Gift cards are payment cards you can give someone you love to use for their shopping needs. The cards allow you to purchase goods at a particular store. We also have general ones that allow you to buy at any store of your choice. Visa gift cards are gift cards specifically from Visa. Various companies issue gift cards, and Visa is one of them. Today I will mainly look at how to transfer a visa gift card to a bank account via Venmo.
Venmo is a money transfer service from PayPal. It operates in the United States of America. The company was developed to assist students in splitting payments at restaurants, movie theaters, and other places. However, the service is available nowadays for everyone who feels like having an account with the company. You can do various things with a Venmo account, such as buying goods, sending money, and much more.
For your information, Venmo only operates in the United States. Therefore, you cannot make an international transfer. That is contrary to the parent company, PayPal, which operates globally in more than 200 countries. The company competes with Cash App, another money transfer service developed by Square within the US. Apart from allowing personal accounts, Venmo has grown to allow business accounts to help businesses accept payments.
How to get a gift card?
You can get a gift card from various companies such as Walmart, Target, Amazon, Vanilla, eBay, and many others. We have tangible gift cards as well as eGift cards. The tangible gift cards can be purchased online or at a store. For example, Walmart allows you to buy gift cards online with a checking account number online or at a branch near you.
When you apply online, you can receive the card at your location or the location of the beneficiary. You only need to choose the amount of money you want to spend, then maybe choose the card’s design and complete the payments.
Purchasing an eGift card requires you to make payments online, choose the amount you want in the gift card, and include a message to the beneficiary of the card. After that, you can schedule when you want the beneficiary will receive the card.
Where do I get Visa gift cards?
Various places sell Visa gift cards. They include Visa itself, Target.com, Amazon, and Giftcards.com. You can have a virtual gift card or a tangible one like any other gift card.
For your information, some gift cards are rechargeable, while others can only be used once. Rechargeable gift cards are better because you do not need to purchase cards now and then. You only need to recharge your card, and you are good to go.
How to use a gift card?
There are various ways you can use a gift card. As we shall see shortly, you can indirectly transfer a visa gift card to a bank account or use it to buy goods and services. Usually, gift cards are for buying goods and services.
When buying with one, you pick goods at a store that accept gift cards, then present the card at the register for them to deduct the appropriate amount of money. Make sure that your card balance is enough to pay for the goods. The cashier will deduct the amount, then hand over the card to you.
How to open a Venmo account?
We want to check how you can use Venmo as a bridge to move money to a bank account. But it is also essential to know how you can open a Venmo account. The platform operates online, and thus its services are purely online. You can therefore open an account online. You require a bank account, phone number, and email address.
The bank account will be helping you to recharge your Venmo account. Remember, you can transfer money from a bank account to Venmo as long as you have added the account to your Venmo account.
Once you have all these requirements, you can proceed to open an account. You require a smartphone, a tablet, or a computer plus a secure and reliable internet connection. With a smartphone or tablet, you can proceed as follows.
- Download Venmo mobile app for iOS or Android (No Windows app)
- Open the app
- Choose your preferred sign-up method, then create a strong and secure password (between 8- 32 characters long).
- Verify your mobile phone number and your email address
- Add then verify your bank account
Just that, you will have your account running. You can also opt to open your account using a computer by tapping.
How to use a Venmo account?
There are various ways you can use a Venmo account. They include the following.
i) Buying goods and services
Various businesses accept payment of goods and services using Venmo. You only need to open a business profile as a business person, and you are good to go. Your customers will pay you the way they send money to their friends. But how long does Venmo take to send money to someone?
Venmo to Venmo transfers are instant, and thus you will be able to get your payments instantly. It’s not like checks and ACH transfers that take several days to avail money in your account.
ii) Sending money
As I have mentioned, you can instantly transfer money to others using Venmo. You need their phone number or email addresses.
iii) Transfer money to a bank account
The bank account that you add when opening your account allows you to fund your transaction and receive withdrawals from Venmo. You can withdraw money in the following manner.
- Open your app to log in
- Enter the amount to transfer to your bank.
- Tap “Instant” (charges a small fee) or “1-3 Biz Days” (for free)
- Select your bank account or debit card.
- Confirm transfer details
- Tap the green “Transfer” button.
- Complete the transfer.
An instant transfer is necessary if you are sending money for emergency issues. Since you have to pay some fees, the question is; how much does Venmo charge for instant transfer? The service charges a 1.5% (minimum $0.25, maximum $15) transaction fee.
How to Transfer Visa Gift Card to bank account via Venmo
You can use your Venmo account to transfer money from your gift card to a bank account. However, you must add the gift card to your Venmo account just the way you add a debit, credit, or prepaid card. The platform accepts Discover, American Express, MasterCard, and Visa cards. You can add a card in the following manner.
- Navigate to your Venmo app.
- Click the “Settings” tab
- Tap “Payment Method.”
- Press “Add bank or card.”
- Type in your Visa gift card details and hit “add a card to your account.
The card will appear in the list of the added cards. After that, you can transfer money into your bank account from your Venmo account. You can refer to the process of transferring money to your bank account above.
Does Venmo support PayPal?
Venmo is a product of PayPal but does not work directly with the parent company. That means you cannot directly transfer money from Venmo to Paypal and vice versa. However, when transferring money from Venmo to PayPal, you can use indirect ways to transfer money to a debit card or a bank account that links to PayPal, then move the funds to your PayPal account. The same applies to when transferring money from PayPal to your Venmo account.
How do I get money out of a gift card?
Sometimes you need cash to use for your various ways, such as buying goods and services at places that don’t accept cards and gifting friends and relatives, among other uses. The following are ways you can get money out of your card.
1) Sell at exchange kiosks
There are various gift card kiosks located at various places across the country. These include shopping malls and supermarkets. Here, you exchange your card for cash but get less of the card balance since you have to part with some fees for the service.
2) Sell via an app
Various apps allow you to sell your gift cards online for money. The apps also charge fees for the service. They are convenient since you do not have to leave your house to look for a buyer for your card. Due to the fees, you may get 80%-90% of what the card is worth.
If you are selling a gift card from well-known companies such as Target, Amazon, and Best Buy, then you might get most of what the card is worth.
3) Sell your gift card at a website.
We have various websites that you can use to sell your card and get money. The sites almost work like gift card buying apps. They include QuickcashMI, Cardwell, GiftCardBin, Gameflip, Raise, and GiftCash.
4) Sell them to your friends.
You might have a friend interested in buying something from a store. Since you need cash, you can exchange the card with the cash they intend to spend. You may get 100% of your card balance by using the trick.
Bottom line
A gift card is a payment card that you give someone as a present to shop at a particular store. Some gift cards are store-specific, while others allow you to buy goods at various places. Mobile money transfer apps allow gift cards, and Venmo is one of them.
You can use Venmo as an intermediary to transfer money from a gift card to a bank. Gift cards are also convertible to cash in various ways.
