Prepaid Visa and Mastercard payouts, explained
The closest thing on the wall to cash: what a virtual prepaid card is, where it works, where it does not, and when to pick one over a gift card.
Every other brand on the cashout wall ties your earnings to one shop. Prepaid Visa and Mastercard do not — they spend anywhere those networks are accepted online, which for most people is the point.
What you actually receive
A card number, an expiry date and a security code, delivered by email. There is no plastic in the post. You use it the way you would use any card online: type the number at checkout.
| Prepaid card | Gift card | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it spends | Anywhere online that takes Visa or Mastercard | One brand |
| Arrives as | Card number, expiry, security code | A code for that brand |
| Best for | Not knowing yet what you want | Knowing exactly what you want |
| Watch out for | Online-only, and some merchants decline prepaid | Region and expiry on the card |
Where they do not work
- In shops. There is no physical card to tap.
- Anywhere that pre-authorises more than the balance — car hire and hotel deposits are the classic ones, because the hold exceeds what is on the card.
- A few subscriptions refuse prepaid outright, usually the ones that want a card they can retry against.
- Cash withdrawal. These are spending cards, not bank cards.
When to pick one
Choose prepaid when you want the flexibility of cash and do not have a particular shop in mind. Choose a gift card when you do — the brand cards are frequently the better value, because the discount we get from the issuer is larger on retail than on prepaid, and that is what funds the rate you are earning at.
Availability
Prepaid cards are issued by a bank, not by us, and the bank approves each site that offers them. That means availability can change independently of everything else on the wall. If they are not showing, they are not currently issuable to us — the wall only lists what can actually be bought that day.
Prepaid, gift cards and delivery credit, with live denominations.
See what is on the wall today