Buying lindens with Gift Cards???

Read in another thread about buying with a Solo card or a Walmart card. Not sure what a slol card is but can you buy lindens with a Walmart VISA? And if so how do u do it? Can you transfer the money like a credit card or is it easier to transfer it from the card to Paypal then buy the lindens. Please help as i unfortunetly cannot get a bank account at the time or a credit card lol.

i mean i was wondering if it were even possible, i wasn't sure. I thought it was just Paypal, checking account or your own personal credit card

I think I've heard people mention here that you can use a prepaid visa to buy lindens on xstreet which you then withdraw to your avatar in SL. I've never seen anyone post to confirm that they have done it though. Of course xstreet is now owned by the Lindens so who knows if that's still possible.

Anyone who accepts major credit cards such as Visa and MasterCard has to operate under the rules of the credit card network (in their country), and their own bank or credit card processor. I'm pretty sure those rules don't allow them to discriminate on the type of card, except in very limited ways.

I don't know whether any of those exceptions apply to using prepaid cards to establish an account balance with LL. However, if you already have the card, do you have anything to lose by trying? If you don't have one, then it's probably not worth the steep fees to get one just to try it out.

You can buy $L directly from LL using the Walmart Gift card as long as you register it online first. Registering it just involves signing in to the website and associating the card with a name.

I have done it a couple of times and never had a problem. Register the card, sign into your account page, Update billing info and then click on the Linden Dollar Exchange button. Click on the Buy $L button on the next page.

When I was a newb and allowed to only purchase a limited number of Lindens inworld, I would buy from Ebay, using a credit card. The rates were generally very fair, and the delivery was instant.

And unfortunately is a very good way to have your account perma-banned.

Wow, really??? The company selling them is a rather large operation. I had no idea this was prohibited!!! Ouch! OK, so forget that post...it was a, um...story.

Before the questions pour in I will expand on that comment. Ebay does not use the Linden risk api. It is a fairly common occurence for people to buy $L with a stolen credit card and then offer them for sale there. If this happens then it is the buyer that pays for the crime. Either the money is confiscated, along with a 50% penalty or your account is banned. If you search through the forum here you can find more then one example of this. If you ARE going to buy $L from Ebay then pay very close attention to the feedback. I would always suggest on of the other outlets instead, including just buying straight from LL.

Thanks for the clarification Jesse.

I had a friend try to do that with an American Express gift card and it got rejected because the card doesn't tie back to a RL name and account -- which means there is no way to verify that it is legitimate and not stolen.

I have successfully used a WalMart VIsa GIft card to add credit to my account then buy L$. BUT before you can use it you have to go through the process listed in the gift card instructions to verify identity or you cant make pretty much ANY online purchases. Real name attached to visa gift card = LL took it with no problems.

thanks everyone, now next time i go to Walmart i can put a small amount on a card and actually not be as poor on SL. LOL, i need to get back to working somewhere on there

Read the fine print. These cards are expensive, and you should understand the fee schedule to minimize your cost.

If you can, open up a checking account somewhere that includes a free debit card. These are generally much better deals. If the big banks won't talk to you because of a bad banking history, try a credit union.

I have used them a few times. The only expense is paying the tax when it is bought. Buy a $50 card, pay the tax on the $50, register the card, log into user page and update billing method, purchase $50 worth of $L through the Lindex. Easy as pie and has added advantage of being completely separate from any RL info except your name and is not tied to your bank accounts for safety.

Tax? According to the WalMart web site, the card costs anywhere from $8.94 to $12.94. I wouldn't expect there to be a tax on this.

Crap! Sorry Kidd, I just peeked back in this thread. I will attribute the lapse to a harried morning instead of alzheimers and I am sticking by my story! Yes there is a charge for the card, but I would argue that there is no fine print or hidden costs

There are many reasons a person does not want a debit card or charge card. A gift card does of course cost more but in some cases it is a better alternative. I, myself went through bankruptcy after crippling illness. Credit cards kept me alive for a time but I will never, ever have one again, especially now that you can never escape credit card debt anymore in the US for any reason. Also as I pointed out, Gift Cards act as an inpenatrable firewall between your purchase and your bank account. I have many places I trust purchasing online but every now and then there might be a question and this way the most you are out is the total on the gift card, not the maximum credit line on your credit card. The one final argument for using a gift card every now and then is the troubling rise in credit card accounts that have been hacked in the last few years where the info on sometimes millions of accounts have been accessed.

Forget the walmart card. If you are in the US, look into "green dot". Thats what I have been using for years.

Judging by the posts here there fees are about half as much too.
Plus, you can get them at walmart too, if you really wana

Cool! I'll check it out. Thank you Dante

I need more help with this one guys. I linked the card i got today with my name on the website but i couldn't figure out how to buy the lindens even on XStreet, it sent me to my paypal but said that it couldn't verify my card. I was excited but now bummed . Any other options??? PLEASE HELP LOL

Go to http://secondlife.com/
Up on the right you can sign into your account

Click on "My Account"

On the left under "Membership" click on "Update Billing Info"
On the right click on "Delete and Update Credit Card Info"
Enter gift card data

On the left under "Linden Dollar", click on "Linden Dollar Exchange"
Now on the left click on Buy $L
Enter the "Approximate Cost in US$" for however much you want to buy. Pay special attention to the "Approximate Total Cost:" and make sure it does not exceed the value of the card.

According to their web site, Green Dot charges $9.95, which is more than the standard WalMart card I cited earlier. And WalMart seems to have lowered their fees since my previous post; they're now showing $3 as the purchase cost.

Not that I'm a fan of either.

I was using 'fine print' as a euphemism for details. I didn't mean to suggest that anything was hidden, only that there are a variety of fees, including monthly maintenance fees in some cases, and that you need to understand them.


My approach to that problem is to have two sets of bank accounts, in separate institutions. (In fact, it's actually three, because our joint account is in yet another credit union.) The account that gets used for PayPal and other electronic transactions has relatively little money in it. You may have to put some effort into being sure they don't add a credit line to the debit card, but these days, that should be easier.