Cheapest Way to Get Samsung Pay (3x on Altitude, Gift Card Deals)

Why We Care about Samsung Pay

Lots of people are interested in having access to Samsung Pay for a couple of reasons:

  • The US Bank Altitude card earns 3x on mobile payments. While Apple Pay is also eligible, Samsung Pay works even in places that don’t have NFC capabilities due to it’s MST technology. In simple English that means that almost anywhere you can swipe a credit card, you can use Samsung Pay. By placing your phone next to the swiper, it will ‘trick’ the swiper into thinking it’s been swiped.
  • Samsung Pay regularly releases some nice gift card deals.

Even iOS users might find it worthwhile to have a secondary Samsung Pay device to take advantage of these deals, though it is, admittedly, a hassle to have to lug around a second device. Figure out how much you’d be using mobile payments and how much you’ll gain by having a Samsung phone to decide if it’s worth dealing with.

Eligible Devices

The following devices support Samsung Pay: Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, Galaxy S7 Active, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+, Galaxy S6 Active, Galaxy Note5.

Supported carriers: Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Cricket, MetroPCS, and US.Cellular.

Another option is to get a Gear3 smartwatch which has Samsung Pay and can pair with any Android phone running Android 4.4 or above, even non-Samsung phones or older Samsung phones. It won’t work with an iOS device, however.

Gear S3 works with MST as well, giving it the same wide acceptance as all Samsung Pay devices. Gear S2 only works with NFC, not MST, so you aren’t better off than using an iPhone. (Samsung link)

Cheapest Options

The cheapest will likely be to find a used (32 gb) Samsung S6 or Note 5 on Swappa, eBay, Craigslist, or Amazon. From a casual ‘galaxy s6’ search on Amazon, it looks like you can score a refurbished phone for around $200, slightly less for a used phone. Similar prices on eBay.

You might find a cheap deal on a more advanced phone or on a new phone. For example, there was a deal to get a new Note 5 from Walmart for $199. Remember, assuming you only need the phone for limited uses (mobile payments or buying gift cards), lots of the minor issues with second-hand phones aren’t a big deal.

Just be aware that many second-hand phones (and maybe refurbs too?) are rooted/jailbroken, and Samsung Pay won’t work on those. Verify first that it hasn’t been rooted or just buy a cheap new phone (or refurb?).

If you are looking into the smartwatch option mentioned above, it looks like the Gear S3 costs around $300 new or closer to $200 if you opt for a used one. (Amazon link, eBay link)

Of course, veteran shoppers know that there are always ways to stack deals and get these thing for a better price. For example, wait for a 10% eBay Bucks promo or use some Amazon stacking for a discount there.

Miscellaneous Facts

  • Samsung Pay won’t work on rooted phones.
  • Some people report that Samsung Pay won’t work properly on an unlocked phone. Others have success with unlocked phones. (The data points I’ve seen are with phones that got unlocked by carrier, so it might be that it will work on network-unlocked phones but not on factory-unlocked phones.)
  • Some mention that Samsung Pay won’t work on an international device. (See also this comment.)
  • I’m not sure if you need service to initially activate your Samsung Pay, but you certainly can use it without service at all.

Final Thoughts

Any other important things to know before buying a device for Samsung Pay? Other good ways to get it for cheap? Let us know in the comments and we’ll add it into the post. I’m not an expert on this subject, but thought it’d be useful to have a post where we can discuss these issues.

If you ever see a cheap way to get a Samsung Pay device in the future, please let us know in the comments. You can also subscribe to the comments to get a alerted if such a comment comes through.

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44 Comments
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007
007 (@guest_1589374)
March 31, 2023 18:59

Any recommended Samsung pay mst capable devices in 2023?

Yurets
Yurets (@guest_1610753)
May 3, 2023 00:17

S8 was the latest Samsung phone with MST tech. It was also 3G which means it won’t work anymore on most networks in 2023. Samsung retired MST because more and more terminals support NFC and there is very little reason to have it anymore. It was cool as a stop-gap measure while retailers were upgrading. Almost like magic! I got many WTF looks from unsuspecting cashiers that were adamant they don’t take mobile payments only to see it go through. Fun times!

007
007 (@guest_1610928)
May 3, 2023 10:01

Ok, thanks so much!

Dave
Dave (@guest_1688655)
September 7, 2023 23:54

The S8 wasn’t the last one. My S10e has it.

bax
bax (@guest_846326)
November 20, 2019 10:27

A50 and A70 also work with Samsung Pay US.

aubergine
aubergine (@guest_679117)
November 27, 2018 20:46

Costoco is offering Samsung Gear S3 Frontier watches for $180

Thoams
Thoams (@guest_407142)
May 16, 2017 17:58

I got an email from a cashback portal about a sale eBay is running on cell phones and other electronics for 20% off with promo code P20FINDYOURTECH. The offer is only valid on purchases from these 26 sellers: http://www.ebay.com/rpp/3444#tc. Still, I got a factory refurbished S6 that works on my carrier for $144 shipped. Yes, it’ll take a lot of 3% via MST to earn it back, especially with no gift cards.

WR
WR (@guest_405357)
May 12, 2017 00:40

$200 to exploit a loophole that will likely be closed in a few months, and that might get your account shutdown? No thanks.

Matthew
Matthew (@guest_1222290)
July 13, 2021 22:58
  WR

4 years since … lol

Jan
Jan (@guest_405353)
May 12, 2017 00:18

Would prepaid plan work with Samsung pay? (same carriers as listed or their mvno) Thank you!

Ks
Ks (@guest_405239)
May 11, 2017 20:09

If someone is interested in Gear S3 option, this Macy deal might worth a look. https://slickdeals.net/share/android_app/t/10113352

Deb
Deb (@guest_405393)
May 12, 2017 03:18
  Ks

I did this today only without the new account discount. Went through e bates for a gift card on raise. Went through tcb for the purchase on macys. Will work out to about $250 after all cashback. If you got the 15% off and did these things you’d save even more.

I don’t have the altitude card. Just want in on the sweet Samsung pay offers. Plus the watch looks like it could come in handy otherwise. Seemed a better choice than a cheap phone.

Jeremy
Jeremy (@guest_405207)
May 11, 2017 19:38

The Samsung Pay function of Gear S3 won’t work on iPhones. When you connect your watch to an iPhone, you cann’t download Samsung Pay. It only works when connected to Android phones.

William Charles
Admin
May 11, 2017 20:08

This is made clear in the post I thought?

Jesse
Jesse (@guest_405853)
May 13, 2017 10:20

Does it really work with all android phones? The Gear S3 website says SP requires a Samsung phone to be paired.

banananon
banananon (@guest_405053)
May 11, 2017 15:08

FYI Samsung phones have a Knox security ‘switch’ that can be tripped if the phone is ever rooted or the software bootloader is unlocked. It is very difficult or impossible to reset this switch. If this is tripped, the phone is considered unsecure by Samsung and apps like Pay won’t work.

So be wary of buying used phones online.

Ajax
Ajax (@guest_405003)
May 11, 2017 13:25

Instead of mentioning Unlocked phones, I think it’s more relevant to remind readers about ROOTED PHONES. S Pay WON’T work on them. And unlike the unlocking status, they are less often mentioned by a seller if you buy used.
Rooting disables Samsung Pay FOR GOOD.