Visa gift cards?

[Benson Gravois]

Can anyone tell me if you can use a visa gift card to buy linden with?

[Gage Wirefly]

I believe the answer is no.

[LittleMe Jewell]

10 minutes ago, Benson Gravois said:

Can anyone tell me if you can use a visa gift card to buy linden with?

You can't use any gift cards directly for SL.  However, some gift cards can be added to PayPal as a payment source -- though the PayPal account still has to be Verified with a Bank Account in order to use it for SL.

[SpiritSparrow Skydancer]

1 hour ago, Benson Gravois said:

Can anyone tell me if you can use a visa gift card to buy linden with?

I think refillable ones that say mastercard or visa can be activated to use online. However not sure that includes SL, as LMJ said, probably just for paypal.

[Benson Gravois]

They claim you can use them for one shopping such as Amazon so why  not SL?

Edited December 4, 2020 by Benson Gravois
Spelling

[LittleMe Jewell]

7 minutes ago, Benson Gravois said:

They claim you can use them for one shopping such as Amazon so why  not SL?

Because LL said so, that's why.

 

[Tari Landar]

Those cards are considered prepaid cards. MOST prepaid cards do not work with sl (blame LL, this falls squarely on their shoulders and always has, even if they now use a different payment processing company). Sometimes prepaid cards do work, but it's not very common. Even when they do work, they will not *always* work. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to it, to be honest, and LL won't give you any information as to why. Residents here most definitely can't give you any more information either, since LL is cryptic about it. 

I'm not simply attempting to bash LL with those statements, just the simple truth, lol. I have used prepaid cards to buy $L in the past, so I am of the camp that has experienced them functioning as one might expect. However, I have also had them fail, so, I fall in that camp too. Like I said, absolutely no rhyme or reason to it.

You are, however, correct that most companies, and most online retailers do accept them without much trouble at all.

If you are intending to purchase one as a gift for someone else, or if you have received one, the only way to actually know if it will work, is to try. It's truly hit or miss though. My recommendation is to not even try, because you may end up finding it was a waste of a purchase (purchasing the card that is, or, rather, putting money on one). 

 

ETA_ If you look up whether or not you can use prepaid cards with sl, you'll find a mixed bag of information, including info directly from LL that both says you can, and says you can't. So....unless you've (or whoever has it) already got the card in hand, I wouldn't waste your money on one hoping it'll work. Odds are better that it won't. I've had the same card both declined and accepted  

Edited December 4, 2020 by Tari Landar

[LittleMe Jewell]

19 minutes ago, Benson Gravois said:

They claim you can use them for one shopping such as Amazon so why  not SL?

LL has to worry about money laundering issues.  It is much harder to track a gift card back to a real person.  Whereas a credit card or PayPal or Skrill account can be tracked to a real person.

The tighter the US laws get about online gambling and game money being taken out to RL, the stricter LL has to be on things like that.

Edited December 4, 2020 by LittleMe Jewell

[bigmoe Whitfield]

25 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

LL has to worry about money laundering issues.  It is much harder to track a gift card back to a real person.  Whereas a credit card or PayPal or Skrill account can be tracked to a real person.

The tighter the US laws get about online gambling and game money being taken out to RL, the stricter LL has to be on things like that.

Thank you, I was going to put this exact same thing up so people saw it,  it's like accepting of bitcoin there is risks there that LL as a legal cash out ability can not risk having on their shoulders, eliminating such avenues even with prepaid cards protects us and them and stops audits.

[Silent Mistwalker]

6 hours ago, Benson Gravois said:

Can anyone tell me if you can use a visa gift card to buy linden with?

They haven't accepted gift cards in well over 10 years. It was nice when they did and maybe someday, Tilia/Linden Research will accept them again. That was my preferred payment method.

[Tari Landar]

56 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

LL has to worry about money laundering issues.  It is much harder to track a gift card back to a real person.  Whereas a credit card or PayPal or Skrill account can be tracked to a real person.

The tighter the US laws get about online gambling and game money being taken out to RL, the stricter LL has to be on things like that.

This reason would make sense, if it were true. 

It would be a more reasonable response/reason if LL didn't accept ANY prepaid cards. Which also removes it as a CYOA (well, cover LL's own behind, really, lol) response if they didn't accept any prepaid cards. Unfortunately, they still accept them, just on a hit or miss basis, there is no rhyme or real reason to it. 

Some merchants choose not to allow people to purchase things like gift cards with a prepaid card, on the same basis...fraud prevention, but that number is decreasing every year,  when it was once an increasingly popular policy, for that reason. 

There really isn't any rhyme or reason behind it, now, though. It just sounds better to some consumers for some companies to say "we can't tie it to a real life identity, so no", even when they don't actually follow that policy completely. That's where the CYOA part comes into play, companies think it's a CYOA policy (or are told it is, I suppose), but it can't be so if they don't actually follow it themselves. It has nothing to do with rl financial regulations, either, if it did, LL and every other company that uses this as their reason would have to follow it to the letter, and they don't.  Even LL's own info pages tell you that some might work, lol. 

I wouldn't know any of this if I wasn't someone who has used prepaid cards and experienced them both working and not working, those that can be tied to my rl identity, and those that cannot. It's actually quite stupid, which is why I recommend not even bothering to try and use them unless you already have it in hand and just want to see if it'll work. I wouldn't recommend buying/putting money on one on the assumption it might work, though. If you have one, just try it, if it works, great, if not, oh well, lol. 

 

[Silent Mistwalker]

The difference is prepaid cards (these days) are rechargeable/refillable whereas gift cards are mostly one time use only.  The OP did specify gift cards.

[Tari Landar]

1 hour ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

The difference is prepaid cards (these days) are rechargeable/refillable whereas gift cards are mostly one time use only.  The OP did specify gift cards.

Visa gift cards fall under both categories. They are both sometimes refillable, and sometimes one use, sometimes it depends specifically on where you get them. They are still considered prepaid cards, though, because the balance is prepaid onto them. 

I've used VISA and Mastercard versions for sl, with hit or miss results. 

[Silent Mistwalker]

46 minutes ago, Tari Landar said:

Visa gift cards fall under both categories. They are both sometimes refillable, and sometimes one use, sometimes it depends specifically on where you get them. They are still considered prepaid cards, though, because the balance is prepaid onto them. 

I've used VISA and Mastercard versions for sl, with hit or miss results. 

In the past I used AmerEX and Visa gift cards for SL because I didn't have a prepaid card. I used those for about 4 years and never had any issues until LL stopped accepting them around 2008. Back then gift cards were not refillable at all.

I didn't say they weren't all considered prepaid. Just that MOST GIFT CARDS are one time use only. They are only prepaid in the sense that you have to pay for them up front.