Can You Buy a Money Order With a Gift Card? Answered

Sonya Bateman headshot Sonya Bateman
Verified & Updated Nov 9, 2020

Short Answer

Most money order issuers won’t let you buy a money order with a gift card, but there are a few that accept pin-based Visa and Mastercard gift cards. These include the U.S. Postal Service, Walmart, and some Western Union agents. For more information about buying a money order with a gift card, see below.

Can You Buy a Money Order With a Gift Card?

Most stores don’t allow customers to buy money orders with gift cards. However, there are a few places that accept gift cards for money orders — with restrictions. You can never use a store gift card (such as a CVS gift card) to buy a money order. Instead, the gift card should be a pin-based, prepaid gift card with a Mastercard or Visa logo, such as Vanilla Visa, Green Dot, or Netspend. The money order issuer may be able to run these gift cards as debit transactions.

We list the places that may accept pin-based gift cards for money orders below. Note that there is no guarantee that the gift card transaction will work, so it’s best to have a backup payment method on hand.

United States Postal Service (USPS)

  • Restrictions: Gift card must be PIN-based and able to process as debit[1]
  • Cost: $1.25 for up to $500 and $1.75 for $500.01 to $1,000[2]
  • Limits: $1,000 per money order[1]
  • Find a location

Walmart

Western Union

For more information on how money orders work, see our money order FAQ.

Stores That Don’t Accept Gift Cards for Money Orders

In the course of our research, we contacted the following stores and found that they don’t accept any type of gift card for money order purchases, including prepaid, pin-based gift cards:

  • 7-Eleven
  • Albertsons
  • CVS
  • Family Fare
  • Fred Meyer
  • Kmart
  • Kroger
  • Meijer
  • Publix
  • Rite Aid
  • Smith’s
  • Vons
  • Walgreens
  • Winn-Dixie

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