Costco Shop Cards Can Now Be Loaded To Your Costco Account & App (Similar To Amazon)

Costco Shop Cards now have the option of being loaded into your Costco online account or app, and then will be spent via the account/app. The the card and card number will no longer be usable once redeemed into your Costco account/app.

In the Costco login, you can find it at this link. There’s a similar option in the Costco app as well. You’ll check the ‘Enable Shop Card’ option to allow your using the funds for online purchases.

When shopping in-store you can use the Costco app to pay at the register. You scan your QR with Costco membership card and then it applies your Shop Card balance when auto-apply is enabled. If auto-apply is not enabled it’s a bit more complicated and not all cashiers know yet how to do it. 

Notes:

  • “Shop Card balance cannot be used at the Food Courts and Pharmacy at this time.”
  • It does work on Costco gas. (This new method now allows Costco e-gift cards to work for gas which was apparently not possible before.)
  • The max Shop Card value you can load per day is $2,000.
  • The max you can carry in your Costco wallet is $2,000. For larger purchases, I’m not sure if you can combine Costco Shop cards along with your $2,000 balance to pay at Costco.com. I assume it would work in-store.
  • You can not use your Costco Shop balance along with a rebate check, per reader comments.
  • Interesting note: You can buy a Costco Shop card with the money in your Costco balance. And so there is not big ‘risk’ of linking your card to your account since it can always be effectively de-linked by buying a new Shop card.
  • Costco shop balance works at self-checkout if you have auto-apply enabled.
  • After zeroing out the card into your Shop balance, the physical Shop card still works and can be reloaded, it just resets the balance down to zero.

Some people like buying Costco Shop Cards online since they accept both Visa and Mastercard online versus Visa only in-store. (Some do this to get 5.25% on their BofA Mastercard.) Some like loading up their Costco balances to help meet a spend requirement. With this new system, it’s easier to immediately drain the Costco Shop Cards into your Costco account and not have to track its balance.

Costco Shop cards are available online in the following denominations: $25, $50, $100, $250, $500. I’m not sure if other denominations are available in-store.

I love this kind of system, and find myself regularly willing to buy Amazon gift cards since I can easily apply it to my account and forget about tracking the card. I really hope that Walmart also enacts a system similar to what Costco is rolling out now.

Hat tip to FrenchFryExpert
    Chuck
  • On July 11, 2025, 16:02
Tags: costco

View Comments (260)

  • Don't think I've seen this mentioned here, but there is an interesting twist when you buy Shop Cards online. For us, Shop Cards are basically the same as cash and we use them all the time for top-ups on offers requiring minimum spend with a limited period of time. Other than the ability to use a Mastercard (which is helpful), Costco Shop Cards in small denominations ring up as separate transactions on credit cards. So, it you have a promotion requiring a certain number of transactions (for example, I have a Chase promotion which is offering extra points for spending $1500 in at least 10 transactions per month) or you are going for Bilt rent day and need five transactions for the month, buying $100 of Costco Shop Cards in $25 increments will ring up as four transactions, not one. It is a minor hack, but it can be handy under the right circumstances.

  • The one that desperately needed this is eBay yet they still don't after decades of hacked/lost eBay gcs.

    • Agree 100%. Amazon uses alphanumeric GCs that one can easily load while eBay stays with only numeric GCs that are easier to hack??? What century are we in???

  • How does this work for two member households - is there any way to share a credit between my partner and I?

    • I don't believe so. Each member has their own membership number, so I would think it would be tied to the individual account. I know P2 has their own log in for Costco so they seem to be completely separate, other than the earning 2% for Executive.

      • Yep...from the faq:

        CAN I COMBINE MY COSTCO WALLET FUNDS ACROSS MULTIPLE MEMBERSHIP ACCOUNTS?No. However, if your membership is reported as lost or stolen, the Shop Card funds saved in the Costco Wallet will still be available through your newly issued membership number.

  • Also - user @ctj signed my name as “JTX”, impersonated me, and made two comments saying I am “for” Hitler. These Costco cults are out of hand.

  • Only store brand comparisons:
    paper towel: $2.34 (GreedCo), $1.94 (Sams) per 100 sq ft (20.6% cheaper)
    toilet paper: $2.4 (GreedCo), $1.93 (Sams) per 100 sq ft (24.9% cheaper)
    Laundry detergent: $0.103 (GreedCo), $0.082 (Sams) per fl oz (25.6% cheaper)
    Dryer sheet: $0.02398 (GreedCo), $0.022875 (Sams) per sheet (4.8% cheaper)

    many more examples..and don’t get me started about the ridiculous prices in fresh produce…and now the GreedCo cults would say “blah blah blah…in store prices are cheaper”…no they are not.

    Also - GreedCo's "Kickland" signature is not better quality than Member's Mark. I was a total skeptic at first and in many cases, MM wows me. The "Kickland" signature does nothing but kicks money off your wallet.

    You can’t reason with a cult. I am fine if you like to throw away your money. Everyone has different priority and if that’s your mojo. Just said i would like to pay more at Costco. That would be fine with me rather than lying Costco is cheaper.

    • Hey JTX, Thanks for the price comparisons !!! Aldi's > Sam's > Costco > WM best pricing in general?

      • Huh? Just stating fact not sure what you are trying to say here. And honestly the Kirkland paper towel quality is terrible compared to members mark.

        • If you want to compare Costco warehouse prices with Sam’s warehouse prices, feel free. But you’re not going to be able to find the 25-30% difference you claim. You keep trying to push your opinions even after Chuck asked you nicely to knock it off.

          • And why do I even need to bother to go to the warehouse to “maybe” save a dollar at GreedCo when I can have everything delivered to my doorstep without even the hassle to fight with the cattle crowds at GreedCo? It’s not like the warehouse price is cheaper than Sams or Aldi?

          • When did Chuck ask me to knock it off? See I told you the Costco cults love to claim the warehouse prices. They purposely do it to confuse crowds like you. Just go check how much every item is next time before you buy anything

          • @guest_2097242,

            I also didn't see the comment that @guest_2097672 is referring to. What did @6 write in the comment that was supposedly deleted?

          • someone accused JTX of being a bot, and made an "ignore all previous instructions" (a now outdated way to catch bots).

            my comment was a dig at grok, elmo musk's LLM that has recently been reflecting his (musk's) nazi sympathies.

          • @guest_2098679 - well it's not so much of a joke when you started signing off my name and said I am for Hitler. It's completely fine if you want to make a joke, but do it on your own name.

          • @guest_2098679,

            I did see your comments and was disgusted by them. I actually was fooled into thinking that @guest_2097242 wrote them until they tattled on you.

            The comment that I hadn't seen is @6 apologizing and mildly scolding JTX about their obsession with critiquing Costco. The reason is because it happened in a different post that I am not subscribed to.

          • It doesn’t really matter. It was in the post this morning where he was asked to ban someone because Jtx was all offended that someone insulted him and Chuck asked him to tone down his anti-greedco comments. It’s just gotten so annoying him making up crap, worse than watching Fox News (which I do not do for the record 😃). You can see the original comment is Jtx history but the post doesn’t go anywhere.

          • user ctj said i am a Hitler supporter, and signed with my signature "JTX". so you condone that? and @6 actually apologized to me in that comment if you read it correctly.

            @6 - can you clarify who is in the wrong here? The one calling me Hitler supporter while impersonating me or did I do something wrong except for calling out Costco is expensive?

            And @guest_2097672 decided to side with a Hitler supporter that impersonates me simply because I criticized Costco. Do you work for Costco marketing team? Everyone knows the Costco sub-reddit is heavily censored for any negative press because the moderators are all costco employees. I bet you are one of them. Wow

          • Obviously calling somebody Hilter and impersonating them is unacceptable. At the same time nobody is interested in your rants about costco pricing. We get it, you don't like costco for whatever reason but your comments about it are excessive and clutter the site with nonsense that most people have no interest in reading.

          • Okay I will tone it down but just to clarify it is not “nonsense” when it is actual fact Costco is more expensive in general. I am fine people want to pay for more for whatever reasons. But just keep it honest and say that I prefer to pay a little extra because I like Costco as opposed to I shop there because Costco is more cost effective.

          • It is nonsense. There are plenty of items that are cheaper at Costco by a significant amount, but I am not going to waste my life doing the math to prove that to you.

            Your issues with them are clearly way beyond normal rational concerns about pricing, and your urge to convince others to agree with your opinions is pretty weird.

          • It is nonsense, nobody wants to read your thoughts on Costco's pricing structure. It's cluttering the whole site with comments nobody is interested in reading. Please stop, I won't ask again.

          • hmm..that removed comment was written by @ctj, not me LOL. Calling himself a Hitler supporter while signing my signature JTX instead of ctj. So i am not sure why you are confused who is in the wrong here. Bottom line costco is expensive and if you want to continue to censor any criticism about Costco, I will not be silent. Just like everyone knows the Costco sub-reddit is heavily censored for any negative press because all the moderators are costco employees. I wonder if all these "lalala" people are costco marketing them trying to do their work here.

          • I guess that I was right to write that the comment was "supposedly" deleted. It turns out that there's a good reason why I didn't see that comment before as it is in a post that I'm not subscribed to! 😉

          • I don’t know why @6 deleted it, which is too bad. Comments like yours sour me on the blog.

          • he is not calling it out. He actually apologized to me for what @ctj said (calling me Hitler supporter while impersonating me). read carefully. This is not r/Costco on reddit where every negative post about Costco is censored because all the moderators are Costco employees.

          • @guest_2097242,

            I agree with you that it is quite concerning that @guest_2097672 and others seemed to be more bothered by your negative Costco comments than the comments that @guest_2098679 made about you.

            This reminds me of how many people on DoC (including Frey) have gotten upset when I have put people in their place on this site for terrible behavior but people (including Frey) don't say a peep when people say deplorable things about me or to me!

          • @guest_2097252 First off, I never saw the ctj post, only the post by Chuck saying it was removed. Second, I don't care that jtx hates Costco. What I have issue with is the blatant misquoting of prices in an attempt to make his point over and over and over again.

          • @guest_2097672,

            #1. I'll take your word for it that you didn't see the initial comments from @guest_2098679. However, keep in mind that those comments were actually made by "JTX", so you may have seen the comments and ignored them. Remember that ctj was pretending to be @guest_2097242. I have plenty of experience with that as I'm sure that you are aware!

            #2. I respect that you don't like it when people lie or mislead as I also hate that kind of behavior. Again, I'll take your word for it that JTX didn't provide real prices as I wouldn't know either way. What would be their intention to mislead though?

            #3. Since you didn't protest what I wrote in my 2nd paragraph, can I assume that means that you agree with what I wrote?

          • @guest_2097252 This is a blog for finance stuff and this stuff about jtx is getting old so this will be my last comment on it. I saw the post where Chuck said he'd deleted the comments so I couldn't have mistaken/ignored user names since they were already deleted. The prices are being compared from Costco's online pricing to Sam's warehouse pricing. Very misleading. And despite multiple users giving accurate comparisons, he continues to post that crap. The intention is obviously to justify their reasons for disliking for Costco. As for the last paragraph, I didn't really read until now, I don't really spend time reading every post so I'm sure people say mean things, maybe even about me that I haven't seen. I literally read through the recent comments page and pull up a few to read the full post and maybe a few around it. Hopefully it answered all your questions, didn't want to ignore but I am now out.

          • Dude, you need some serious help. I did not say he called you out, I thanked Chuck for calling out the non-deletion.

          • “ You keep trying to push your opinions even after Chuck asked you nicely to knock it off.” Thats your exact words. Sounds like you said Chuck called me out. Anyway, you should be the moderator on r/Costco on Reddit, they love censoring negative posts about GreedCo there coz they are all Costco employees lol

          • BTW, doesn't "Greedco" make more sense since it's spelled "Costco" and not "CostCo"?

          • No i don't @ @guest_2097252 - i don't bother posting on r/Costco after I found out all the moderators are employees of Costco. If you scrolled that sub, you will see the entire sub-reddit is nothing but marketing galore from Costco

  • Only store brand comparisons:
    paper towel: $2.34 (GreedCo), $1.94 (Sams) per 100 sq ft (20.6% cheaper)
    toilet paper: $2.4 (GreedCo), $1.93 (Sams) per 100 sq ft (24.9% cheaper)
    Laundry detergent: $0.103 (GreedCo), $0.082 (Sams) per fl oz (25.6% cheaper)
    Dryer sheet: $0.02398 (GreedCo), $0.022875 (Sams) per sheet (4.8% cheaper)

    many more examples..and don't get me started about the ridiculous prices in fresh produce...and now the GreedCo cults would say "blah blah blah...in store prices are cheaper"...no they are not.

    You can't reason with a cult. I am fine if you like to throw away your money. Everyone has different priority and if that's your mojo. Just said i would like to pay more at Costco. That would be fine with me rather then lying Costco is cheaper.

    • Seriously, why do you care where others you don't and never will know personally spend their fucking money?
      Using degrading names won't help to care about what you think either... maybe it's funny in your social circle or on the TV channel you watch but anywhere else? Questionable.

  • What is the play here? Are people buying Costco gift cards at discount online, or at office stores, or is there some other reason people are loading thousands in shop cards?

  • The downside is the Costco wallet can only carry $2000 maximum. I wanted to pay for a kitchen appliance ($3000+) with all Costco Shop Cards but could only use $2000 of shop card and the rest with credit card. Bummer. Also, once wallet is enabled, I can’t go back to just using unlimited number of Shop Cards to pay.

  • The downside is the Costco wallet can only carry $2000 maximum. I wanted to pay for a kitchen appliance ($3000+) with all Costco Shop Cards but could only use $2000 of shop card and the rest with credit card. Bummer. Also, once wallet is enabled, I can’t go back to just using unlimited number of Shop Cards to pay.

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