7-Eleven POS Limits Gift Card Purchases – My Experiences

We always have an interest in knowing which gift cards can be purchased at gas stations since gas stations are often a bonused rewards category on credit cards. Currently, (Q1 2015) Discover is offering 5% cash-back at gas stations.

[Read: Q1 2015 Cashback Categories, Activation Links & Spending Tips (Freedom, it, Dividend & Cash+)]

7-Eleven is often coded as a gas station, even when it doesn’t sell gas. See the Visa Supplier Locator to find out how Visa codes your local 7-Eleven. Visa, Mastercard and Discover usually consider 7-Eleven to be a gas station, but not Amex.

Limits

Back in the day, it was possible to buy Vanilla Reloads at 7-Eleven with a credit card, but it’s now hard-coded not to allow that. Green-Dot Money Paks are also hard-coded as cash only.

The main two remaining options to consider are:

• Vanilla Visa gift cards
• Paypal MyCash cards.

Sometime around July 2014, 7-Eleven’s POS system started limiting some gift card purchases to $500. We mentioned this a few months back, and I recently experimented a bit, aided by some helpful 7-Eleven cashiers and aided by DoC reader Johnny Cash.

Here’s the results:

• Vanilla gift cards do not seem to be limited in any way. I was able to buy two $500 gift cards consecutively, and I’d guess that it would work to do both in the same transaction as well. (Cashiers will often split $500 gift cards in separate transactions, in any case.) Additionally, I’d guess that you can buy more than two $500 Vanilla gift cards without a problem.
• Paypal MyCash cards are limited in that you can’t buy more than one $500 card over a certain time-frame. We don’t know exactly how long this is, but after a while the system “resets” and will allow another MyCash card purchase. This limit is not related to the credit card being used or to the person buying the gift card or to the register that the gift card is scanned/swiped at. It’s a system-limit in each 7-Eleven store to only allow one $500 MyCash card every, say, 15 minutes, or 1 hour, whatever.
• My experiments indicate a small work-around: You can buy two MyCash cards if you put slightly less than $500 on each. This still won’t help you buy a third card, but it will allow you to buy the second card. For example, you should be able to buy two $495 MyCash cards, when they’re done in two transactions, and possibly even in one transaction.

Experiments

1. Purchase two $500 PayPal Cash cards in one transaction. Total charge was $1,007.90. POS gave an interesting reply: It “edited” my purchases, and automatically dropped the second gift card from the purchase. It pulled up as a $503.95 purchase and prompted me to sign on the $503.95 purchase. Luckily, we realized what was happening and we were able to figure out which gift card was active. (Interestingly, there was still a $1007.95 hold on my credit card, which dropped off after a few days.)
2. We tried purchasing the second Paypal Cash card as a separate transaction. The system didn’t allow it.
3. I asked the cashier to put $495 on the Cash card instead of $500. The system still rejected it.
4. I then went to a different 7-Eleven a few blocks away. I purchased one $500 Paypal Cash card with no problem. This indicates (unsurprisingly) that the limitation is only in one single store. There’s no problem going to multiple 7-Eleven’s and buying $500 in each.
5. I tried purchasing a second $500 card at a different register with no success. System rejected.
6. On multiple trips to 7-Eleven, I had success buying two Paypal MyCash cards consecutively, so long as the purchase amount was less than $500 on each. On one occasion I purchased one for $495 and one for $475. On another occasion I purchased one for $490 and one for $485. I tried to buy a third for $480, but the system didn’t allow.
7. I purchased two $500 Vanilla gift cards back-to-back with no problem.

In all instances that I was unsuccessful, the block was from 7-Eleven’s  end. The 7-Eleven POS authorized the charge (it showed up as pending on my credit card), and then the POS reversed it.

Final Thoughts

I would have done myself a big favor if I’d have read DoC reader Johnny Cash’s comment before starting my experiments. Somehow, that comment slipped through the cracks and I didn’t see it until recently. In any case, I’m hopeful that we’ve clarified what works in 7-Eleven and what doesn’t.

It’s good that Vanilla doesn’t appear to be limited. As for Paypal MyCash cards, we’re treading lightly anyway, so we’ll try to manage with buying two-at-a-time.

Please let us know if you have different experiences at 7-Eleven.