Where Is The Pin Number On A Gift Card? (4 Digit)

ByTristan Published on
Where Is The Pin Number On A Gift Card? (4 Digit)

Since there’s been an increase in the popularity of e-shopping and e-commerce in the last five years, there’s been an increase in the use of gift cards. With the advancement in technology, users who shop via e-commerce websites are gradually adjusting to the use of state-of-the-art options like using your bank cards, gift cards, and so on, to complete their checkouts. However, sometimes it becomes very difficult to locate the PIN on gift cards whenever you want to use them to check out when shopping, hence the question “where is the PIN on a gift card located?”

You can find the PIN on the back of your gift card. It’s usually at the bottom right corner under the silver scratch-off area but if it’s a department store PIN, the gift card pin will be the last four digits of the card number. However, in some cases, you may need to contact the issuer for the PIN. 

The gift card is becoming popular in the e-commerce market as most e-commerce businesses are now creating their gift cards to gift their loyal customers. In this article, I’ll discuss with you how to find the PIN on any gift card you have. 

Where Is The PIN Number On A Gift Card?

Where Is The Pin Number On A Gift Card? (4 Digit)

Now you have a gift card and you’re ready to start spending but for some reason, the retailer is asking you for a PIN and you don’t seem to know where to find it, well, you’ve found the right article as I’ll be discussing where to find the pin on your gift cards below. 

The PIN, otherwise known as a personal identification number, is located on the back of a physical gift card or in the same email that shares the information on your electronic gift card number. 

You may not be able to use the PIN to retrieve money from a gift card at an ATM as you would with a debit card, however, cardholders must present the PIN to verify the card balance or get a replacement card.

The innovative concept of a gift card has grown and is becoming more popular than it used to be in the e-commerce market. The cards are a new form of payment aimed at providing users convenience whenever they are purchasing items at retail stores, gas stations, dining restaurants, and other grocery stores. 

The concept being used involves loading the desired amount of money into the card, which you can go on to use for payments, or present as a gift to your loved ones. 

There are various types of gift cards with which you can find their PIN in different ways. Below, I’ll discuss where the PIN is located on various kinds of gift cards. 

Pin On Visa And MasterCard Gift Card

In 2013, Visa and MasterCard gift cards changed their policies and began requesting PINs whenever users want to make purchases with their gift cards. 

Although the popular gift card tradition is that the PINs will be directly located on the back of the card, however, with Visa and MasterCard gift cards, the customers or recipients of the Visa and MasterCard gift cards are advised to call the customer service number found at the back of the gift card to get their PIN. 

Using the automated system provided on the call, customers can enter the 16-digit card number and further follow all processes on the call. 

The computerized system will inquire about the expiration date and three-digit security code located and written on the back of the card to continue the PIN generation process. 

Finally, once you’ve entered the expiration date, the system will choose a personalized 4-digit PIN code for you since you’ve followed the required procedure and you’ve fulfilled the desired requirements. 

PIN Using A Different Name

Where Is The Pin Number On A Gift Card? (4 Digit)

Some gift cards may not refer to their Security code as PIN like most gift card issuers do, instead, they may give it a different name like “card security code” or something else. There are a lot of reasons behind this but the best bet may be due to branding as they may be trying to single themselves out of the majority for advantageous reasons. 

This is not bad but could be quite confusing for some customers who randomly expect to see a 4-digit pin on their gift cards or in the email for their electronic gift cards. 

For instance, if you own an American Express gift card, then you may face this issue as these cards operate without PINs, instead, they are equipped with a 4-digit number called a card security code. 

This card security code is found written directly on the front of the gift card above the 15-digit card number. Getting the 4-digit PIN may be tough for new users of the American Express gift cards, however, once you know how to find the card security code as they call it, you’ll know this isn’t as tough as you perceived earlier. 

Another example is the discover gift cards which are slightly different from the American Express gift cards. On their gift cards, there’s a 3-digit number referred to as the customer identification number highlighted on the back of the card. Discover gift cards are mainly prepaid with cash and stored value cards used by customers to make purchases all around the United States and they are also accepted online. 

Store Gift Cards

Several department stores have their gift cards that come with a PIN and this number can be easily found at the back of the card, however, the area is hidden with silver protection and is required to be scratched off to view the PIN. For instance, most departmental stores, Aeropostale, REI, Sephora, and Ulta gift cards have the PIN at the back of the card and are covered under the scratch-off area. 

These cards have their PIN heavily protected due to security reasons aimed at keeping the value within the card safe due to fraudsters who may try to hack the cards with the PIN provided on the card. 

Hence, the departmental stores make sure the numbers are well tucked in to prevent the PIN of a particular gift card from being embezzled or misused. 

This is done to curb the risk of the card being stolen, therefore, authorization of the card is required before it is used. However. If customers want to use the gift cards without the PIN, they’ll need to consume the card in person at the store as it’s not possible to consume the card online on the store’s website without the PIN. 

E-gift Cards

Where Is The Pin Number On A Gift Card? (4 Digit)

E-gift cards are the easiest gift cards because the PIN is always indicated in the email sent to recipients. Whenever the retailers ask the customers to personalize their PIN, then the process to choose a PIN is directly indicated on the email or via the retailer’s official website. The process can be performed on the phone and online as well. 

E-gift cards are more convenient because the gift cards are more protected and cannot be easily accessed for fraudulent activities since the card details are directly sent to the recipient’s emails. With E-gift cards, you won’t need to worry about looking for a PIN or determining if the gift card doesn’t come with a PIN or has another name instead of the traditionally known name for the security code— PIN.