In total, I would have spent $5.67 in fees…
If I have a $300 ATO bill and used a credit card to pay it online at the ATO, the payment fee would be 0.8% for Visa ($2.40), 0.72% for Mastercard ($2.16) and 1.45% for AMEX ($4.35). However, if I purchase a TCN Visa/Mastercard gift card online1 (with a $5.45 purchase fee) and then use it to pay off the $300 ATO bill, the payment fee should be 0%. In total, I would have spent $5.45 in fees…
Of course, that is assuming you strictly view it from a “cost vs savings” perspective. If you also factor in the ability to earn credit card points, that can also influence this situation, especially if you cannot earn credit card points when paying the bill directly (particularly at the ATO), but you can earn points when purchasing the prepaid gift card. There are also the scenario where you cannot pay a bill directly using an AMEX, but you can purchase a prepaid gift card using your AMEX and you can then pay your bill using the prepaid gift card.
Having said all of that, you can see why I only purchase prepaid gift cards to pay a bill when there is a worthwhile sale (e.g. 10x Everyday Rewards points on variable load Vanilla Visa gift cards, 2000 bonus Flybuys points on Coles Mastercard gift cards).
Activ Visa gift cards block transactions at the ATO, which is why I did not use them in this example. ↩
So, for 2000 bonus points or 10x on Vanila visa, which equates to 10% (i think), if I have to pay $300 bill, and lets say I got a variable card of $300 (so I have to pay activations/purchase fees once only), I will be saving around $22-$23 approx? Did I get this right?
@ChipsChicky: I will ignore the 2000 bonus points example, because a fixed $300 denomination nor variable load denomination does not exist for those deals at Coles; the highest denomination usually available during those deals is a fixed $250 denomination, which would mean you would need to do split payments to pay the $300 bill (and split payments are not always possible). I probably should have originally mentioned that in the comment above!
If we take the 10x Everyday Rewards points example, that will see 5% of the gift card’s face value returned to you in the form of Everyday Rewards points, but that is before you factor in the $7.95 purchase fee. If you purchase a Vanilla Visa gift card loaded with $300 loaded onto it, you will get 3,000 Everyday Rewards points (worth $15 in Everyday Rewards Dollars), but you would also need to pay a $7.95 purchase fee.1 That would equate to a “saving” of $7.05.
Honestly, in this situation, I would load $500 onto the gift card, because the purchase fee does not change whether I load $25, $300 or $500 onto the gift card. In this case, the “saving” would go up to $17.05. ↩
@WookieMonster: Thanks, apparently the effort vs savings isn't much. I don't think that I will take this route but at least mystery is clear now :)
@WookieMonster: @WookieMonster I just wanted to say: I love your use of footnotes and anchor links in these comments. I think this is the first time I've seen them.
As always, thanks for being awesome sharing your immense gift cards knowledge with us.
it usually does not make a lot of sense to purchase one of these prepaid gift cards for the sole purpose to pay a $300 bill
I only do it for paying council rates / car rego / DEFT (counts as gov charge for ANZ) where it does not earn points towards credit card and also does not count towards the introductory spending promotion e.g. Spend $3k within 90 days to get 100,000 QFF points.
@CodeXD: if not discounted gift cards, then i hope you're buying $1000 Officeworks Visa Gift Cards for $1009 (0.9% fee) to do so :)
if not discounted gift cards
exclusively discounted gift cards ;)
been a huge fan of giftcards.com.au when they have no purchase fee.
Depending on the company you can also check whether they take PayPal and if paying with PayPal there is no fee. If they do you can pay using this method and not be charged any surcharge.
Have you not heard of Revolut ? Wise ? and other online platforms that give one time disposable cards ?
IMO revolut is best and you can even stack it with some sort of signup bonus split with person referring if you want
I think they're looking to pay bills with gift card so they can earn credit card points where usually bpay won't get any.
if so then OP need to say his needs/intention better
anyway if Bpay is available there's better way IMO to pay bills via it.
No discounted card/cashback for it, but can easily make payment anytime any amount generally under $1500 to stack with any new credit card signup bonus.
Bpay is generally considered not eligible and won't count towards credit card spend for sign up bonus.
@CodeXD: Indirectly BPay is eligible ( pay biller using BPay via a credit line, then pay this 1st credit line with credit card simple)
Directly ofc which is what you think of is not eligible
I just paid my ATO bill also by BPay and will earn rewards point for it using indirect method
pay biller using BPay via a credit line, then pay this 1st credit line with credit card simple
simple?
what line of credit do you pay with credit card?
what are its fees?
and wouldn't such payment be considered a cash advance?
@tonester: Yes simple
No fees unless you delay your payments, can get up to max of 30.days of interest free on it.
Not considered cash advance
@USER DC: no fees including establishment/application/monthly?
how is making repayments not considered cash advance on your credit card?
what line of credit and credit card are you using?
@tonester: Yes dude, just pay balance in full at end of month then no fees,
As far as I know all major buynowlater are not a cash advance and you earn points for it
@CodeXD: No surcharges dude, just pay full balance end of month.
Otherwise $10 per month fee if don't pay full balance
And method is zip pay
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/778636
Still works fully I do each and every time
He wants to pay bills mate, look at his OP he clearly states that. He doesn't need disposable cards from Revolut or Wise to bot sneakers or bot other goods.
I have paid multiple bills will one time disposable cards dude. Be council rates, sa government rego, Vodafone bill payment etc. etc. never had a issue.
That being said revolut can be used multiple times.
And yes OP DIDN'T state anything about one time disposable or online virtual cards
In short, not really.
There are a few reliable websites selling digital Visa/Mastercard prepaid gift cards, but the fees are not what I could call “slightly small”. This is what has come to mind for me:
Giftz (operated by Blackhawk Network) sell Activ Visa gift cards with a flat $4.95 fee, but the maximum denomination is capped at $400.
card.gift (operated by TCN) sell a plethora of digital Visa/Mastercard prepaid gift cards, but the fees scale depending on the denomination you purchase. For example, if you purchase a $500 Mastercard gift card, you will need to pay $10.95 in purchase fees.
True Rewards sell a range of digital Visa prepaid gift cards with a flat $3.95 fee, but the maximum denomination is capped at $200.
giftcards.com.au (operated by Coles Group) sell digital Coles Mastercard gift cards in $50, $100 and $250 denominations with $5, $5 and $7 purchase fees (respectively), but Coles Group occasionally run deals where they waive the purchase fee on the $100 and/or $250 denominations.