A reader asked we put together a list of merchant gift cards which can be loaded and locked into your account or app with the retailer. This is helpful when you buy a second-hand gift card and are worried about it being drained. It’s also convenient to load it immediately into your balance, especially if it’s a merchant you use regularly.
There are actually two methods how draining a gift card into your account can work. One is the account model, what Amazon uses, where you drain the gift card into your account balance. The other is the card model, what Starbucks uses, where you have one primary card and you can zero out any other gift cards and load their balance onto your primary card.
Note: most retailers allow you to load a gift card into your store app or online account. This is not what we are discussing. In those cases the card continues to work as before. For example, if you add a gift card to your Walmart app or online account, the card is conveniently saved for next shopping, BUT the physical card can still be used in-store and the card number can still be used online in a different Walmart.com account. Our list is specifically for those retailers who allow zeroing out and draining a gift card into your account or onto another card.
Let us know in the comments of any corrections, and of course please inform us of other retailer gift cards we can add to the list!
Account Model:
- Airbnb
- Amazon
- Brueggers Bagels
- Chick-fil-A
- Disney (offers both options)
- eBay* (only ties to your account after being partially used)
- Google Play
- Groupon
- HBONow
- Hulu
- iTunes
- Lyft
- Netflix
- Nintendo Eshop
- Overstock
- Potbelly
- Prepaid phone cards (most carriers)
- Rover
- Shutterfly
- Snapfish
- Spotify (extends your subscription)
- Steam
- Steak n’ Shake
- Stitch Fix
- Stubhub
- Uber – max $1k in account
- Wayfair
- Wendy’s
- Whataburger
Card Model:
- Disney (offers both options) – max $1k per card
- Dunkin Donuts
- Hotels.com – max $2k per card
- Peet’s Coffee
- Starbucks – max $500 loaded
- Subway
- Target
- Ulta
- Zoe’s Kitchen
taken from the Wendy’s site (account payment):
“Please note: your account can hold a maximum of $100.00”
Zoe’s Kitchen is Card Model
Added, thanks
Starbucks has a $500 limit
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to be clear… Starbucks has a limit of $500 per card, but you can have multiple cards in your account. Currently, I have four cards in my account.
Chipotle would be one to add to the list of companies that are annoying as fuck with this. To use the last of an e-gift card you have to go in and pay with it in person, having the cashier key in the GC# for your $1.72 and paying the rest some other way.
Yes and that’s even if the cashiers are competent enough to do that. They couldn’t key them in right the last time I was there. The online balance checker is never working either. However raise was somehow able to verify there is still money there and won’t refund. Will never get chipotle gift cards again and not worth 0.5 united on MPX.
Thanks for putting this list together.
HBONow uses the account model (works just like Netflix). The standalone versions of Showtime and Starz might work the same way, but I don’t have firsthand experience with those.
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Stitch fix gift cards can be loaded on your account and then the gift card balance is zero’ed. I usually get these with Bestbuy/chase pay/swagbucks deals or on Swych with ink since my wife orders from them every month.
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When Starbucks physical gc is loaded in your app, you would think the card is voided but this physical card still works. If someone steals your card and physically use it at the store, your app balance is all gone. This happened to me.
The Steak ‘n Shake app allows you to Add a Gift Card to your account which transfers the value from the card to your account.
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I think you can add AMC to the list.
Target has moved to an Amazon-like model. They have a “Make Primary” option which allows you to set a primary gift card and then transfer all other cards to that one.This is seen on desktop Target Account and may not be easily seen on Mobile. Fairly new addition.
That is what is already described in the post as “the card model” – “where you have one primary card and you can zero out any other gift cards and load their balance onto your primary card”. He has Target listed under that category, correctly.