MilesBuzz! - What's the best way to buy a general purpose gift card $1000-2000?

I'm planning to stuff my wife's stocking with a gift card in the range mentioned. I have never bought a gift card over about a hundred bucks so I really don't know where/how to buy.

I'd like to earn points/miles and don't want to pay a fee. Thinking of something that would be useful most anywhere, such as a Visa or Amex card. Of secondary interest would be something like a Simon malls card.

Am I dreaming? Or can someone point me in the right direction? Search revealed little of help.

Thank you and happy holidays.

All visa and amex prepaid cards that I know of have fees but they aren't generally a whole lot. One that I like is the Visa Buxx card which is designed as a spending tool for parents to give their teens but it can be reloadable using a miles earning credit card. It costs $15 to get and then a couple of dollars per each $500 load.

Most other one time use visa/amex gift cards have similar fees (generally $8-10) and cannot be reloaded. They may or may not be able to be loaded with a miles earning credit card...it generally depends on which card you use and where you shop. There is no hard and fast rule to find out. I called my credit card company and put a block on the cash advance feature to prevent a cash advance going through on my credit card without my knowlege (I can always call to remove the block if I so desire).

Other than that you may want to consider using an airline's shopping portal to buy a giftcertificate.com supercertificate. Again you'll have a nominal fee but then your wife can redeem the super certificate for gift certificates to hundreds of different stores (both online and offline). You can double dip for miles using this technique. Right now AA's shopping portal gives you 4 miles per dollar spent on top of the miles you'd earn from your credit card.

Hope this points you in the right direction...there really isn't a whole lot to choose from. If you want to make sure your wife spends the money, I'd chose the giftcertificate.com as there is no easy way to get cash out of the cards. The Visa Buxx card can be used at an ATM.

Happy Holidays

I've snooped around a little and have found a bonus deal for DL miles as well. Modest but the value of the miles pretty much covers the card issue fee.

Link to Delta/AMEX promo. (http://www.AmericanExpress.com/deltatcc)

read all of this...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=267256

cashing it out is always the issue...

some things dont work no more.

I have use for the Wachovia card. Some use the US bank one. Some the National City. the latter two companies decided one day that my use of their card was against their terms so they refunded me my last load of $ and said bye bye. No laws broken but I sure pissed off a few banks (after getting many miles of course) I also have a US Bank Visa so they aint THAT pissed at me.

Also, AMEX may have some too.

In all things gift cards (or GCs as many call them in here) it is always good to use in moderation and to vary your $ amounts. As well, use them once and a while for real purchases, as this is what they say they are intended for.

good luck and let us know if you find new ones!

:)MM

I want to make it clear that I'm just looking for a gift for my wife, not to launder money through gift cards for miles.

Thanks for the link, though.

I want to make it clear that I'm just looking for a gift for my wife, not to launder money through gift cards for miles.

Thanks for the link, though.

its not laundering. do both mate!
get her a reloadable card regardless!