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How To Buy A Game Without Using A Credit Card
Jemcrystal
Member UncommonPosts: 1,989
This thread is about listing all the ways you can purchase games without being forced to use credit/debit cards. Note my country is USA.
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GAMESTOP
You can use cash at a GameStop if you have one near you. Save your receipts (I put mine in a ziplock bag taped to the wall behind my PC). GameStop will let you trade in bad disks if you do it right away. Even their used disks. There might be a limit on trade ins up to five times (depends on store policy).
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AMAZON.COM
This is a great place to get games!
Amazon has an alternative payment method called Coin Star. Coin Star is a coin counting machine found in most grocery stores all over the United States. It's FREE (no charge) to buy gift cards! But...
1) Not all Coin Stars participate in Amazon gift cards (just walk up to one and punch buttons to see if it says Amazon anywhere).
2) $5 minimum to make a gift card (not a charge it's applied to the card).
3) Never never never use the dollar counter Coin Star. The dollars get stuck in them!
4) You will need lots of change and deep pockets with no holes to carry them.
5) Get quarters from a bank, arcade, carwash, or sometimes you can buy one roll ($10) off grocery store Customer Service clerks (if they haven't sold any to other customers).
6) Read Coin Star screen carefully if you hit the wrong button you'll screw it up.
7) If Coin Star breaks you can get a refund usually right from the store's Customer Service but occasionally the employee is clueless so MAKE SURE IF COIN STAR BREAKS TO WRITE DOWN THE PHONE NUMBER THAT APPEARS FOR ONLY A FEW SECONDS ON THE SCREEN. Calling this number will get you a check in the mail.
8) The gift card is a strip of printout paper looks like a store receipt don't loose it or forget it it's kinda small and insignificant looking.
9) Obviously you must have an Amazon account. Go to account options and "add gift card" see pic.
http://s29.postimg.org/oe5ntj3tj/image.png
10) If you live in the United States do not buy Amazon products sold in foreign countries. Buy from people in the USA to avoid screw ups in charges/handling and long shipment times.
Comments
Paypal/Google Wallet - you can add a checking account.
But you have to give paypal your credit card number which is still using a credit card.
Why make it so difficult when you can just purchase a pre-paid credit card and use that.
Nope... Direct debit from the checking account can be used instead of a credit card. This feature is there already for a couple of years...
Don't mind the prepaid CC's but I hate the activation fee that comes with them. Haven't used one in a while but I believe its 5 or 6 dollars which is somewhat smallish but overtime that starts to add up.
Pre-paid CC's all have an activation fee in Canada and pretty sure it's standard regardless if its a MC or Visa which is 5 or 6 bucks.
Also pretty sure some prepaid cards in the states have activation fees. Guess you're just lucky that the ones you buy don't charge it but thought Visa did for all their cards. /shrug
How do you survive without a credit card? Might be better off just getting a CC. Not sure how it is in the US but in the UK also offer you ridiculously good protection against fraud, theft and companies charging you money without your permission. CC companies will even be jointly liable for the purchase if you spend more than £100. SAy I bought a tv for £500 bucks and the manufacturer goes bankrupt but I was entitled to 2 year warranty. The bank is liable to cover you for the warranty if the company goes out of business. Another example you are paying a few grand to a decorator for your house and you pay using your CC if the decorator screws you over the bank/cc companies will be jointly liable with the decorator and will reverse the payment.
Another thing is that only fools use debit cards for card payments instead of a credit card. There is ZERO benefit to using a debit card to pay for a purchase at stores etc unless they charge you credit card fees. By paying by credit card you usually pay at a much later date (30-60 days later than the purchase) so you can easily put those money you would've paid straight away on a short term deposit for the 30-40 days you get grace time from the bank.
Always pay your balance in full on the due date and there will be no interest. You will build up a good credit rating, you will pay later, you will get points and you get better protection. Use debit cards onyl for cash withdrawals.
People who misuse credit cards are just bad with managing their money. Getting rid of the credit card will help them not go bankrupt but they are probably still bad at managing their money.
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All you have to do is make get a credit card with a very low credit limit. Problem solved. You will never spend more than that limit and what you can afford.
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Good writeup.
A lot of people don't like CC's, or can't get them. I can understand a desire to avoid use, apart from the obvious "tinfoil hat".
I'm in the US, our CC gift cards sometimes have a activation fee, but not always - depends on the brand/vendor. Most, however, once activated allow you to continue to use them by putting money back on them, and they act like a debit card then. So you don't have to keep getting a new card and re-paying the activation fee, you can just buy one and reuse/recharge it.
I'm one of those people who puts everything on my CC, then pays off the balance, mainly so I can get reward points for free. It is a colossal pain in the rear when something like the Target or Home Depot breach hits - even if you aren't directly involved the bank reissues the card, and then you have a couple dozen places you need to update it.
My CC has been stolen/hacked/whatever twice - the first time I have no idea, I was on deployment. I was at a port call and saw a $1,000 charge to an online casino - that was easy to dispute and I wasn't held liable - since I was very obviously not in a position where I could have done anything online, let alone a casino -- it probably was an online-related theft, but the bank issued a new card and no new problems since with that. The second time I think it got ripped off by a waitress at a restaurant - but I can't prove that. I just know I hadn't done much of anything with it for about a week - I go out to eat for lunch one day, and later that night I get a phone call saying the card was being used at every WalMart in a 100 mile radius for big screen TVs and several gas stations simultaneously for large fillups. Again - nice that it was obvious and the CC company covered it, I wasn't liable - that one was pretty obviously a local heist. Again the bank issued a new card and that was the end of that.
That is one nice thing about CCs versus Debit Cards - CC companies you get some protection against theft - they are affecting a virtual debt amount, but they aren't touching your actual money. Debit cards, if stolen, once they drain your account, it's gone and you have no money until/if the bank can clear you of liability.
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