Prepaid Visa/Mastercard Info

[trademanny]

Hey folks...

Been reading around here and have seen quite a few threads with people wanting to order seeds and wanting to have the anonymity of cash with the payment speed of a credit card.. (myself included.) I've also noticed that a lot of folks end up buying a card and trying to use it, only to have it declined for their seed purchase (but it works fine at the local McDonald's, etc..)

In order to use a prepaid card, you need to follow the following guidelines:

• It MUST be a 'Gift Card' and not a 'Green Dot' Visa. The Green Dot visas require you to register your real name, address and SSN in order to track things and make sure you're not laundering money (as they are reloadable.) You might as well use your own credit card if you get a Green Dot.
• Once you verify that you are indeed about to purchase a 'Gift Card', look all over the outside packaging and make sure there is no notation stating 'Valid for purchases in the U.S. only' or 'Not valid outside the U.S.'. Seed banks are located outside the US and thus your card needs to work there.
• Before you place your order, you must register an address to your gift card. This is to make sure your order passes the AVS (Address verification) when the seedbank processes your payment in order to prevent fraud. This is simple, you just register your ship-to address, and many AVS systems only require you to register your zip-code anyways.

Ok trademanny, now where the hell do I get one of these friggin cards? Well glad you asked! Our friends at Visa have a website available where you can find your nearest retailer that sells them. Check it out here. Any retailer listed should also carry the Mastercard versions as well.

Hopefully this helps those of you that are looking to protect your identity with your seed purchases.

Stay safe!

tm.

 

[hippie hill]

this will also cost you a extra $5 cuz they have a actavation fee at the regester of the store and as far as iv seen the cards only come in $10,$15,$25,$50,$100 or atleast thats all my local store carries so if your order is over $100 you need 2 cards and in the lil exrta info box u just tell them to put so much $ on card #1 and the rest on card #2

i havnt used them to buy seed but iv used them for other things and they worked fine

 

[trademanny]

Yea, well, anonymity has a price, too...

 

[indicrazy]

The reloadable only1 travel visa debit cards at safeway work fine. I had my personal credit card hijacked once, after trying a different seed vendor than seedboutique, so I don't do online transactions anymore without using one of these cards, other than places like amazon.

I also don't experiment with any other seed vendors anymore, that son of a bitch... It's all I ever used that particular card for too, so it was just sooooo obvious what he did. But, anyways.... Watch who you do business with as well, there are blatant crooks out there. I've always had good luck with seedboutique, back to the early seeds direct days, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Just load the card for your purchase amount + $15-20 for unforseen fees and whatnot that might pop up with currency conversions and stuff like that, then put whatever is left into your gas tank when it's done. Then when johnny bank-card-fraud boy hijacks it, he is more than welcome to the pittance left over in the already drained account.

 

[confedrate69]

some one needs to merge these "gift card threads" theres 2 on this page alone

 

[trademanny]

The reloadable only1 travel visa debit cards at safeway work fine. I had my personal credit card hijacked once, after trying a different seed vendor than seedboutique, so I don't do online transactions anymore without using one of these cards, other than places like amazon.

This is good to protect your card, but it does nothing for your identity. If you're simply worried about fraud, however, this is a good way.

some one needs to merge these "gift card threads" theres 2 on this page alone

The threads are different. The other thread is a guy asking for information (and was one of the reasons I put this together to clear up any questions for noobs..)

 

[NorCalFor20]

i had one of these card to get some seeds, when i went to register the card they asked for social security adderess telephone number name everything. I took it back to wal mart and they told me they would not accept it back b/c its between me and the company, so i had to wait 3 weeks on them to send me a check in the mail because i didn't agree to their terms and uses

 

[trademanny]

i had one of these card to get some seeds, when i went to register the card they asked for social security adderess telephone number name everything. I took it back to wal mart and they told me they would not accept it back b/c its between me and the company, so i had to wait 3 weeks on them to send me a check in the mail because i didn't agree to their terms and uses

You must have purchased a reloadable card. (ie, you can add money to it when you use it up). These cards require you to give your SSN and stuff to activate them as they want to track it and make sure you're not laundering money with it.

You need to get a 'Gift Card' they come in denominations of 10, 25, 50, 100, etc...

 

[cre8iv fuel]

New Member

cre8iv fuel's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 3
cre8iv fuel is on a distinguished road

This was very helpful. I just want to add a few things to save people the trouble I went through (took me three tries to get one to work)

Don't bother with Vanilla Visa. This is the closest usable thing Walgreen's had, and it was not usable. Don't remember if it had a "valid in continental US" on tha packagin, as I threw it away, but if I would have checked the Credit Card site FAQ first, I would have seen the answer. Nothing at Walgreen's was usable, at least here in the PNW. YMMV with location, just check the site FAQ on the back of any card you are considering.

Safeway carries visa cards that do not specify on the outside packaging that they are not usable overseas, nor is there a phone number to check on the outside of the packaging, but most are from www.giftcardmall.com. There are an assortment of cards from this site, and before I bought one I wanted to be sure I could use it. Before purchasing I went to the site called the customer service number on the site, and said "I got the card as a gift, no I don't have it or the card number with me, but want to know if I can order internationally." They said as far as they know the cards are usable overseas, but I may need to register the card, and that if the card number doesn't begin with 44166 you may need to register it. I asked what information would need to be regitered and it seemed relatively harmless, but they thought it may need to match your shipping address. I went and got one, and sure enough, the first numbers were 44166. I am under the impression that all the Visa Gift cards at the store began with 44166. I went ahead and tried it without registering at all, and it worked. So if you want a no-registration prepaid credit card, this is a sure-shot route.

 

[Danks2005]

I called visa about this prior to purchasing, because all i could find said only for use in the continental us. The customer service rep told me that it doesn't matter, they are trying to keep funds in us, but it will be accepted anywhere visa is accepted. So I purchased a $500 gift card, to be declined by Seedboutique. So, in case anyone else calls visa, don't listen to them, listen to the OP. Now I just plan on overnighting a free money order, if i gotta wait on a gift card to ship to me (not available locally, that i could find), I may as well ship my payment.

 

[Molson]

Visa's "all access" gift card is what you want. They come in $25, 50, and 100 dollar amounts. Online registration is required. (most online retailers won't accept visa gift cards if they have not been registered!). But these, 100% guaranteed, work with the boutique and other seed banks over seas.

They're a little harder to find than other Visa or Mastercard gift cards, but like I said... they work.

 

[headiez247]

This card that works and can be totally anonymous- does it only come in a max of like $100? I don't need to order seeds but wanted a card that I could throw a few grand on and not have it be trackable. I guess that isn't possible?

 

[cre8iv fuel]

This card that works and can be totally anonymous- does it only come in a max of like $100? I don't need to order seeds but wanted a card that I could throw a few grand on and not have it be trackable. I guess that isn't possible?

Good Question, forgot to mention that part. No, the international, no-registration required one I mentioned goes up to $200.

 

[Gangabiss]

www.3vcash.com

All you need is a name and address for them to send your card to, then you buy visa vouchers with the card at any payzone outlet.
They get a thumbs up from me.

 

[krunchbubble]

• It MUST be a 'Gift Card' and not a 'Green Dot' Visa. The Green Dot visas require you to register your real name, address and SSN in order to track things and make sure you're not laundering money (as they are reloadable.) You might as well use your own credit card if you get a Green Dot.tm.

• 
  
  
  
  
  are you sure about this? have had my green dot card for 8 years now. never gave my real name or ss number.....