UPDATE 6/20/14: Do not use OVGCs or VGCs at Walmart. Use other gift cards from other banks.
State of the Union: Bluebird, Serve, and Go Bank Reloads at Walmart with Gift Cards as of May 30, 2014
First off, I want to thank all of you who commenting on my post from this morning ((Rumor) Walmart Updates Point of Sale (POS) Software, Making Bluebird/Serve/Go Bank Reloads Difficult) and shared their results, both successes and failures. Based on your feedback, I can generalize what works and what doesn’t. I have tried to make this as clear as possible, so here goes…
If you have $200 gift cards from Staples, Staples.com, Office Depot, or Office Max, your gift card reloads should work just as they always have. You can load these gift cards at the Money Center ATMs/Kiosks, at the Money Center Department, or by going to a regular checkout lane.
These gift cards are issued by Gift Card Mall, which uses Metabank, therefore, any Visa or MasterCard gift card issued by Metabank should work as of today (May 30).
The $500 Visa Gift Card (below right) is available at several grocery and convenience stores. Most people reported no problem loading them to their Bluebird, Serve, or Go Bank cards, so they seem to work the same as always. The gift cards come from My Gift Card Site, which uses US Bank, therefore, any Visa or MasterCard gift card issued by US Bank should work as of today (May 30). You can load these gift cards at the Money Center ATMs/Kiosks, at the Money Center Department, or by going to a regular checkout lane.
One Vanilla Gift Cards (OVGCs, above left) seem to be the cause of a lot of frustration at Walmart. Before today, these were the easiest gift cards to use to load to Bluebird, Serve, or Go Bank. All you had to do was purchase them (at CVS or other retailers), drive over to Walmart, swipe the card, enter any 4 digit PIN, and be on your way. It was so easy that I was able to complete the entire process in under 10 minutes (read How Fast can you Manufacture Spend? Under 10 Minutes with CVS and Walmart).
As of today (May 30), Walmart has made our lives a little bit more complicated by requiring a few extra steps to load these gift cards to our Bluebird, Serve, or Go Bank cards. Some people have reported that a signature box pops up after swiping the card, while others get an error message stating that credit cards cannot be used. In order to get around that, you will have to be fast. Swipe the card and look for a small yellow dialog box that pops up on the credit card reader. Press the yellow “Change Payment Method” button, then select “Debit/ATM”, choose “No Cash Back,” then enter your 4 digit PIN. That should work.
If you do not see the “Change Payment Method” button, press the red or yellow buttons below the credit card reader right after swiping the gift card. That should bring up other payment methods including the “Debit/ATM” option. Then follow the above instructions.
For those lucky few with access to working Money Center ATMs/Kiosks, you shouldn’t have any problems loading gift cards to your Bluebird, Serve, or Go Bank cards. It seems that the latest Point of Sale (POS) software update has not effected gift card loading. Therefore, continue using the Money Center ATM/Kiosk as you always have.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great weekend everyone!
@Grant
Can you comment and edit your post on whether Vanilla VGCs are being affected. I only see pictures of OVs as being the problem. However I believe Vanilla VGCs are also in the same boat as OVs. Thanks.
@Eric
Data point: Vanilla VGC $500 (Silver & Black Package sold @ SeeVeeEss which allows any PIN at first use), Walmart Money Center, Older Black/Green Screen, would NOT load…this happened 2 weeks ago and I’m 20 miles away from Grant
But I drove to a different Walmart a couple days later & it loaded no problem – no need for any Change Payment trickery…perhaps a slow-chain update? Won’t know til I load more next week.
The Black/Silver and Gold/White Van VGCs were my go-to cards…sounds like we must tread extra carefully.
Software Updates and Policy Changes are words I dread hearing out of Walmart…hopefully this won’t be a hard code and employees won’t enforce the no GC rule.
On an up note, MetaBank $200 and US Bank $500 worked fine for today at WM Orange County (fist pump).
Great follow up post! Big ups Grant
RV3
Thank you for the update RV3. I haven’t used any Vanilla VGCs in many months so I didn’t have any old gift cards in my drawer. Sounds like it is hit or miss on whether it will work easily or require a few extra steps to unload.
I was unable to reload even I changed the payment method to debit card with 4-digit pin. No luck yesterday of reloading my One Venilla.
Good update Grant, thanks. I had issues at WM with $500 OVGCs on Thursday (signature line popped up & defaulted to credit), but I’m headed back again today to try again. I’ll update results on this post later today.
Thanks Joe. The workaround should work. Good luck today!
It seems US Bank $500 a little better than OV? Where can I get the US Bank $500?
I think most grocery stores and other convenient stores sell them. Just look on the back of the packaging for the name of the bank used.
Thanks. Wow you got up very early!!!
I tried a MC debit gift card last week and the screen went from swipe card to error. Never giving me the option of changing the method. :-( The cashier saw the gift box on the card and called me out on it. I told her it was a debit, or maybe I showed her (won’t make that mistake again) and that I had a PIN. Based on your last post, I get the idea that she could have pushed a button to make it work but didn’t. Is that possible?
Try to load the gift card again. You shouldn’t have any problems now, but if you do, try the workaround tips.
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My staples gift card says JPM Chase on it. I have not tried it yet.
Sometimes the Staples Easy Rebate Visa gift cards don’t work very well, but give it a try and let me know how it works.
Trying the USBank Visa from S-Mall later today. Will report back.
Good luck Tim, US Bank gift cards should work. Let me know how it goes.
No problem loading BB with USBank Visa from S-Malls at the kiosk.
Excellent, thanks for the update Tim.
Excellent job Grant – well done!
I’ve never used the Metabank issued VGCs. Do they require online activation as the picture above suggests? Or can I just buy them and swipe immediately?
If you buy them in-store (Staples), they are already activated. If you buy them online (staples.com), you need to activate them online when they get delivered.
I noticed on your previous post you did 5x$200 load on GoBank. Just a word of caution: GoBank pays the loading fees and it’s been reported that passing on lots of fees to GoBank with low denomination cards can flag an account. I’ve read several reports of shutdowns after lots of $100 or $200 loads.
I believe it’s the same loading fee GB pays, so doing 2X$500 loads costs GB a lot less than 5x$200 loads. I do all my $200 loads with Serve/BB since they don’t seem to care and only $500 loads with GB since they do seem to care.
Interesting information Roger, I wasn’t aware of that. I don’t use my Go Bank card much (use my other Bluebird/Serve cards first), but I will keep that in mind going forward. I’m just waiting for Go Bank to get bought out by Bluebird or Serve.
The One Vanilla would not work for me at the kiosk, it just hangs after entering the pin. Was able to use the workaround at the money center.
Good to know, I haven’t heard many problems using the Kiosk. Glad to know the Money Center still worked.
What is the difference between kiosk and money center?
Kiosk is a machine, while the Money Center is sometimes located with the customer service or returns department are located.
So if certain gcs arent working any longer do you think that was accidental or intentional fixed? If it was intentional do you think its a good idea to continue talking about which cards work? Wouldnt that just move everyone to those cards and force that issuer to do the same until no cards work?
Hmm that question is too deep for me to answer. It’s just a big cat and mouse game…
There’s no mouse left if all the cards are eliminated from competition. Not sure the constant pointing and pictures to the next one is the best idea for survival.
Seems to be another person playing the numbers game..it’s all about clicks, unique visitors, etc. I wish these sites would not do this…Oh, I know, other people have posted it, BUT maybe the wrong person sees this info on this site….Sorry, but this is not good work…
I’m sorry you feel this way John. I try to use discretion on what I say and how I say it, but I can’t please everyone.
Great work Grant! Went to a Walmart today and their kiosk was down and the cashier said they stopped loading cards at the counter. Went to another one where the kiosk was down bit was able to load 8 Visa cards from Staples through the cashier. But I think that may come to an end soon.
We will see. Don’t stock up on gift cards that can’t be liquidated easily.
Today I was informed by an asst manager in San Diego that reloads must be done in the Money Center. She said this has been in effect since “last month.” I asked the Money Center lady about this and she claimed people would load 1k there and then 1k at checkout on the same card! I’m assuming these people actually had 2 cards. She was very friendly, explained the change payment screen, and ran it as one split transaction :)
I hope this policy does not spread!
I agree, probably 2 different cards. There is no way to load more than $1,000 per day per card.
Update. Another store had a similar checkout restriction: loads must be under $500! Otherwise, go to money center. Pressing the yellow key got me nowhere (4 tries!) but using the red one worked fine for OV cards. This was a BW Ingenico terminal. If you have to try again, it’s a good idea to void and start from the “Confirm amount” screen rather than the swipe screen.
Thanks for the update Eddy.
Hi Grant,
I just went to Walmart and loaded OV no problem. Then I went back to different CVS bought another $500 OV, loaded it again no problem, I use different SW credit card to make I do not call from Chase Security department since last time I bought at two different CVS and as soon I got home there was a message from Chase.
I never bought 2 OV or the One Vanilla (the white one before CVS does not allow to use credit card). Just feel uneasy to buy 2 since even buying one sometime the cashier stared at me when I said $500.
Will buy more tomorrow to get 110K points for companion pass.
Thank you for sharing. I tend to buy 99% of my OVGCs at the same CVS since they know me by name and don’t ask for ID anymore. It’s a nice feeling not to be treated like a criminal.
There are some Walmart are so nice that even the clerk help you how to load
Really? That’s very nice if them.
Morning i loaded $500 VISA OV prepaid card onto GoBank using WM Kiosk. no issue what so ever. I’m in NYC
Update from 2:37am post. Grant / All: I did manage to unload 2 x $500 OV Visa GCs to BB at WM (Greater Boston) today but it was MUCH more of a problem than I hoped, and took trips to 2 new and somewhat distant WM stores. 1st store would absolutely not work – either straight away (defaulted to credit purchase and signature line appeared), or immediately hitting both red or yellow buttons. WM employees had no idea why – even tried a different register & reader for me – but still no luck. Second WM – some distance away, I finally got it to work on the second try – but only after pushing the red cancel button – still quickly, but two times in a row, which finally brought up the alternate payment methods / debit card option, and then the cash back question. Bottom line – it was hard and far from worth it after a long drive and 3 hours of time-suck today.
Need advice please – I still need to load $1K within 48 hours to pay rent and am weary of buying OV Visa GCs at CVS as I have been because of all above – any suggestions would be appreciated!
I read that people are still having trouble trying to select the “Change Payment” button to select ATM/Debit after sliding their card. Is this because the cashier is pressing the processing button too quickly or is it because they are doing the wrong steps for the wrong card reader type. There are 2 types of card readers: [old POS card readers (black and green/white screen) and new POS card readers (color screens)]. I believe there is a difference in procedure between the old and new POS card readers so we just need to make sure it is outlined what steps are needed for both types.
It’s not just a cashier issue – WM has definitely changed their software at registers, as reported by cashiers at multiple stores. I also had a manager at 1 WM say they made intentional changes to stop folks from using OV Visa GCs and other GCs, specifically because of overuse by multiple people. She said one guy came in with a stack of 30 for instance.
Thanks for the update Grant. You’re always on top of things.
On another note, I’ve been loading $200 Visa Gift Cards purchased from Staples (both online and in store) to my SERVE account via the Walmart Money Center ATM/Kiosk without any issues at all. I have yet to run into any errors or anything out of the ordinary. My last load was yesterday and was as smooth as can be.
I haven’t tried loading my SERVE at the Money Center or a cashier. I’m so glad that I’ve been able to use the kiosk without any problems because I would hate to be going through the money center or a poor cashier. Besides, the lines at my store are crazy. I don’t think I’d have the patience to stand in line loading my SERVE account with a 20 person line behind me. Haha!
I always go early in the morning before work and I’m always the only person in the store.
Wish there was a kiosk in a WM near me – every time I call a different one & ask, I’m usually told “yes”, only to drive there and find no such thing – there’s definitely some clueless folks there.
Anyone have suggestions on how to load $1K to BB within 48 hours (can’t wait for Staples $200 Visa by mail) to pay rent? Thanks!
Buy 2 $500 gift cards and load them to your Bluebird Card.
Whenever I’ve tried to use the kiosk at my local WM, the monochrome screen doesn’t hold the pin. I enter the pin, press the green button and then pin clears out.
I haven’t tried the workaround at the Money Center desk, but when I first encountered this problem a few days ago, there wasn’t much of a delay between the swipe, signature line and error message.
I won’t be back at Walmart until Monday or Tuesday morning, so I won’t know how it works until then.
Please keep me posted. My problems were before this update– I tried using the kiosk a few times and then gave up.
Thanks Grant, but which ones? the $500 OVGCs scare me based on being unreliable now at WM
Try purchasing and loading a gift card from US Bank, Metabank, or Bancorp. Those seem to work better than One Vanilla Gift Cards.
Success again today with $500 variable-load MetaBank Visa GC’s
No problem buying MO or loading Go Bank at Bethlehem PA WM today, May 31.
Will try loading Serve tomorrow (June 1) at yet a different WM – with cashier and Kate – and will report back.
Thank you RJP for all your hard “work”, glad you are having such good luck so far.
BTW – today’s load made for $9700 on that particular Go Bank card during the month of May. I’m over $8,000 on my other one.
Wow, they must have a really high monthly load amount. Thanks for keeping me updated.
Grant : I was able to load VGC at Walmart without any problem, How long would recommend to carry the gift card and purchase receipt with you , if you have already used them to load the serve card
I keep the gift cards for about a month, but I throw away the receipts after I successful drain the gift card to my Bluebird/Serve card.
Today, In the heart of WM land, my usual kiosk was down. Next went to the Money Center to load a BB with ON VGC. The cashier’s register read it as credit and told me the transaction would not happen. An hour later and a different kiosk, loaded the BB with no problems with the same ON VGC.
It seems very inconclusive why this is happening with OVGCs.
I can not load MasterCard GC bought from walmart.com. Got an error code 14 no matter how many times I tried “change payment-atm/debit-enter pin- no cash back”. Any hope to make it work?
Maybe you were at your $5,000 monthly reload limit. Try tomorrow, you might have better luck. Also, did you set a PIN for that gift card before using it?
Thanks. I will try tomorrow. But it’s not related w/ limit. I could not load at the beginning of the month. There is no option to set up the PIN online or call in, only the first time use to set up the PIN. I was able to use it outside WMT and set up the PIN. It still got rejected by WMT. Some thing must be wrong and I don’t know whether any one else had the same issue or not(that’s the good thing about the blog, every one can come here to “meet” together discuss about it. It got declined regardless it is reload or MO or BP. But the VGC works fine. It makes me afraid to buy any more MGC.
Yes, MasterCard gift cards are more difficult to use than Visa gift cards. Can you liquidate the card any other way, Amazon Payments?
Thanks for all the good work here Grant. Any idea where to purchase Visa GCs from US Bank, Metabank, or Bancorp as you suggest? CVS & Staples don’t stock them.
Most grocery stores sell Visa gift cards from US Bank or Metabank. Turn over the gift card packaging and look for the bank name in small print.
Probably been answered before but if I use the Moneycenter kiosk to load my BB with OV – what is the exact procedure? I mean, I know the buttons to push and such but my specific question is how much can you load at one time? Is it one $500 OV card or two? Heard that the machine freezes up if you don’t do it exactly right…
You’d have to find a kiosk that works, for starters. If you do, let me know.
I believe it is when the machine does $2,000 in a 5-10 minute period. If you don’t get to that limit, you should be fine.
Thanks for the info! Loaded several $500 OVGCs 5/3, failed yesterday with the help of a very helpful manager… default to CC, will try the change payment method described above today (here’s hoping)…
Good luck Charlie!
(Fixed typo):
Tried to load my MetaBank issued Visa gift/debit card at WM Bb kiosk just now. Seemed to work fine up to the point of entering the PIN number. The pin pad kept asking for a 9 digit PIN number. Cancelled the transaction and tried with another card- same result. Something is up- PIN is only 4 digits and I have done this numerous times.
I’ve heard similar stories about the Kiosk, try loading at the Money Center or at a checkout lane.
That’s the problem I’ve had with the kiosk. Never could get it to work.
Last night was a no go for me in CT at Walmart. Using Staples $200. Only loaded $400 in May so I know I wasn’t close to limit. Haven’t tried the workaround. Will try that today. Unfortunately, no kiosks in CT.
Good luck Marty!
@Grant would you mind sharing which location you buy your ovgc at?
Sure, I buy all my OVGCs at CVS. Many CVS locations sell them.
Sorry, I meant which CVS location. I’ve been told cash only at dozens in the socal area.
Most places in Irvine, Lake Forest, and surrounding cities sell them with a credit card.
Success loading Serve with two MetaBank $500 Visa GCs again today at a different WM in Pennsylvania (scuba training this weekend) using Kiosk. Was reminded by the sign on the Kiosk that they are owned/operated by MetaBank. Wonder if that explains why V- GC’s don’t work, but MetaBank cards do?
Also able to buy a $999.30 money order at customer service counter.
That’s an interesting observation regarding Metabank gift cards at the Kiosk run by Metabank. I feel like updating the kiosks is very manually intensive, unlike updating the POS connected to Walmart’s registers.
Had issues this morning trying to buy money orders with the onevanilla debit/gift cards. It seemed to work okay once I did the ‘change payment’ trick.
Glad you were able to get your money order after using the work around.
I went to my walmart – NH- today and tried to load my BB with OVGC – first try didn’t work. Tried again and after I swiped hit cancel and the ATM/debit screen came up and I was able to follow the steps – worked just fine…just another step:) keep on rolling
Good work Beth, a little extra work never stopped me!
Today, I went to the Kiosk to load three cards with $3k in various visa vanilla gift cards. The first four transactions went great. I load $500 at a time. When I swiped the second card for the second time, the screen locked up and said customer service was needed because of a potential security issue. Thankfully, there was a helpful girl at customer service. She came over, entered her code and I was able to load $500. There was something on the screen about not allowing gift cards to load. So, this could be a problem going forward. She said, “These machines are terrible, you should never use them, load your card at customer service.” So, I did. The third card I swiped, the card reader read it as a credit. I told her I was using debit and she was able to push it through after hitting the red cancel button. About 10 minutes later, with one $500 vgc to load, I went back to the kiosk and everything worked fine. So, I guess I’d be careful about loading multiple cards at the kiosk. Next time, I’ll load one, then come back later to load the next and so on.
Shannon — I loaded 6 OVGCs (for a total of $3000) today across 3 BB accounts. The way to do it is to load 3 cards, set your timer on your phone for 10 minutes, and come back to load the other 3. I had no approval needed alerts today whatsoever, so all worked fine.
I think there is a $2,000 limit for the kiosks that reset every 5-10 minutes or so. Therefore, use ti for a few minutes, then leave for a few minutes, then come back and complete your reloading.
no Grant, its $1500, tested and true, on the forth $500, kiosh machine will fail and time out.
I think if you do $1,999.99 it will work though.
Thanks. That sounds about right. I figured there had to be a limit. The kiosk is so incredibly easy, I want to keep using it.
Yes those kiosks are awesome.
A great recap of the methods and the madness. Because of this informative blog post – I’m adding you to the blogs that I frequent on a daily basis!
PS – Loaded some MetaB GCs to BB today and all is still well in birdie-land.
Thank you Nick, this post is just the latest in a long line of awesome posts. I have a log of good info on my blog :)
Grant — I loaded $3000 worth of OVGCs across 3 BB accounts today at a Wal-Mart kiosk after failing at the register. I noticed that CVS also sells regular Visa GCs that are not OV. Have you tried these? None of my local grocery stores sell visa GCs in increments of larger than $200. Also, for non OVGCs, do you have to register a PIN online before using them at wal-mart? I’m starting to worry that this whole gig is about to be up for all of us before we know it!
I haven’t bought regular Visa GCs in a long time, but I don’t think I had any problem using them. They might have a slightly higher activation fee, if memory serve me right. For all non-OVGCs, I always add a PIN online or by phone before going to Walmart.
Thanks. So, are you still just using the OVGCs for the time being or have you found a preferred alternative for your own practices?
I don’t know yet. I will go to my local Walmart on Tuesday morning and see how the loading process goes. I will try a OVGC and a US Bank gift card. Ask me on Tuesday afternoon and I will let you know.
Data point: I loaded 2 $500 OVGCs onto my Serve today at the Walmart in Foothill Ranch. Went to the Money Center to do it. For each card, I asked the cashier to load $500. Immediately after I swiped, an option appeared on the screen to change payment method so I pressed it right away. I chose debit and then selected no cash back. Entered in a PIN and and it went through without a problem.
Excellent, that Walmart is my local Walmart :)
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I can confirm the new methodology works in the Inland Empire. I picked up a OVGC at a Rite Aid, took it over to the closest WalMart to attempt a load at a kiosk — which, of course, was out of order. Drove back to another Walmart where I had success with their kiosk previously — and it was also out of order.
Bought some groceries, and found an empty line. Cashier rang everything up, and I paid. Then asked if I could load my BB. She did her side of it, the monochrome terminal popped up the credit card signature line, and we tried it again. The second time, I was able to hit the red button fast enough, and I was able to select ATM/Debit. It went through without a problem.
As someone who is very new to all this, thank you for this post (as well as the entire blog)!
Glad the work around worked for you. The only time I have ever used the money Center ATM/Kiosk was near Corona, they don’t have the Kiosk in Irvine :(
Went to WM this morning. Tried the normal way with an OVGC. Cashier stated it tried to go through as CC which I expected. Tried again with the work around and it worked.
Good work FlyingCTurtle!
Successful loading BB at WM through kiosk with $200 VGC purchased at Staples; card was issued by Metabank, exp 11/22. I’ve had difficulty loading OVGCs here, this was simple. No rapid push of buttons, all straightforward.
Thanks for sharing your results Russ.
Hi Grant, Thanks for the post. How does it work for buying a MO at WM?
Read this post from Travel Summary: http://travel-summary.com/how-to-use-gift-cards-and-money-orders-to-manufacture-spend/
I meant does this change also affects how we buy MO?
I believe so. If you can use the gift cards to load to Bluebird, Serve, or Go Bank, the same process will work for buying gift cards.
Tried a walmart near me today and got denied (Vernon Hills IL) there was no option to change payment method and even got an error message that said “Tender not allowed” with the cashier trying a few different options (she was very accommodating) still no go!
Now stuck with a 500 OVGC to spend in a few month. Contemplating closing the whole bluebird account down completely.
Try going to a different Walmart store. Each store has slightly different POS systems, so you might have better luck at the other store.
For the 2nd day in a row, I successfully unloaded $3,000 worth of OVGCs (across 3 BB accounts) at the Wal-Mart kiosk. The process is simple — unload $1,500, wait 10 minutes (I set a timer on my phone just to be certain), and unload the remaining $1,500. No hiccups, no manager’s approval needed. Tomorrow, I’m going to substitute one of my OVGCs with a Vanilla Visa GC (the one in the gold package) to see if it works, but it sounds like it should from everything I’ve read. My goal is to have $5,000 loaded onto each BB account by Thursday (May 5th) and then see if any new developments arise over the course of the month. Please keep us posted as you head anything new, Grant!
Good strategy Jonathan. I will be traveling to Spain 2 weeks, so hopefully there won’t be any major updates while I’m gone.
Grant – I did not know this as i did not follow the web for last two days and i tried today and faced this problem . I need to load 1000 . I will try the cancel and Debit Work Around .
It should work for you. Hopefully it is as easy as pressing the cancel or “Change Payment” buttons.
Cancel did not work but change Payment worked …Thank you …Anyway to cash Out Amex gift card apart from Amazon payment …I have about $3K …
My CVS will let me use AMEX gift cards to buy Visa gift cards. Most stores won’t allow this though. You can also liquidate via AMEX Target card.
At the first WM, everything that I was familiar with failed. Telling the cashier the amount before swiping. Failed. Attempting to change the “payment type”. Failed. This option didn’t even come up at all today. It did yesterday, and that’s how I succeeded. Selecting “cancel”. Failed. Walked away empty handed after a suspicious cashier told me that I needed to pay with debit cards with my name on it.
If it helps, the pinpad screens at that first WM were color and had a larger IBM screen next to it.
At the second WM, I tried the workaround, and it worked for the first “test” transaction. Weary from the wounds at the first WM, I wanted to start small and did one MO for 1k. Was asked to first swipe my card and enter the PIN. Then the cashier entered the amount. Both VGCs went through.
If it helps, the pinpads at the second WM were non-color and also had the larger IBM screen next to it.
The workaround is to:
1. Swipe OV
2. Cancel
3. ATM/Debit
4. No Cash Back
5. Enter the PIN
6. Ask Cashier to hit blue color Debit button on the screen
7. Enter $500
8. Authorized
On my third attempt, I tried getting two MOs, attempting to swipe four 500 VGCs. I also asked the cashier to hold off entering the amount till after I swiped and entered the PIN, but that same WM register took it as Credit.
I did try loading 500 x2 in seperate transactions using VGCs onto my Serve at the second WM at the kiosk. These two transactions went through just fine like it did before. I expected the same errors (card reader reading Debit as Credit) but I didn’t have to click cancel or “change payment type”.
On a related note, CVS has informally stopped allowing CCs for VGC purchases, but going to another CVS, I faced no such resistance.
Could you please let me know what button should I press for the color screens? The red cancel button on the touchpad, or the yellow “change payment type” button on the touchpad, if it comes up at all? Or should I press the physical buttons? If so, which ones?
How many times should I press each button? The touchpad buttons disappear after one press.
How about the protocol for the non-color screens?
Grant, please do let me know about your efforts on Tuesday, 6/3.
Thanks so very much!
I will be at my local Walmart in 2 hours, so I will update you then. I’ll let you know what I did to get it to work.
Update: I successfully used a OVGC and a different Vanilla GC, both required me to press the yellow Change Payment button on the screen. Then select Debit, no cash back, and then enter a PIN. The last gift card was a US Bank gift card from the grocery store. That card went straight to the PIN selection screen. Much simpler than the first 2 cards.
Thanks for reporting back, Grant. Seems that your store had the color screens with the yellow on-screen button to change payment type. This worked for me two days (6/2) ago too, but not yesterday (6/3).
Please let us know if you encounter any non-color screens, and what your process has been for those. Thanks.
It’s more complicated with the black/white screens. You have to press the red or yellow buttons. I’m not sure how it works exactly.
Just tried the work around for the OneVanilla debit card at the closest Walmart – no joy. Will try another Walmart later today
There are a few different type of POS systems at Walmart, so some are easier to use than others. Don’t give up Ken!
I was able to load the cards at the MoneyCenter ATM without any problems
What kind of gift cards did you load?
One Vanilla Visa gift cards purchased at CVS with CC
For the 3rd straight day, I uploaded $3,000 across 3 BB accounts at the walmart kiosk. Sounds like using the kiosks is definitely the best way to go if you have access to them! Hoping to do $3000 each of the next 2 days and will be done with June!
You are an early bird! Are you doing the $1,000 online debit card loads for Bluebird as well?
I though online debit loads only worked for cards that were registered to the cardholder and from a bank.
Yes that is true. PayPal Business Debit Cards work and earn cash back.
Grant — Can I load the PayPal business debit card with a credit card or is the only benefit the cash back?
You can use a credit card to buy PayPal My Cash Cards and load those to your PayPal account.
I was just about to ask, Grant — How can I utilize the $1,000 debit reload in a way that still gets me points? Doesn’t really do me any good to register my debit card from my local bank.
You need a PayPal Business Debit Card. Mine earns 1.5% cash back = $15 free money every month.