Prepaid Visa Card For Online Purchases

[ilovebrie]

I have Visa and Mastercard, but I am a bit wary about using them for some online buying, as people have told me they had problems with scamming (is that the right word?)
Has anybody ever used a prepaid Visa credit card to buy online? How does it work?
The site I have seen has a security certificate RSS. Another one says McAfee. Are these safe?
I would welcome any advice as I've only used Amazon in the past without any problems.
Thanks in advance and sorry for so many questions at once.

[EDDIE51]

Prepaid cards work exactly like other cards for on line ,or face to face, purchases.
You just need to make sure there is enough credit on them to cover the cost or the card payment will be rejected.

[ilovebrie]

Thank you Eddie.

[Maydup]

I haven't used a pre paid card, but I do try to use my credit card rather than my debit card. That way, if anything untoward happens, i can query the transaction and my bank account is not affected.

Opt to use paypal whenever you can, that way you only give your card details to paypal and not to individual businesses. Otherwise always check the site is safe by looking for a padlock on the payment screen and https rather than http in the web address.

[ilovebrie]

Thanks for that advice Maydup.
I was also thinking it might be useful for overseas, particularly paying in restaurants. I don't always remember to make sure the waiter doesn't take the card machine away from the table. So far I have not had any problems but ...

[boxtops]

It's not a bad idea for overseas, but remember that you have to pay to top up these cards, and I think there's also a fee for each transaction as well as (no doubt) a fee for converting from overseas currency (although you get that with many credit cards anyway).

For on-line - why not open a PayPal account? You can top that up anytime, and I use my PayPal account for many on-line purchases these days, where the trader takes PayPal. That way, the seller never has your bank details.

The other security you can look for is to make sure that the URL for the site you're buying from starts with https:// (for Secure). Never 100% I guess, but it all helps.

[ilovebrie]

Thanks for your quick replies. Something elso has just occurred to me. I often give my teenage relatives Amazon or Itunes vouchers as birthday/Christmas presents, but these seem so boring and predictable.
Could I give Prepaid Visa/Mastercards instead? It seems they might be more useful and allow the kids more freedom to spend where and how they choose.
Would each separate card have the recipient's name on them? This might seem like a silly question, so please bear with me. This is a new area for me.
Thanks

[boxtops]

I don't know if you are able to have a credit card (even prepaid) if you are under 18. Vouchers would seem to be the best option, if not.

[ilovebrie]

Hello, Boxtops
They are at uni so are well over the age of consent.... but not of support!

[spudqueen]

Why not give One 4 All Gift Cards as presents. They are available at all Post Offices in a variety of cards and can be spent in many different shops eg Argos, Boots, New Look, B&Q, Pizza Express, H Samuels, WH Smiths, Debenhams, Boots and many, many more. Rather than try to work out where someone might like to spend a gift card by giving them one of these they can decide themselves. And if the shop should go in administration and not accept gift cards any more (it has been known), they can just spend it in a different shop.

[boxtops]

what a good idea, spudqueen - I haven't heard of those before.

[ilovebrie]

Spudqueen
Thank you for such a great suggestion. I have never heard of One 4 All Gift Cards so I will call into local PO and have a recce.

[Canary42]

I doubt you will be able to gift a credit card - money laundering precautions will probably interfere.