By Emma Hayes
How to add a prepaid gift card to your PayPal account to use as a payment methodApril 04, 2024news Redeem now You can add a gift card to your PayPal account to use as a payment method.However, the gift card has to be a prepaid gift card from brands like Visa, American Express, MasterCard, or Discover in order to use it on PayPal.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.One of the obvious perks of the holiday season is gift cards galore.Prepaid gift cards sold by credit card companies are a particularly great gift, because you can put the balance toward just about anything — including your PayPal account.This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in.And adding a gift card balance to your PayPal account might be a good idea if you often use PayPal. It's also a great way to eliminate the possibility of forfeiting your funds before you've even had a chance to splurge — a lot of us are prone to losing physical copies of things. Here's how to add a prepaid gift card from Visa, American Express, MasterCard, or Discover to your PayPal account.How to add a gift card to PayPal1. Go into your PayPal Wallet on a desktop computer.You'll need a PayPal Cash or PayPal Cash Plus account to transfer money from a bank to your PayPal account, but anyone can add a prepaid credit card gift as a payment method, whether or not you've elected for one of the Cash services. Emma Witman/Business Insider2. Click "Link a debit or credit card."3. Tap "Link a card manually" if given the option to link manually or through a bank.4. Enter the gift card information.5. Tap "Link Card."Once linked, you can select the prepaid card a default payment option if you'd like. Emma Witman/Business InsiderSometimes, you might run into an error trying to add a gift card to your PayPal account as a payment method because gift cards lack personal identifiers, unlike traditionally-issued credit cards. If you run into this kind of trouble, register your gift card — there should be instructions on the card that will direct you to a website for registration.Additionally, there are also ways to exchange non-credit card gift cards for money in your PayPal account, but the cost of the transaction is significant — usually a minimum of 10% of the value of the gift card. Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:How to delete your PayPal account on your Mac or PCHow to link your PayPal account to your Twitch channel so viewers can donate to your pageHow to check your PayPal balance on desktop or mobile'Does PayPal have fees?': Yes, but not for all transactions — here's how you can avoid fees on PayPalEmma Witman Emma Witman is an Asheville, NC-based freelance journalist with a keen interest in writing about hardware, PC gaming, politics, and personal finance. She is a former crime reporter for a daily newspaper, and has also written extensively about bartending for Insider. She may or may not judge your drink order when behind the bar. Follow her on Twitter at @emwity. Read more Read lessWatch: Why the Chase Cards CEO is not worried about the hundreds of millions lost last quarter due to credit card rewardsncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonyowcidnKxnpJqwqXvHqK5mrJ9irqWwjKCgn6xdmK6zsIytpmaoka69org%3D