Last night I received a Tweet letting me know that you can purchase a Target REDCard online if you are not able to purchase one at your local Target store. At first I was hoping that you could purchase them through the Target site directly, but unfortunately no. The link in the Tweet directed me to a Craigslist ad where I see that there are many people actually making money by selling these prepaid cards! It seems as though this Tweet was actually from a Twitter account primarily pimping their particular ad.
From what I see you can purchase these cards for anywhere between $29 and $40 and $1 is already loaded onto the card (the minimum requirement when purchasing the card). Typically the cards cost $5, so you are paying a nice premium for the card – between $23 and $37 more than if you purchased it yourself at Target.
While paying a premium for a piece of plastic is by no means fun, it might be worth it if you are interested in the card and do not have a Target nearby or a Target that sells the REDCard. Keep in mind though I have ZERO experience with purchasing these cards from a random Craigslist ad and cannot guarantee that you will actually receive the card number or that it will be legit. Although, I can say that I have purchased cards for other people seamlessly and all I had to do was send them the card number. They do not even need the actual card. When activating the card you can change all the information to your personal info which includes name, address, social security number, etc. You also will create a username and password so the original buyer will have no access to your account.
I do find it hysterical that people are making money off of this. I am not really sure I condone this, but if it is your only option you might want to consider. I personally would instead try to find a friend that lives in another state that you pick one up for you.
If you are new to Target REDCard you can check out all the details here.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Anyway that you can get me a RedBird? Will Paypal you the cost? Please let me know 🙂 Thanks in advance.
Danh T.
@Danh – I really would be more than happy too, but unfortunately I live in NYC and no REDCards sold nearby. If I happen to be in a Target elsewhere that sells REDCards I’ll be sure to pick one up for you and let you know.
I dont think its funny. I used to sell blank Vanilla Reloads for CVS on ebay all the time; until they went cash only. But, What sucks is, all the target cards will be empty on racks due to this.
Redcards are also sold on dan’s deals forums for about $20 and I had good experience.
I looked online as well last night and saw they are also going on eBay. I am not saying whether it is legit or not, but at least on eBay sellers have feedback and you can check their selling history.
Let’s say you do buy a Redbird and give all of your info (SS, DL#, DOB, etc) when you buy it. If you gift the card to someone else will they be able to see/steal all of your info when they go to register the card?
This doesn’t make sense – how would you be able to load onto the card if your local store people doesn’t know how to do it, or whether the system is set up to do so?
Hey!
Can I join the bandwagon too? If you could get one for me. I can PayPal the shipping cost and the other costs associated with this. Thanks in advance. Live in DC so no stores near me either.
@dealswelike Thanks so much for your sweet thought. I’m in CA so if I get a chance to visit any other states that have RedBird, I’ll be sure to pick up some.
@dealswelike Thanks for your writing. Target selectively launched this rather desirable product (especially so for some of us) that can only be activated/initiated at a local Target (though you create the actual account online) but only released it in a few cities, for now at least. They therefore created this void that would naturally be filled as such; people providing these cards via personal ads online.
Further, the Target computer-overlords do not prohibit us from activating many temporary cards for other people. Further, Amex/Target let’s you register the cards online with your personal information regardless of where they were activated. More than a loophole, I think this was a door left open on purpose, to “spread the seed” so to speak…so we opened that door. Target can close it anytime if they want to.
After all, besides our personal compensation, it’s a service for other like-minded people. If I was in a city that didn’t have the Redbird at local Targets, I would have gladly paid $29 to obtain one online via a PayPal invoice.
P.S. A minor correction: There is no minimum when you activate a temporary REDcard at Target (a few Target employees thought that was the case, until I convinced them to please try it anyhow). Theoretically you can load Redbird with just a penny when you activate it. Personally, I haven’t tested this; I’ve loaded all my cards with $1 since I’m being compensated for my efforts and that $1 anyhow, from people that receive these cards via online transactions.
I’ve been solicited for these by people who’ve seen my postings … I’m glad to wait until they turn up in store.
I live in Miami, will it work if I buy one?
@ptahcha To load the card, the cashier just swipes it onto their computer, from there on it will tell them what to do (you can swipe the credit card on customer terminal and hand them the cc for them to see the last 4 nrs).
@JC People from all over the country have gotten this and have reported they are able to use them, so it should work in Miami as well. I haven’t seen any reports of REDcard not being accepted at any Target anywhere in the States.
@Nayte eBay removes this listings eventually mentioning some loophole legal mambo jumbo (I believe they did allow them at first); they removed my listings fairly shortly after they were sold out (therefore were no longer active).
I just got a card from Noonradar. the transaction went smoothly and I already registered the temporary card. I will be waiting for the permanent card to come. Definitely worth getting it for a small fee for Manufacture Spending and for meeting spending requirements. Can’t find them in NJ.
Id be more than happy to get anyone who desires a card. My fee is reasonable and you will get your card info immediately. Most of the time I just will email you the card info and you can register the card immediately. Feel free to email me americanpie330@gmail.com . Why wait, you can start your MS immediately before Target pulls the option.
If anyone is still looking to get a temporary activated Redbird (Targed prepaid REDcard), visit http://www.NoonRadar.com. I’ve provided it to well over a thousand people by now and there’s countless reviews from many of them.
You’ll also find there anything there is to know about Redbird, including a step by step guide on how to load Redbird with gift cards on the new Target registers.