How to buy online Disney eGift cards @ ShopDisney or Target at full price includes a PayPal $ option

[Br'er Bear]

UPDATE: Just to highlight, this is mainly for those wishing to send a Disney $ dollar gift card as a present to family and friends but more importantly for those DVC members with a US dollar PayPal balance but without a US bank account, as this gives them an option to pay their dues with a Disney eGift card so saving on currency transaction fees that PayPal applies.

Some DVC members would have experienced the free $200 and $100 Disney gift card when purchasing a holiday through the UK Walt Disney Travel Company. But the UK Disney Store only stocks sterling gift cards so the question asked for many years was, where can Disney dollar gift cards be purchased when living outside of the States?

It was difficult to find an answer, so we checked for options ourselves and surprising we managed to purchase from both ShopDisney and Target in the USA. More surprisingly we not only used our non-currency fee Post Office credit card at both of those stores but also used our US dollar PayPal account at Target. That we believe will help those who have a PayPal dollar account, but with no US dollar bank account to transfer to. Disney had the option to use PayPal but we weren't allowed as our account was outside of the USA.

We receive by email the eGift card’s 16-digit account and the 8-digit pin number's know as an EAN number, those are similar to the numbers on the back of the plastic cards.

The email also includes a Q-R code for scanning from your mobile which can be redeemed at select locations at Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort, Disney Store, Aulani, Vero Beach, Hilton Head, Disney Cruise Line and on ShopDisney.com, so almost all things Disney including tipping at their restaurants. There are some exceptions such as the fruit carts and outdoor vending locations.

The eGifts can be purchase directly from ShopDisney in denominations between $25 and $1,000 and from Target between $25 and $500.

At ShopDisney we purchased a $25 eGift card, it stated it's normally delivered within 6-hours but ours was delayed as Disney’s security questioned if it was a fraudulent purchase. Might have been because of our UK credit card or because we sent it as a gift to a different email address than the one we used to logged on with (our DVC log-on).

We received an email from Disney asking for the phone number of our credit card company, in the end it took about 24-hours for the card to be processed. Therefore best to send it to your own email address and not as a gift to begin with, so just be aware that there could be a delay with your first purchase.

We used a Post Office Money credit card with no currency fees and the $25 card cost us £19.25, that’s equivalent to an exchange rate of $1.2987 to £1.00 and that was purchased on 30th March.

For Target we first had to set up an online account but that was simple and quick and only required a few details, we then ordered a $25 eGift and paid with our US dollar PayPal account which we were directed to. Best to first make sure you have your US dollar PayPal account set up as your primary account.

It took just 75 minutes from placing the order to receiving the eGift card and you have an option to either view the eGift and its numbers or send it on to someone else as a present by pressing the Regift it icon.

That takes you to a new screen where you need to fill out the name of the recipient and their email; there's also an optional message box and a calendar so it can be delivered in the future for presents, such as holidays, birthdays and Christmas. But it can also be delivered right away which is what we tried and a message came up…Congratulations, you have successfully regifted to ----------- and we received it right away.

We then purchased late last night a $25 eGift with our Post Office credit card, which arrived within 3-hours. The purchase went though after midnight and on our credit card exactly £19.00 was debited, so equivalent to an exchange rate of $1.3157 to £1.00.

There’s also a Disney website where you can manage your gift card’s so if you’ve kept one of the free plastic gift cards then dig it out and add it to your online account where you can manage up to five different gift cards at a time, which can include both the plastic and eGift cards.

And once you've added an eGift card number you can transfer the balance from the eGift to a plastic card or visa versa.

We’ve since loaded two eGift cards into our account, then transferred one eGift card to our physical plastic card which we’ve been using for a few years now on our account. We've also tested the payment of DVC dues by just paying $2 directly from the other eGift card, the $2 was credited towards next years dues which left a balance of $23 on that eGift card.

And here’s the important websites…….

Target
target/p/disney-gift...18#lnk=sametab

ShopDisney
shopdisney/disney-gi...-egift-1417611

You might also be asked if you want to join D23, there’s three options of membership, two which cost and a general membership which is free but we’ve not yet explored any of those.

If you want to manage your cards then here’s a link to where you can add your card numbers, transfer a balance from one card to another and check a balance, you can use your DVC or MDE user ID to log in.
disneygiftcard/Manage

And if you are going to buy, then suggest you start with a $25 eGift like us just to test it out so you feel comfortable when purchasing larger amounts.

Hope we’ve covered everything and if you have any questions then we will try to answer them as soon as we can.

And if you do try it out then please post and good luck.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

I'm sorry but this has totally lost me. What are you actually gaining apart from getting a US gift card for the same price as if you had converted £ into $?

I love a bargain the same as everybody else but this is just exchanging one currency for another to no benefit unless I am way off the mark.

[Br'er Bear]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

I'm sorry but this has totally lost me. What are you actually gaining apart from getting a US gift card for the same price as if you had converted £ into $?

I love a bargain the same as everybody else but this is just exchanging one currency for another to no benefit unless I am way off the mark.

See more...

A few members who have rented through David's have previously ask how can they use their US PayPal balance without first transferring it into their PayPal sterling account, as that involves a currency fee. They also don't have a US dollar account at say Suntrust where a US dollar PayPal balance can be transferred to. And with a Disney gift card they can pay that towards their dues, so there's no currency fees involved.

Also some have asked over the years where can they buy a Disney gift card so to give to a family member who's going on a Disney holiday.

So yes you're right there's no gain for the majority of DVC members, its just for a few and those who want to buy gift cards for family & friends.

[Noodlez]

I’m one of those people! This week I rented out my spare 2018 points so we have some dollars coming into my PayPal account this/next week. We’ve been paying a small amount of our dues monthly (in advance) so I’d like to use the money for this rather than convert the currency twice.

I’ll look into the options given properly tomorrow, but thank you very much for the information and the effort! It’s much appreciated.

[Br'er Bear]

Originally Posted by Noodlez

I’m one of those people! This week I rented out my spare 2018 points so we have some dollars coming into my PayPal account this/next week. We’ve been paying a small amount of our dues monthly (in advance) so I’d like to use the money for this rather than convert the currency twice.

I’ll look into the options given properly tomorrow, but thank you very much for the information and the effort! It’s much appreciated.

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Good morning Noodlez,

That's great to find someone so soon who can make use of it.

Suggest you first make sure your PayPal primary account is set to dollars.

Target is your only option so first go to
intl.target
At the top of the page it should state I'm shipping to: US, and I'd like to see prices in: US Dollars, click OK.

In the search box type disney egift card email and click search.

The first choice should be the red carded Disney Gift Card eGift (Email Delivery)option $25.00 - $500.00.

Click choose option and a pop up window should open, suggest you select $25 as a test and click add to cart, then click view cart and checkout.

The next page should be your cart and order summary, click I'm ready to check out and that should take you to a Sign-in page.

Click creat an account.

Add email, first and last names, but leave out Mobile which is optional and click create password.

That should then take you back to page 2 of 3 Payment.

Options are credit/debit card and PayPal.

Click the PayPal icon and a new box appears, click Pay with PayPal which takes you to PayPal to log in and complete the purchase.

Good luck and within a few hours your should have received your first Disney eGift card.

You might want to use all of your PayPal balance to pay towards your dues, but if not and you want to keep a little on a gift card so to use when you're next at Disney then we suggest you also check out the Disney manage my gift cards. And so to test it out just add that card to your account, once set up go to DVC and pay $10 or so dollars towards your dues.

You will see a statement of that transaction and it should show paid $10 with a gift card and $15 as the remaining balance on that card.

Then check back to your Disney manage my gift card account and it should now show the new balance.

You can also check out the balance on any card and that also list the Transaction History.

And when you do have time could you also please try ShopDisney so to verify that when you select the PayPal payment option, it first redirects you to PayPal but once you log in to make payment a message comes up to block you because your account is outside of the USA.
shopdisney/disney-gi...-egift-1417611

For all the above we used a laptop with Google Chrome, so it might be slightly different if you're using an ipad.

All the best, hope it's not too stressful and have a fun weekend.

[timnlaura]

On a totally different tangent, how can you get a dollar PayPal?🤔

[Br'er Bear]

Originally Posted by timnlaura

On a totally different tangent, how can you get a dollar PayPal?🤔

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Try the following, log into your PayPal account, click Wallet which is on the top row between Send & Request and Offers.

Then below FUNDING SOURCES click on PayPal Balance.

That should open up your GBP balance, and below that there's an icon +Add a currency, click that which opens up about 20 different currencies, click on USD and any other currencies you might require.

Don't forget you need to make the currency you want to deal in your PRIMARY account but this can always be changed back.

Good luck and please let us know how you get on.

UPDATE: To change your Primary account.

Below FUNDING SOURCES click on PayPal Balance

Next to the end of each currency balance there's 3 small blue dots, place your cursor over those dots and click, that opens a box which states: Make primary, Convert currency, Close currency.

Click Make primary and that opens a new page asking you to verify the change. Once you do you should see one of the following messages.

British pound is now your primary currency
We’ll use your primary currency when you send or request payments.

US dollar is now your primary currency
We’ll use your primary currency when you send or request payments.

[Noodlez]

Just to confirm that I bought a $25 gift card at Target today. It came through to my email in about an hour and I paid my dues with it.

I also received the same error at the PayPal stage when trying to purchase through the Disney site.

[YorkshireT]

If it's working, these are excellent tips BB, as I tried to buy a gift card maybe a year ago and looked at Target, but couldn't do it.
Shame we can't get them at the discount.
Will be useful if you ever rent via Dave's and have $ in the PayPal.

[Noodlez]

It's definitely working for me! I've now bought 4 eGift cards today from Target and paid them all off my dues successfully.

As long as next year's increase isn't too shocking I should have already paid off half of my dues. :-)