Manufactured Mondays: Where To Find $500 Visa Gift Cards With Only A $2 Fee

One of the more popular methods at the moment for boosting your credit card spend is to purchase visa gift cards with your credit card, then load them onto your bluebird account using a Walmart money center. I’ve detailed this process before, but one of the most common questions I get is “where can I get high value gift cards for a low activation fee?”. Most visa gift cards are in $200 or less denominations and have activation fees of $5.95-$6.95, this wipes out almost any profit you can make – which is the whole point of manufactured spending.

Today I’ll show you two places you can find $500 Visa gift cards, with an activation fee of only $2: 

not available in certain states

  • Glimcher Mall’s: All locations also sell Visa gift cards for a $2 fee. These also do not count as a cash advance and can also be purchased at the information desk. [Locations Finder]

glimcher gift card

Both of these must be purchased in person, it is possible to order them online but the fees they charge are prohibitively expensive.

What Type Of Store Will These Process As?

To make best use of these cheap gift cards you’ll need to use a card that earns at a high rate for whatever these malls code as. I decided to use the Visa MCC look up tool to find out. Unfortunately when the enter the address for the mall it lists all of the shops inside the mall and their MCC’s instead of the mall/information desk.

no information both for mcc visa data

No information desk found

Thankfully some people have already purchased these gift cards and it seems like they post as any of the following:

  • Merchant Category: MISCELLANEOUS / SPECIALTY RETAIL STORES – Citi
  • Category: Other – Miscellaneous – American Express

It looks like it will always process as miscellaneous and as such you’ll only get whatever your credit card pays out on all purchases. This means cards like the Barclay Arrival or American Express Fidelity will be the best options as they earn 2.2% and 2% respectively.

Update: It looks like Citi codes Simon Mall GC purchases as a department store purchase, this means other Visa cards should also code it as a department store purchase.

Let’s look at a single $500 purchase to see how much you’d make:

You’re not going to get super rich from either method and you’ll probably get better value if you’re after airline miles or points. Another thing to consider is that you can buy some Visa gift cards for $6.95 at supermarkets, but a lot of credit cards actually come with up to 6% cash back at supermarkets. Let’s look at the profit on that:

As you can see more profit can be had elsewhere. Where these really low fees come into their own is when you’re trying to reach minimum spend requirements on new cards.

We hope you find this post helpful, if you have any questions or comments let us know below.

Hat tip to this thread on FT

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11 Comments
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james
james (@guest_21935)
August 4, 2014 20:30

hay,

looks like i can order through online. but there are three kind gift card, which one is the right one?

Are there shipping and handling charges if I purchase cards online?
The following shipping and handling fees apply for cards purchased on-line:

First Class Mail:
Simon Giftcards -$5.95 per card
Simon From the Heart Giftcards ( American Express) and Simon Pink Ribbon Giftcards (Visa)- $6.95 per card
OR
Express Shipping (Federal Express):
$16.95 per card for Simon Giftcards
$17.95 per card for Simon From the Heart Giftcards ( American Express) and Simon Pink Ribbon Giftcards (Visa)

How long does it take to receive a Simon Giftcard?
Your order will be processed within 48 hours, Monday through Friday. Please allow 3-5 business days for receipt through U. S. Postal Service, or faster when using express service (signature required).

Note: Cards cannot be shipped to a P.O. or APO Box.

dino
dino (@guest_21919)
August 4, 2014 18:12

Hi.

does this still working?

and how much do i need to pay for the e-mail deliver option for this gift card?

can i purchase money order at Walmart the how much and the limit?

the card is written gift card on it, so does walmart doesn’t know?

please answer

mark
mark (@guest_9916)
May 10, 2014 20:49

Simon Mall in Boston (Copley) only selling Amex.

Skywardbd
Skywardbd (@guest_7918)
April 17, 2014 13:28

The Simon Mall (West Town) in Knoxville, TN is now selling only Amex gift cards. The Simon Mall (Northlake) in Charlotte, NC will only take cash for a Simon mall Visa gift card. Don’t know how many other malls are using these different rules.

Karen
Karen (@guest_7821)
April 15, 2014 13:20

Can the Simon cards be liquidated at Walmart or do they have to be used at the malls?

Jan B
Jan B (@guest_7802)
April 15, 2014 04:43

I only wish to interject that the Simon Mall Visa GCs are not $2.00 at all eligible locations. The fee I have paid locally is $2.95, still a good deal. Thank you. Enjoying your content.

JB
JB (@guest_19231)
July 16, 2014 10:44

I paid $2.95 for a Simon Visa GC at The Outlets at Orange in Orange, CA, and I believe the same fee applies at the nearby Westminster Mall in Westminster, CA. A better question would be…which locations charge $2!!