You can certainly try to use the remaining balance of your card in store, but if your experience has been like mine it’s difficult getting cashiers to process coupons, even more so to process a Visa gift card with $1.41 left on it. The cashier has to enter the exact amount on the card or it will be declined (unlike a store credit card that, when swiped, will just take off whatever balance is left.) I’ve used up several cards this way, if I can find a cashier that is friendly and willing to do so, but it’s not something that happens often.
My friend Sheri at Kidsumers uses her balances to pay her bills online. Even adding a few dollars here and there can help chop away at the monthly cable bill for example. I thought her idea was genius until I tried it for myself with Sasktel Mobility, my local cell service provider. I signed up for their e-bill service and entered in a payment for $1.41, the amount left on one of those Visa gift cards at the bottom of my purse. I discovered quickly that this method won’t work for me – SaskTel Mobility asks that payments be at least $5.00! So much for that idea…
However, I found a solution that worked for me and I’m excited to share it with you!
Use your remaining Visa or MC Gift Card balances to buy Amazon.ca gift certificates for yourself!
Step 1:
Call the number on the back of your card to determine the remaining amount and write this amount on the card with a Sharpie marker.
Step 2:
Sign into your Amazon.ca account, then click Your Account (top right hand corner) then Redeem a Gift Card.
Step 3:
On the left hand side under More Gift Certificate Links, click Purchase a Gift Card.
Step 4:
Choose E Mail as your delivery method, then click Buy Now.
Step 5:
Under Amount select Set My Own and then enter the exact amount of the gift card you have. Fill in your name and email info.
Step 6:
You will then need to sign into your account again (annoying…but worth it). On the next page, fill in your Visa Gift Card information, making sure to enter in Valued Customer or For You (whatever the name is on the card). Click Continue and confirm your order.
Step 7:
Wait for the email to arrive with the gift certificate code you’ve just purchased. Click the link in the email to apply the code to your Amazon.ca account.
Step 8:
Pat yourself on the back for a job well done and the full amount of your gift card finally used up!
I make no apologies for being frugal. I wouldn’t throw away $1.41 at the bottom of my purse but every year, industry articles are written sharing the astounding amount of unused gift card amounts and it shocks me! Use up those gift cards! Maybe you can pay small amounts on your bills online like my friend Sheri, or maybe this Amazon.ca solution will work well for you! If not, what have you done to use up your gift cards? Have you tossed one away with a low amount because it was too hard to spend? It’s OK, I won’t get too anxious over it as long as you tell me it will never happen again!
OH!!! It’s like you were reading my mind! Both of these are fabulous ideas. Thanks for sharing.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I havent thought of this!! this is just great!!
Great ideas. I have waited for ages at a cashier trying to use little balances, these are super.
This is a great idea! I never would have thought of it.
I do this all the time!..Even if it is only less than a dollar,I have bought amazon codes out of it,to add to my amazon account 🙂 ..Every little bit counts!
I love the Amazon idea. I saved over $100 on a camera lens from there, so this can be a great way to find other savings too.
Very smart idea! Thank you!
Nice, I never thought of that, I always make sure whatever I spend is more than the gift card total, thug bringing it to zero on first use. This would work like a charm!
Thank you for this! I don’t want to sound ungrateful but when I’ve received a Visa or MC gift card as a gift in the past I have cringed. Simply because as you say above, trying to use up a balance is very frustrating!
I have $27.36 left on one right now and I will finally be able to use it!
I do the same thing with odd balances on Visa gift cards. It’s a great way to use up every last penny and apply it to my Amazon account.
I know what you mean by cashiers not knowing what to do with a small balance or wont do transactions less than $5. Such a pain! The amazon.com idea is brilliant! When we have less than $5.00 on it we just use the remainder for itunes and can usually get a few apps or song downloads for the rest of the balance but that still leaves less than a dollar in most cases which ends up going to waste. Thanks for the tips!
I had no problems with small balances when you know the amount left. Walmart seems to take anything. I am sure most of us shop there
Great idea, Tenille! I am totally going to try this out. Thanks!
Great ideas!
Great idea! Bookmarking this for later so I can actually do this when home from the cottage.
Thank you so much for sharing! I can’t wait to try this!
Genius!! Thanks for the tip I will definately be doing this!!
What a great idea. Thanks for sharing
Love this tip, as I have probably 10 cards with anything from $0.36 – $8.00 on them that I had just kind of forgotten about. I’ll be digging them out tonight.
Did you do it, Beth? Feel like you beat the man? 😛
Thanks for sharing!! Great tip and I just used 3.34 on my visa GC towards my cable bill online! Thanks so much!!!
Wow,thanks so much….I often wondered how to spend a $1 or 2 left remaining
Visa /Master Card gift cards are the worst type of gift cards I’ve ever seen – total pain. I’m glad I never actually received one as a gift! Your tips make it a little bit easier to not get frustrated about them 🙂 Thank you!
OMG this is amazing! Thanks so much! I run into this problem a lot and get super annoyed! Thanks!
What a great idea! Never dawned on me that you could purchase these in odd amounts.
Solution! No more embarrassment at the till saying “uhhh….sorry can I put $1.45 on my Visa?
Just spent 20 minutes doing this and it was well worth it! Thanks for the great post!
Awesome, great to hear Merry! Feels good huh?
Brilliant!! Thanks for sharing. Going to pass this one on to my kids. 🙂
This is so smart! Thank you for sharing!
Going to look for my unused Visa gift cards with those tiny balances now…
Thanks I was wondering if something like this existed. What would be better is if we could transfer it to our PayPal account I don’t exactly want to be forced to shop on Amazon. Honestly don’t see why this isnt possible if one was to transfer their remaining funds to their PayPal account.
For amounts over $5 (I think that is right) you can transfer onto a Starbucks card.
Nice! I’ll have to check that out, though I don’t have a Starbucks near me (an hour away, which is probably a good thing!)
Thanks for posting this. I would have rather been able to do it at amazon.com (I live in Canada). But I am still happy. Those Visa giftcards are just the dumbest things ever.
i worked for starbucks for a long time and i can’t count the number of times people would just throw gift cards with twenty-five to ninety five cents left on them into our tip jar just because the idea of using it again was too much of a hassle. it was always a process of one of us using them to buy our lunch and then dropping the cash in the tip jar so it could be split up but we always did it because every cent counts
I head to Starbucks (okay, not the most frugal choice for coffee) and I ask to add the amount to my Starbucks card. I would think that you should be able to do that with other stores that have cards you can add balances to as well. 🙂
I write the balance of the card on the back of the card or on a sticky on the back of the card.
I use up the small balance anywhere…they have to accept it.
If I’m at a grocery store and the give me the total, I ask them to use $1.41 off of this card and I’ll pay the balance in cash or credit card. I’ve never had a cashier reject it BUT you have to know the balance which you can also get online.
Fantastic ideas! A few weeks ago I dug my Visa gift cards out of my daughter’s toy box just to double check the balances. These particular cards had been purchased long ago (before the terms had changed), and I never knew what to do with the $3/$4 left on them. After some time, $2.50 had been deducted each month until all the remaining money was gone. In total I lost over $20 in random dollar amounts. Thankfully they don’t charge those silly fees any longer. I wish I had known then what to do with those amounts, but I’m extremely grateful now that I found your tip.
To avoid small balances I use prepaid cards to pay utility bills or add funds to my public transportation card. Even if the amount needed is less than the card value, I use it all and have a credit. Less hassle.
That is FANTASTIC!! I have 2 VISA “Gift Cards” and no what is left on it..exactley. Thanks for the Amazon stuff!! 🙂
LOVE this! I just finished doing this! Thanks Tenille!
Great tip. Thanks!!
Great idea – it’s a real pain in the butt that you need to know the exact amount in order to use in store!
Thanks so much for this info! I have used up small balances in-store, but I tried the Amazon idea just now and I liked that much better. Now I have 79 more cents in my account! LOL I’ll take it!
These are great ways to use up those annoying little amounts left over on Visa Gift Cards. The last card that I a leftover balance on, I applied to my gold Starbucks card…what can I say…I drink a lot of coffee.
I have bookmarked this Such a Great idea. We have all been stuck with unusable balances. Thanks so much for sharing this.
Amazing idea!!
I usually just ask to use up the rest of my balance on my card and pay the rest another way.
Oooohhhh this is neat! I did not know about this … I do have a few cards laying around that I can now use at Amazon! thanks!
What a great idea to use the balance at Amazon for a gift for myself. Never though of that one. Thanks.
great idea! thanks for sharing!
I actually have a substantial size stack of MC & Visa gift cards that all have anywhere from .90 cents to 2.37 on them . This is a fabulous idea . One rainy day very soon I am going to tackle this . Great Idea Thank You
I have about 40 of them, going to try this out, thanks!
FINALLY a solution for this annoying part of gift cards. Less hassle works for me too. thanks !
Woo, that’s a great idea. I have a bunch of VISA gift cards with these little annoying balances and I just gave up using them. I hope they haven’t expired or been dinged with those pesky fees that kick in after its past a certain date.
Wonderful idea, thank you for posting this.
Great ideas! I have a few with under a $1 balance that I was just going to let expire. Thanks for sharing.
Great tip!! Thanks for sharing. I also found that I couldn’t apply small bits of credit card balances to my bills either and was wondering how to use them up. I love Amazon so this is a win-win!
Thank you so much for this post! I wish I had googled for an answer sooner! Amazing advice!
Thank you!
i am going to do this right now!!
Recently when I was in North Carolina, USA it was a great opportunity to use up these small balances. The local grocery stores allow you to swipe your card and the machine figured out the remaining card balance and deducted it. The challenging part I found in Canada was needing to know the exact amount remaining, but no longer having the PIN or credentials to check online/by phone. This solved the issue for me. Luckily the cashier, with no line, was more than happy to have me swipe FOUR different cards to clear them all. It was a literal weight of my shoulders. Hated the thought of throwing away money, and it ended by being just shy of $30! That’s a lot of money.
Canada really should have this feature. Get the computers to figure out the balance remaining automatically!
Wouldn’t that be amazing? I had to guess an amount on boxing day because what I had written on my card (in sharpie!) wasn’t right. Argh!
I kept some Visa gift cards with a few dollars and cents here and there, but couldn’t throw them away; it adds up! Your Amazon idea is awesome, I never thought of it. Now I can finally do something with those minuscule balances! 🙂
did you know with the pre paid mastercards or visa’s load the amount left into your paypal account this way you either have the funds their or transfer back to your back account, I do this sometimes when I win a pre paid card, cash is nicer to have on hand
WOW!! Thank you for this! Will try it out!
Many times when at the cash register and only having a few dollars left on my card I have asked about donating the remainder to charity. I think this would be an excellent use of those funds, especially since so much if it goes to waste. Unfortunately the card companies make a huge amount of money with the unused dollars on their cards so they probably wouldn’t want to make donating an easy option.
This is brilliant. One note, while I went to buy this gift card, Amazon gave me the option to “reload your Amazon Balance.” By doing this, the funds went strait to my account.
I’ve purchased small gift cards for years at Amazon … using small credit or debit balances (visa/mastercard).. but today I went in to buy $4 giftcard … .a little message appeared….minimum $5 loved it while it lasted