Vanilla Visa gift cards are prepaid open loop gift cards produced by InComm Payments. These gift cards are not to be confused with Vanilla Mastercard gift cards.
Summary
You can:
- Use Vanilla Visa gift cards almost anywhere Visa prepaid cards are accepted, in-store and online
You cannot:
- Spend Vanilla Visa gift cards immediately as they take 30 minutes to become usable
- Use a PIN with Vanilla Visa gift cards – just press OK and then sign if required
- Add Vanilla Visa gift cards to your mobile wallet
How to use Vanilla Visa gift cards
To use a Vanilla Visa gift card in-person, swipe the card at the payment terminal, select Credit and then press OK when you are prompted to enter a PIN. Unlike Vanilla Mastercards, Vanilla Visas don’t support PINs so you just have to press OK and then sign if the merchant requires it.
For online purchases, you can enter your gift card’s number, expiry date and three digit CVV directly in the credit/debit card field. The name you enter is irrelevant so put down anything you want.
Many online merchants will refuse all prepaid gift cards by default so you are usually better off adding your Vanilla Visa gift card to PayPal and then using that to pay. However, not all online businesses will offer PayPal as an option.
Another thing to keep in mind when paying online is that you are rarely able to split payments across multiple prepaid gift cards so you’ll need to ensure you have enough balance on your card to cover the entire purchase. For in-store purchases, most businesses will accomodate split payments.
If you’ve just purchased a Vanilla Visa gift card and are wondering why it doesn’t work, it’s likely because they take approximately 30 minutes before you can spend them.
Hacking and tampering
Just as with Vanilla Mastercard gift cards, there’s a risk with almost all prepaid open loop gift cards that they may be compromised through BIN attacks or physical card tampering. InComm Payments will replace Vanilla Visa gift cards that have had their balances stolen but it’s not generally regarded as a smooth process.
For that reason, we don’t recommend buying Vanilla Visa gift cards unless you plan to use them quickly. It’s also a good idea to check your gift cards at the time of purchase for signs of tampering (scratched off numbers, missing CVV etc) so you can immediately return them for a refund if there’s a problem.
Denominations and fees
Vanilla Visa gift cards have been observed in the following denominations:
- Vanilla Visa $25 ($3.95 fee)
- Vanilla Visa $50 ($4.95 fee)
- Vanilla Visa $50 ($5.95 fee)
- Vanilla Visa $100 ($5.95 fee)
- Vanilla Visa $250 ($7.50 fee)
- Vanilla Visa $400 ($9.95 fee)
- Vanilla Visa $25-500 ($7.95)
At Woolworths the $50 Vanilla Visa gift card has a $5.95 purchase fee whilst at other retailers the fee for the same card is $4.95.
Promotions
Coles usually run two 10% off promotions on $100 and $250 Vanilla Visa gift cards, one in March for New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and one in September for Victoria and Tasmania. These discounts have never been offered to any other state or territory.
Since Vanilla Visa gift cards were introduced to Woolworths in March 2024, Woolworths have run an offer every couple of months where you can earn 10x Everyday Rewards points per dollar spent on the $50, $100 and $25-500 denominations.
