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Buying Money Orders at Walmart (2019 - 2022)

Old Jan 2, 2019, 9:51 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: danpeake
As of Nov 11, 2020, Meta gebits are getting declined when used for MO/BP purchases at MC/SD. New limit appears to be $99 per swipe with some metas at some stores. READ the posts below and add a data point with details. USB and GD gift cards do not seem to be affected.

This is the thread for 2019. The previous discussion can be found here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/manu...rt-2018-a.html

New to MO: Read this entire Wiki (Click to open) and all posts for some tips before asking common questions. It is best to know what you are doing before you try.

Note: The policy for allowing gift cards as payment for money orders can be more restrictive with certain stores or certain clerks. Just because an employee says there's a new restrictive policy "for all Walmarts" means nothing. There are plenty of cases where the employee is incorrect and the new policy is only regional or store specific.

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Tested Gebit (gift debit) cards:
1. DO NOT WORK - Any Vanilla product affiliated with InComm or ITC Financial Services will not work for swipes over $49.99.
2. See above on Visas issued by MetaBank. New limit appears to be $99 per swipe with some metas at some stores. Follow the posts below for the latest information.
3. MC issued by US bank OR Metabank MC (Giftcards.com) can work, but you need to change payment type to debit before they enter the amount in the register. See below for details.
4. Gdot/sun work but take about an hour to activate.(VGC issued by Sunrise also limited to $99/swipe, same as Metabank issued cards, and Sunrise was available immediately).
5. USB work
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________
NEW Limits as of 11/18 - 8K with ID every 24 hours. ID required for MO over 1K.

Some tips for starting out:

All WM registers allow 4 debit swipes per transaction, but YMMV per store and cashier. Refer to cards as Debit cards.

Start slow and buy one MO with one Gebit to see how it works. Refer to cards as Debit, only this community calls them Gebits. Your store or cashier may have rules that other stores do not have, only allowing one swipe per trans or up to 4 swipes per trans. Read all the tips below and all the posts below before trying more advanced transactions. NO variety or design of VISA or MC Gebit's will ever auto-drain at Walmart so always tell them the amount you want to pay per card. Fee: 1K MO or less is usually 88 cents each, but ask or check the wall. Subtract the fee from the total or pay in cash. If a store says "no", thank them and try again another day with a different clerk.


Helpful details and tips for advanced transactions:

1. Cost:
1K MO fee is usually $1 each(Some states limit MO total to 750 or 950 and may have a different fee). Subtract fee from your total or pay in cash. Can buy two 1K MO in one transaction with 4 swipes for $1 x 2 in most states. NO variety or design of VISA or MC Gebit's will ever auto-drain at Walmart so always tell them the amount you want to pay per card.

2. Split payment transactions: You cannot successfully swipe more than 4 cards in a single transaction. If the cashier screws up and enters $50.00 instead of $500.00 (thus making it impossible for 4 swipes to complete the transaction), the transaction will need to be canceled. The funds should return to your cards right away but may take 24 hours, so note the time and person helping you. When a transaction is canceled during the trans, the money returns to the cards. If canceled after, the cash reg drawer opens and they pay you back in cash.

3. Split payment: The amount of each swipe needs to be entered by the cashier. Ask to "split the payment by $$$". The Gebit must have current balance of that amount or more otherwise slip with Error 51 will print out. Warning: (YMMV) It appears (my experience on 3 occasions during prepaid card load and buying MO in 2 different WMs) that after the debit card was charged no cash could be credited back to the card. Cashier should issue cash back. Keep the slip and contact manager if in doubt. Remember date, time and register if no slip.

4. Bad Printer: IF, by chance, you've swiped your GCs successfully, a receipt prints but the MO doesn't, make sure to ask to see the receipt and check near the bottom IF it says CHANGE/REFUND with a negative sign before the amount of GCs you swiped, that means the cashier must give you cash refund. Cashier may have to call for the cash dept manager to verify the refund. Some stores may outright give your cash refund immediately while there are others that will ask you to come back. Think twice before you buy MOs while on vacation or when you're in unknown to you territories for issues like this.

5. Kiosk: Very few Kate's can sell money orders anymore.>>>>Sometime 2016, a lot of WM supercenters have done away with Kate (kiosks that allows loading of prepaids/sell $500 MOs). As of today, MOST, if not ALL WMs, have replaced this with the regular slim ATM to check balance/withdraw money. Kates are a distant and pleasant memory now.

6. MCGC liquidation- The cashier should
not enter the amount first. Technically they just can't hit enter after entering the amount. Let the CSR know you need to swipe first and switch the payment type to debit, then swipe and hit "Cancel" or "Change Payment" to select "Debit" on the screen, enter the pin and have them enter the amount.

7. SSN/ID entry - Any MO purchases in one transaction at or over $3K requires you to input your SSN. Any MO at or over $1K requires ID input (and ID requirement can also be forced by cashier at any amount).



Debit codes PDF
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/attac...0&d=1461170080

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Buying Money Orders at Walmart (2019 - 2022)

Old Dec 23, 2019, 5:23 am
  #1756  
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Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 198
Originally Posted by MaxVO
A small buyer generating small losses can be tolerated longer than a large one. It's also true that we can not know all criteria that's input to AI as a starting point.
Been working on skynet?
beast7276 is offline  
Old Dec 23, 2019, 9:04 am
  #1757  
ogg
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
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There's no reason to think that Wal-Mart's Money Services operation is unprofitable. I remember when money orders cost 25 cents at WM. Now, they're 88 cents in most areas. Maybe WM prices some services as lossleaders to get people into the stores or to use other services. We don't know. It's all guessing. I do know that the post office charges $1.70 for each $1000 money order and has said that selling money orders is one of the most profitable services it offers.
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Old Dec 23, 2019, 10:23 am
  #1758  
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Originally Posted by ogg
There's no reason to think that Wal-Mart's Money Services operation is unprofitable. I remember when money orders cost 25 cents at WM. Now, they're 88 cents in most areas. Maybe WM prices some services as lossleaders to get people into the stores or to use other services. We don't know. It's all guessing. I do know that the post office charges $1.70 for each $1000 money order and has said that selling money orders is one of the most profitable services it offers.

most supermkts that sells MOs also charge bet >89 - $1 per $500, I doubt they do it at as a loss leader to get folks into the stores, so if they arent lossing on them I doubt Wally is
craz is offline  
Old Dec 23, 2019, 11:55 am
  #1759  
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 29
Anyone ever had issues buying MOs using MetaBank VGCs? I bought a 600.88 successfully, but when i tried to buy another 698.88, the first two cards went through fine, but the 3rd one kept getting the transaction cancelled. Made sure it was the correct amount too.
chuakc92 is offline  
Old Dec 23, 2019, 1:43 pm
  #1760  
ogg
 
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 317
the 3rd one kept getting the transaction cancelled
Can you explain what happened more completely, please? A problem with a card not getting authorized doesn't cancel a transaction by itself. You can attempt authorizations eight times for a transaction. If the funds haven't been authorized by then, no further attempts to swipe will work--but the transaction isn't cancelled automatically. The CSR or a manager has to abort it.

I suspect whatever problem you ran into has nothing to do with the card you used. It could have been a system problem or a communications timeout. But I wasn't there and I'm just guessing.
ogg is offline  
Old Dec 23, 2019, 4:39 pm
  #1761  
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 29
Originally Posted by ogg
Can you explain what happened more completely, please? A problem with a card not getting authorized doesn't cancel a transaction by itself. You can attempt authorizations eight times for a transaction. If the funds haven't been authorized by then, no further attempts to swipe will work--but the transaction isn't cancelled automatically. The CSR or a manager has to abort it.

I suspect whatever problem you ran into has nothing to do with the card you used. It could have been a system problem or a communications timeout. But I wasn't there and I'm just guessing.
Some red text appeared that says transaction canceled or something. It disappeared too quickly for me to read the whole thing. Non of my cards worked. But i went to Kroger's and everything went smoothly.
chuakc92 is offline  
Old Dec 23, 2019, 5:25 pm
  #1762  
 
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Originally Posted by chuakc92
Anyone ever had issues buying MOs using MetaBank VGCs? I bought a 600.88 successfully, but when i tried to buy another 698.88, the first two cards went through fine, but the 3rd one kept getting the transaction cancelled. Made sure it was the correct amount too.
BAU with 4 meta $200 VGCs for 1 $800 MO today at one of my usual WMs.
radonc1 is offline  
Old Dec 23, 2019, 7:03 pm
  #1763  
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 2,824
Originally Posted by craz
most supermkts that sells MOs also charge bet >89 - $1 per $500, I doubt they do it at as a loss leader to get folks into the stores, so if they arent lossing on them I doubt Wally is
You don’t think that supermarkets are losing money on money orders, therefore WalMarts aren’t losing money either.

That is a speculative supposition built on a speculative supposition!
Steve in Olympia is offline  
Old Dec 24, 2019, 4:38 pm
  #1764  
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 1
Originally Posted by chuakc92
Anyone ever had issues buying MOs using MetaBank VGCs? I bought a 600.88 successfully, but when i tried to buy another 698.88, the first two cards went through fine, but the 3rd one kept getting the transaction cancelled. Made sure it was the correct amount too.
I had the exact same issue. I brought 8 Metabank VGC cards to buy two MOs, and two out of eight cards did not work. Both of them said transaction not authorized. When I went home and checked the balance, one of the cards were charged for the money order but the other was refunded. I guess I have to file a dispute for the charge.
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Old Dec 25, 2019, 9:11 am
  #1765  
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I like this time of year, I get a 10 day vacation from Wally, no way will I set into any (w/o a MC) till at least 1/4 due to the extremely long lines for Returns. And there arent enough MCs on my reg route to justify the time and gas either
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Old Dec 26, 2019, 9:12 am
  #1766  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 1,322
Originally Posted by craz
I like this time of year, I get a 10 day vacation from Wally, no way will I set into any (w/o a MC) till at least 1/4 due to the extremely long lines for Returns. And there arent enough MCs on my reg route to justify the time and gas either
Actually, some WM have dedicated register lines for returns & exchanges this time of year, so it may be that wait time at CS desk is unaffected. YMMV.
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Old Dec 27, 2019, 7:54 am
  #1767  
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
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Originally Posted by craz
I like this time of year, I get a 10 day vacation from Wally, no way will I set into any (w/o a MC) till at least 1/4 due to the extremely long lines for Returns. And there arent enough MCs on my reg route to justify the time and gas either
stopped by my neighborhood WM ~3 pm on 12/26, there were 2-3 people in front of me.
DiMAn0684 is offline  
Old Dec 27, 2019, 8:45 am
  #1768  
 
Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 29
Anyone having trouble getting Wells Fargo app to accept Walmart MoneyGram MO?
chuakc92 is offline  
Old Dec 27, 2019, 9:20 am
  #1769  
 
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 1,727
Originally Posted by chuakc92
Anyone having trouble getting Wells Fargo app to accept Walmart MoneyGram MO?
No
Chelski is offline  
Old Dec 28, 2019, 5:44 pm
  #1770  
 
Join Date: Feb 2019
Posts: 27
Been on a break from MS and went into to my usual NWM with 3 $1k VGC. CSR entered a bunch of information from my DL and then informed me they couldn't process it. Ended up just doing one and that went through fine...
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