How to use five below gift card online

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Trying to use a Mastercard, Visa or Amex Gift Card on Amazon can cause several headaches. First, simply registering the card as a payment method can be tricky. Amazon requires a name and billing address to register a credit card as a means of payment. Since many gift cards aren’t personalized to you, there is no name or zip code to enter, and Amazon won’t be able to validate the card.

Even if you get through that first hurdle, Mastercard, Visa or Amex gift cards aren’t well-suited to online purchasing. Since Amazon doesn’t allow you to split a purchase among multiple cards, if your gift card is worth $50 and your order is $70, there’s no way to make up the difference, and your transaction will simply be declined. On the flip side, if your order is $47, you’ll be left with a $3 balance on your gift card, which isn’t useful for anything.

However, there are a couple of tricks that will make using a gift card on Amazon a breeze. In fact, there’s probably no better place to use one of these cards than Amazon. Here’s what you need to know.

1. Register your Mastercard, Visa or Amex gift card with the issuing bank

If your card doesn’t already have your name and zip code associated with it, you’ll need to do that through the financial institution that issued the card. Sometimes there will be a registration URL on the back of the card. If not, look for the name of the institution on the card and then Google “[institution name] gift card registration”. That should get you to the right site. If it's an Amex gift card, use this link. Once there, you’ll be asked to verify the card info, and then you’ll have the option of registering the card with your name and address. This is also a good time to confirm the available balance.

2. Add your gift card as a payment method on Amazon

Next, go to Amazon.com and click on the Account & Lists dropdown to go to Your Account.

Click on the Payment options box to add your gift card as a new payment source. If the box doesn’t appear, but you'll find “Payment options” under the Ordering and shopping preferences list below it.

3. Swap your Mastercard, Visa or Amex gift card for an Amazon gift card

At this point, you could start using your Mastercard, Visa or for purchases on Amazon. The problem is, though, that Amazon doesn’t let you divide purchases among multiple cards. So if you have a $30 gift card, you can’t make purchases for more than $30. And if you make a purchase for less, you’ll be stuck with a small remaining balance that is even more difficult to use.

The trick to get around this is to use your Mastercard, Visa or Amex gift card to buy an Amazon gift card. With Amazon gift cards, the full amount can be credited to your purchase, and any additional funds required can be paid with your regular credit card.

Click on the Gift cards box in Your Account then click the Reload Your Balance Button.

On the next screen, enter in the balance on your Mastercard or Visa gift card (if you don’t know it, you can get the remaining balance from the issuing institution (see Step #1 above) and select the gift card you added in Step #2 as the Payment method.

Assuming you properly registered your card and entered in the correct balance amount, the transaction should go through and you will see the full amount reflected in your Amazon Gift Card Balance. Now, you're all set, and when you make a purchase, your gift card balance will be applied automatically until it’s gone. Try it for yourself.

Updated on 12/29/2021

[Image credit: Josh Kirschner/Techlicious, American Express, Mastercard, Visa]

Josh Kirschner is the co-founder of Techlicious and has been covering consumer tech for more than a decade. Before founding Techlicious, he was the Chief Marketing Officer for Inform Technologies, a start-up provider of semantic technology to media companies. Prior to Inform, Josh was a SVP and Managing Director in the financial services industry. Josh started his first company while still in college, a consumer electronics retailer focused on students.

I’ll be the first to say that manufactured spending is not a regular part of my points-generating strategy. Not only do I find it extremely time-consuming, I also despise stepping foot in any Walmart.

I admire people who have mastered the art of manufactured spending and have dedicated the time, patience, and organization it truly requires. With my life being pulled in so many different directions, it’s just not for me.

With that being said, I do live within a mile of a Staples that almost never has more than two cars in the parking lot at any given time, so I’m easily tempted, and it’s hard to pass up on “free” and “easy points sometimes.

Like many, I took part in using my Chase Ink Business Cash card (Learn More) to buy some $200 MasterCard gift cards during the fee-free promotion that was going on at Staples at the end of April. Earning 5 points per dollar, and 19 cards later, I spent $3,800 on gift cards to generate 19,000 “free” Ultimate Rewards points. Not bad, right?

Though MS is not a regular part of my daily life, I’m not a novice to the various ways one can quickly liquidate the cards – I just didn’t want to really dedicate the time to doing so in a timely manner. I decided to bypass all of the hassle, and just use the cards one by one on regular expenses. Mistake?

I was managing the cards well and was thrilled that as of last night, I only had 6 left to worry about. When I saw that Walmart.com was offering $100 Uber e-gift cards for just $80 each, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to spend one of those bad boys since I use Uber on a fairly regular basis.

I quickly ripped the card from its packaging and went to the dedicated website to “register” my card so that I could use it to make an online purchase.

To my horror, I saw I only had an available balance of $19.92 on a brand new gift card!

Looking at the transaction history, I saw about 10 transactions that were definitely not mine. Whoever it was though definitely had me craving some In N Out.

I immediately called the number on the back of my card and explained that I had the card in my possession, fresh out of the packaging, and saw that it was hacked only because I went to register it online.

The agent transferred me to a supervisor that went and disputed the charges, but I still have to send additional information such as my name, address, phone number, signature, and a written statement stating that none of those charges are mine via fax.

After that, I have to send another fax asking to replace my card. To add salt to the wound, I later found out that it would be subject to a $5.95 card replacement fee.

By the way, I missed out on the $80 Uber gift card deal too.

Bottom Line

Loss of time and patience aside, there are a lot of risks to consider before jumping on the MS bandwagon.

Gift card fraud is more common that you think and it truly is a pain in the butt to deal with if it even happens to you.

In my case, since they were all in-person transactions, I think the fraudsters took the prepaid card from the rack and skimmed (copied the magnetic swipe data) from one card to another card and then waited for my skimmed card to be activated.

Once it was activated, they had an exact copy of the activated card and used it at their leisure.

Has this ever happened to you before? Feel free to share your thoughts and stories in the comments.

Chase Sapphire Preferred HIGHEST OFFER EVER! Earn 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards (worth $1,250 towards travel or you can transfer points 1:1 to leading hotel and airline partners) after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months. Learn more about and compare this card here.

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