Steam Payment Options?

[bicostp]

I want to buy a couple titles through Steam, but I don't have a credit card and my folks don't want me to use theirs. So, I've been looking at prepaid Visa gift cards.

Vanilla Visa? Garbage. I tried without registering, it didn't work. They told me to register it on their website, but there was no option to do so. Months later, they put a register form up, but it doesn't appear to do squat since I get the same error, even after waiting overnight between registering and making the purchase. Their fix? "You have to find an online retailer that doesn't require that information".

I can pick up a Simon Gift Card at the mall, or a GiftCardMall card at the supermarket. Will either of these work? (Vanilla Visa seems sketchy to me.) GiftCardMall seems to handle iTunes cards, and the Simon Malls website says it's good "anywhere Visa debit cards are accepted"...

Have any of you used these types of cards before online? (PayPal isn't an option.)

Thanks!

[Ben Cebhrem]

I use a NetSpend Visa card myself. Works without fail online or offline.

[jeffslot]

Do you have any paypal? There is a paypal plug-in that can make a mastercard for you.

[jleemero]

Simon Mall Gift Cards.
Never had a problem with one.

I use em' all the time for whenever I wanna buy something without risking my own info.

[bicostp]

So when you register one, it actually registers, so when companies cross-check the credit information they don't get declined?

Do you get a card right at the store, or do they just give you the numbers and they send you a card through the mail?

[jleemero]

You get it right at the store.

There is no "register" or any of that crap.

They hand it to you, you use it. That's about it.

[bicostp]

Well, the Simon gift card worked, and they only charge $2 to set it up if you buy it from the mall. They also let me transfer the $25 on the Vanilla card to it, and amongst the heap of brochures they shoved at me in the store was a $2 off coupon for rechargeable Duracells (which I kind of needed anyway), so it worked out well.

You just have to register it online.

Thanks for the help!