What would (can) you buy for $1.98 online?

July 27, 2017 12:10 PM

I have a prepaid Visa card from a rebate offer that I've spent all but $1.98 on... and now I've realized that I can't think of what to buy to use it up completely. (I know I should have thought of this problem earlier, but here I am). Ahem, I could also buy two $0.99 items... Any good things I should get? Thanks, hivemind.
posted by mhh5 to Shopping (14 answers total)

If you have an iPhone/iPad, any 2 iOS apps or IAP?
posted by cgg at 12:13 PM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Just buy amazon credit for yourself with it and save it for your next purchase. That's what I did last time I had those gift cards.
posted by mattamatic at 12:18 PM on July 27, 2017 [22 favorites]

I donate those pesky little prepaid card balances to charity.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:19 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

these
and
these
and
this
posted by phunniemee at 12:20 PM on July 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

You can ask cashiers at any checkout that accepts Visa to charge $1.98 to THIS card, and you'll pay the rest with this OTHER card (or cash or whatever).
posted by aniola at 12:22 PM on July 27, 2017 [9 favorites]

If it's a physical card, you can scan it at the self-check at a grocery store (or wherever) and it'll just take that amount off and then let you pay the balance with another card. I do that all the time with rebate cards.
posted by jabes at 12:23 PM on July 27, 2017 [5 favorites]

A fidget spinner with free shipping.
posted by Pacrand at 12:31 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

1 cent ebay auctions. You could buy up to 198 items!
posted by FallowKing at 12:52 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

Check if any app you use has a ad-free version for 99c.
posted by lmfsilva at 2:34 PM on July 27, 2017 [1 favorite]

An Arduino.
posted by pompomtom at 4:10 PM on July 27, 2017

Honestly I would just go to the dollar store and buy snacks (food has no sales tax.)
posted by blnkfrnk at 5:36 PM on July 27, 2017

When I had this problem a few months ago, I bought a Kindle book.
posted by Soliloquy at 5:48 AM on July 28, 2017

mattamatic has it. If you use Amazon ever, the best way to use the card is to reload your balance. You can enter in any value of at least $0.50, it doesn't have to be an integer. $1.98 works great and it will just apply to your next order.

It won't get you in trouble; Amazon actually promotes doing this ("Easily add the remaining balance of your pre-paid cards to your Amazon Gift Card Balance for shopping on Amazon")
posted by mama casserole at 9:26 AM on July 28, 2017

Response by poster: Yup. I think mattamatic is the winning answer here -- and the bonus is that I have more of these cards with expiration dates, and amazon credits don't expire. So now I don't really have to worry about expiration dates (or losing these stupid physical cards with random PINs)....
posted by mhh5 at 6:28 PM on July 28, 2017