Can You Use A Virtual Visa Card In Store

Monday May 1, 2017

How to Apply Digital eGift Cards in Stores

Quick tips on how to use egift cards in stores and restaurants plus what you need to know about Visa egift cards.

banner with gift cards

How eGift Cards Work in Stores

I've used mobile souvenir cards in stores multiple times without incident, but earlier this week, I broke my own rules for using egift cards and plant myself unprepared.

When the cashier asked me for payment, I suddenly remembered that I had digital gift cards that I had wanted to use. And so I dug through my bag to find my smartphone, which took longer than it should have. And so I blanked on where I had stored the egift cards. I could not remember if I had moved them to a mobile wallet, stored them in a gift card app, had taken screenshots of the digital codes or had planned to simply pull up the email at the indicate of sale.

Feeling pressured past the line of shoppers stacking upward behind me, I got flustered and paid for my purchase with a debit card instead of the egift cards I had intended to use. Although using egift cards in stores is easy, the process tin can certainly be made EASIER if y'all have egift cards prepare to employ earlier yous actually need them. Beneath are my tips on how to use egift cards in stores.

Prepare to Use eGift Cards

Since electronic payment is a fairly new way to check out at the cash register, taking a few steps to get organized before you lot approach the cashier will help yous avoid the mistakes I fabricated.

using egift card at the store

Below are my tips for using digital souvenir cards in stores without incident.

ane. Store eGift Cards Immediately

Upon receipt, re-create egift card information to one, easy-to-access location. While it is nifty to keep the original notices in whatever course they arrived (email message, text message, etc.), recording the gift lawmaking, Pivot and expiration engagement (if applicative) in a single place makes it easy to find your stash of digital gift cards in a hurry and gives yous a fill-in of pertinent data in example y'all accidentally delete an original detect.

If you are non already using a mobile wallet, then I suggest one of the following:

Mobile Wallet on your Smartphone: I accept both an iPhone and a Samsung telephone. I've stored gift cards in both, but I detect the SamsungPay app easier to use. It feels more like an organization tool. Apple Pay works too. I only fumble more when I utilise that wallet for some reason. Either mode, the easiest identify to shop digital gift cards is on the mobile wallet you already own.

Screenshot I oft have a screenshot of the gift codes (and PINS) that I plan to utilize soon. I beloved apps and wallets for getting organized and updating balances, but I tin can open the photograph library on my phone faster than I can get into an app. I also know that I volition be able to obtain the card information chop-chop if the store's wifi is slow or I have trouble getting a cellular connection on my phone. Having a screenshot is a good backup method too, if nothing else.

eMail Folder If you frequently get digital gift cards via email, then you could put the emails in a folder on your phone to brand it easier to observe the ones you are looking for when you get to the annals. Keep in mind, however, that many egift cards require y'all to claim a code once yous receive it, so the gift card information may non be on the bodily email. You volition likely have to click a button inside of the email to get to the egift carte du jour itself.

Impress a Paper Re-create If you are not comfy showing a digital gift card, then you should be able to print the egift card instead. When y'all print the egift card, make sure to capture the code and Pin to be certain the card will be usable in stores.

2. Proceed all eGift Cards in One Identify

Because I am always testing out dissimilar means to use egift cards in stores, I often have unlike egift cards in unlike places. The defoliation in my wallet is what led to my confusion at the greenbacks register. Pick a method that works for you and stick with information technology. If yous practise non want to use an app, you could put screenshots of each digital card into a folder on your phone'southward habitation screen or print physical copies of each egift carte du jour on your printer at home and put the papers in your existent-life wallet. Whatsoever method you choose, stick with it and utilise information technology consistently.

3. Refresh eGift Card Balances

While many mobile wallets and gift card apps have automatic remainder update features (which I Beloved), not all merchant cards are connected and sometimes you lot have to refresh a menu manually in order to see if it has been used. When souvenir cards are completely used, remove them from your wallet. It is easier to stay organized if you are simply tracking gift cards with usable dollars left on them.

4. Tell Cashier You lot are Paying with an eGift Carte

Before getting into line, pull upwardly the digital gift carte du jour y'all program to utilize. Open your email, open the app, open your mobile wallet or dig through your handbag to find the paper copy. If you await until payment is due, yous may notice yourself as flustered as I had been. Instead, plan ahead and tell the cashier that you will be paying with an egift card. That fashion, he or she can prep the cash annals if necessary.

You lot'll be happy to know that I accept since corralled all of my mobile souvenir cards into one smartphone app, updated the balances and deleted the cards I can no longer use. The adjacent fourth dimension I demand to make a purchase at a store with a digital gift card, I'll take my telephone handy and will become logged into my gift menu app before I approach the annals to make certain everything is in social club. Though egift cards tin be used at stores, getting organized alee of time and having your phone gear up before the cashier asks for payment will ensure the best outcome and smoothest transaction possible.

What nearly Restaurants and Visa eGift Cards?

Visa egift cards are simply usable online, over the phone, by postal service-order or any identify that a physical card is not required. Read this blog mail service on how to utilize Visa egift cards online..

Restaurant egift cards are usable in stores, but yous will want to read this web log mail service on how to use egift cards at restaurants. The procedure is the same, but since you volition not probable exist standing next to the cash annals, there are a few tricks to know alee of time.

What other questions exercise you have near egift cards? Have you used an egift bill of fare at the shop? If so, add a annotation in the comments beneath or go out a bulletin for @GCGirlfriend on Twitter.

Happy Souvenir Carding!

~Shelley Hunter, Gift Card Girlfriend