Occasionally someone will email me who wants to buy my e-book but they don’t have a credit card or a debit card, so they can’t make an online purchase. Sending me a check or money order isn’t realistic, because if you need to pass a drug test you usually don’t have much time. But if you need to buy stuff without a credit card, there are a couple of alternatives.

Prepaid Visa or MasterCard Gift Cards

You may have seen these hundreds of times and just walked right past them. Lots of stores (grocery stores, drug stores, Wal-Mart, etc.) sell all kinds of pre-paid gift cards, including MasterCard and Visa gift cards. I think the lowest card amount you can buy is $25, plus you get charged another $5 for the card itself (I guess they figure that’s what it costs for a credit card sized piece of plastic).

You can use the card literally anywhere that takes credit cards, which is pretty much everywhere. You don’t have to spend it all in one place; the unused amount just stays on the card for a future use.

And once you buy the card you can add more money to it later if you want (called ‘re-loading’), but since I’ve never used one of these I’m not exactly sure how it’s done. But I’m guessing it’s a lot like the procedure for adding money to a GreenDot card (see below).

To locate a store near you that sells pre-paid Visa or MasterCard gift cards, go to this website and enter your zip code:
https://www.allaccessgift.com/gift/index.m

GreenDot Cards

I’ve used GreenDot cards before, so I know a little more about these. You can buy them in all kinds of stores: Wal-Mart, Rite-Aid, CVS, Walgreens, RadioShack, a ton of grocery stores, and probably lots more places I’ve never even heard of.

GreenDot cards work basically the same as pre-paid MasterCard and Visa gift cards. They’ve got a MasterCard logo on them, so you can use them any place that takes M/C.

It costs $9.95 to buy the card itself, not including the amount you want to put on the card for spending. But if you can’t get a regular credit card for whatever reason, then it’s probably not a bad investment anyway. You can add money to it whenever you want, and for all intents and purposes it’s a real credit card as far as anyone else knows.

Here’s what you do:

1. Go to the GreenDot website, put in your zip code and find a store near you that sells the cards: http://www.greendotonline.com
2. When you walk in the store, look for the kiosk where they sell all their gift cards, etc. There are two different GreenDot packets you’ll see hanging there. One says ‘Prepaid MasterCard’ and one says ‘MoneyPak.’ You want the one that says ‘Prepaid MasterCard.’
3. You’ll pay $9.95 for a temporary card (you get the real one in the mail later), and on top of that you have to spend a minimum of $25 to ‘load’ the card. (Be sure to ask the cashier if the card is ‘activated’, in case they forget to do this!). Then, when you get to a computer, go to the GreenDot website. Create an account, and then activate the card. (When you open up the the little card package you’ll see the activation number inside, in small print).
4. Once you finish the activation process, on the screen you’ll see a card number, expiration date, and CSV number. WRITE THESE NUMBERS DOWN RIGHT AWAY. If you don’t have EACH of these sets of numbers, then you’ll have to wait for your credit card to arrive in the mail before you can order anything over the Internet. You’ll receive an actual card in the mail about ten days later, but as long as you’ve got those numbers you can use it right away for online purchases.

Re-Loading Your GreenDot Card:

If you spend all the money in your GreenDot account and you want to add more money to it, this is called ‘re-loading’ your card.

To re-load your GreenDot card, go to a store that sells their products and buy what’s called a ‘MoneyPak’. MoneyPaks cost $4.95, PLUS however much money you want to put on the card (I think re-loading also requires a $25 minimum). Then, go to the GreenDot website, login to the account that you created when you originally signed up, follow the directions and enter the 16-digit number that you’ll find on your MoneyPak.

To find out where to buy GreenDot cards and MoneyPaks near you, use the store locator on their website: http://www.greendotonline.com