Facebook Launches Prepaid Cards for Credits with Target
Following recent efforts by Zynga, Playdom and other social gaming companies to launch pre-paid cards for virtual goods in stores, Facebook is going direct — starting this Sunday, it will allow users to buy pre-paid cards for its virtual currency, Credits, within 1,743 Target retail locations across the US and on Target.com.
Cards can be purchased in $15, $25 and $50 increments, similar pricing to what you’ll see for a wide variety of other pre-paid game cards already available in Targets and other stores around the country.
Facebook itself is also helping to push the new integration, by including a Target store finder on its official Credits splash page. When users click on the “Redeem Gift Card” in the Facebook Credits gift cards section of the Credits page, they’ll see a popup window asking them to enter the scratch-off number on the back of the Credits card. Clicking “Redeem Now” will add the amount of Credits purchased to their Facebook account.
Social gaming companies have increasingly experimented with stored value cards as an alternative payment method for virtual currency and virtual goods over the last year, with mixed success in different geographies around the world, we hear. MMO game developers, iTunes and many other digital goods sellers have already used these cards. Facebook is going through GMG Entertainment, a card provider who is already partnered with gaming and virtual entertainment companies like Stardoll, Three Rings, NBC Universal and more, and a variety of retail chains. Zynga and Playdom have partnered with InComm for card distribution services; they and other developers have been going through a variety of retail partners, too, including 7-11 convenience stores, coin exchange kiosks, and other options.
The company has repeatedly said that it aims to provide hundreds of payment options for Credits through partners, so expect it to continue expanding with real-life card sales as part of that effort. It already offers Paypal, mobile payments through Zong, Rixty cash machine exchanges, Malaysia-based MOL Points payments, gift card exchange through Plastic Jungle, and a variety of other options.
The virtual goods market is expected to reach $1.6 billion in the US alone this year, according to our Inside Virtual Goods report, with $835 million coming from social games alone. Meanwhile, Facebook itself has moved to make Credits the exclusive payment option in all platform applications, by the end of this year. We expect these cards to begin making money for the partners immediately, and should contribute to the volume of Credits on Facebook — a way that the currency will make more money for developers. So far, Credits are being used in 150 games and other applications, made by around 70 developers.
One final note: we haven’t gotten the chance to try these cards yet, so it’s not clear if this is the best value. Credits normally redeem at a $0.10 to 1 Credit rate, but certain payment methods sometimes extract a larger fee that reduces what users get. Facebook also offers bulk discounting in games, so you can pay less for larger amounts of Credits purchases. [Update: Facebook says that the Credits conversion rate is 1:10 as usual for these cards, and it also reiterates that the payout to developers is the same regardless of the payment method.]
To dig deeper into the social gaming market, check out our recent report: Inside Virtual Goods: The Future of Social Gaming 2010.
September 1st, 2010 at 3:45 pm
col
September 1st, 2010 at 3:46 pm
cool this increra bool
September 1st, 2010 at 9:27 pm
ME PARECE EXELENTE LO DE LA TARGETA….PARA COLOMBIA(MEDELLIN)COMO LA PODEMOS CONCEGUIR O ES SOLAMENTE PARA LOS EEUU….
September 4th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
bought card….cannot redeem…says site does not exist…stuck with dud and out of real money
September 5th, 2010 at 1:15 pm
que estafa!
September 6th, 2010 at 10:09 am
[...] billion in the US alone this year, with $835 million coming from social games alone (figures from Inside Facebook). If this launch proves successful, expect to see similar partnerships in the UK soon. Facebook [...]
September 7th, 2010 at 9:30 am
Donde podemos Conseguirlas en Bogota/Colombia ? Gracias…
September 8th, 2010 at 3:30 am
plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz matagaan ko cridit
September 9th, 2010 at 6:53 am
Is there any facebook credit Gift card which can be bought in Hong Kong?
September 9th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
[...] in between status updates. Facebook has raised the stakes and availability of the gift card market by announcing that the all-game-inclusive F card will be available at Target. 1,750 retail stores and at Target.com will offer these cards, in values of $15, $25 and $50. More [...]
September 10th, 2010 at 10:33 am
i got fbcridits but wont let me redeam them on my farmville acc as it just keeps coming up in usdollers then straight to cridit card tried every way to get them im most annoyed
September 16th, 2010 at 6:48 am
It would be nice to get to use this card but can’t find instructions on this cite….i surely hope this isn’t a SCAM!!! I certainly don’t have money to waste(like getting no actual credits), but I think the idea though is a good one with those of us that aren’t well off…
September 21st, 2010 at 8:16 am
Ireceived a card for a gift and I too cannot use it. I wish someone would help
September 22nd, 2010 at 12:23 pm
I can’t afford to buy invalad card.I won’t buy one again.
September 24th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
this is not fair u can take the time out to line ur pockets with our hard earned money and cant fix a game that lags out things disaper and many other things and you go to the game developer and they send you to face book developer. I 4 one will never buy a game card nor online pay till these items are fixed u want happy people to play the games but u do nothing to fix the issue.myspace is the same way thats y i came to face book.is for no issues now look nothing but issues.
P.S koc is bad with issue and farmville
September 25th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
well this is a mess now fix it
September 26th, 2010 at 4:37 pm
got target facebook credit card. tried to redeem and it says …site does not exist… any suggestions,
September 26th, 2010 at 10:42 pm
i know it`s easy to buy it but it`s easy to redeem it.Should set the redeem way to each profile with the easy way.
September 28th, 2010 at 5:10 am
I WANT TO REDEEM MY FACEBOOK CARD FROM TARGET AND PUT MY CREDITS ON FARMTOWN VERY UPSET IN THIS MATTER PLEASE HELP!
September 28th, 2010 at 7:34 am
I redeemed my $15 Target Gift card on Facebook ok (by using Google Search). No credits show up any where. Is it illegal to show gift cards that don’t work?
September 28th, 2010 at 10:41 am
I bought a $25.00 FB Credits at Target yesterday. Followed instructions to redeem, but points are not showing up! Tried again, and says that card has already been redeemed – and yet – no credits! Anyone have any ideas?
September 28th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
[...] introduced these gift cards with retail chain Target at the beginning of the month as another way to get more users purchasing the currency. Social game [...]
September 28th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
bought a 15.00 gift card at target and when i go to put it on , says does not exist. did i get taken and out my money and card? if your selling these thing you should make sure they work. I am very un happy with facebook right now.
September 29th, 2010 at 7:47 am
[...] introduced these gift cards with retail chain Target at the beginning of the month as another way to get more users purchasing the currency. Social game [...]
September 30th, 2010 at 1:02 am
bought $ 15 card at target ,redeemed have 160 Credits and can not use to buy anything .
what can I do
can u please fix it
September 30th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
bought card to find out i cannot use on farmtown. bummer
October 3rd, 2010 at 8:34 am
Hi, I also bought a $15 facebook credit card, redeemed it and got my credits. My problemis that I can’t use the credits on my Yoville game. Please help!
October 3rd, 2010 at 6:40 pm
how the hell do u redeem these dam cash cards that u buy at wal mart
October 4th, 2010 at 8:36 am
[...] well: if you give Facebook users a few free Credits with the block of Credits they buy (at Target, online, and soon anywhere), they will spend all of those Credits and then want to purchase more. [...]
October 4th, 2010 at 9:41 am
I just got stuck for 50.00 Says site doesn’t exsit. I should have known this is a farce can’t even keep HA friends, can’t train, items disappear, just like the money.
October 6th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
what aq waste of money! I’m pissed! FACEBOOK STOLE MY MONEY! I’M GOING TO THE PRESS!
October 23rd, 2010 at 9:57 am
Oct 23, 2010 – Bought the “facebook game card” at Target and it put the credits in my facebook account. I was unable to use w/farmville, even tho farmville is listed as available to use credits. I was able to use with fronterville, but I don’t want to waste 50.00 on fronterville. I won’t make the mistake again of buying a “facebook game card again”… It looks like now you have to buy a farmville game card – what a RACKET!!!
October 23rd, 2010 at 2:09 pm
lol can u buy these cards in australia because if i get 1 and it doesnt work i dont wanna travel halfway across the world just for a fucking used gamecard.
November 2nd, 2010 at 8:59 pm
compre una targeta de facebook credits para usarla en farmville y no puedo activarla que puedo hacer? quiere decir que el dinero que use para comprarla se fue a la basura….
November 13th, 2010 at 9:07 pm
I purchased a card once I noticed my game card was not sold at Target any longer. It took a while to convert the facebook credits to my game money, but it worked. Now, that conversion link is gone. Now I, too, am stuck with facebook credits that I won’t use and can’t convert. I am not happy!
November 20th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
I bought two 5.00 face book ceidts it took one
I put that in in farmville then when Ttied again it it would not take it Here is the pin no.5861375873 I tried several times. I know it is just 5.00 but it was my 5.00
PLEASE HELP
November 20th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Please help me it is the right thing to do Walmart will not take it back
November 24th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
[...] their future revenue, though. InComm is one of the partners Facebook works with to distribute the new Facebook Credits gift cards, and Incomm is also working to launch Zeevex, a virtual currency startup that it bought in March, [...]
December 19th, 2010 at 10:20 am
unable to activate my facebook card I brought at target
December 20th, 2010 at 7:04 am
can’t find sight to redeem target cards
December 25th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
I got one for christmas. I wouldn’t buy anything from facebook. I think that probably it is a ripoff. I couldn’t get it to redeem and am finding out that the one game that I play “Farmtown” you can’t use it on. Facebook as a “Hole” is getting very very annoying and I am starting to think that even free it is not worth it to stay with it. The card I think is either a rip off or they put it out like microsoft did vista. To soon . They have no clue what to do with it.
January 1st, 2011 at 8:32 am
what a rip off. I love farmtown and wanted to give my sister in law a gift to help her buy stuff, guess what? THE CARD IS NO GOOD, NO WHERE TO REDEEM THE CARD. JUST GOT RIPPED OFF FOR $10.00
January 4th, 2011 at 4:33 am
have 2 $15 gift cards, can not redeem them, why are you selling useless cards ?
January 8th, 2011 at 11:19 am
Shame on you Facebook!!!!! Where is the Better Business Bureau? You can’t call anyone at Facebook. I tried. No wonder this guy is a billionaire. Somebody step up. I bought $30.00 worth. Target and Facebook step up and Face the music and take care of your customer. We are not done with this. NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, FOX NEWS where are you?
January 13th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
I was going to buy a $15.00 one with a target gift card I got for Christmas. After reading these I think i’ll wait a while to see if they fix these issues because I want to get Ameba Gold on Ameba Pico but I dont want it so bad as to waste 15 dollars. Thank you people for putting the issues with the cards on here. And sorry for any money you’ve wasted on Facebook…
P.S. Has anyone tried to use these on Ameba Pico? If you have does it work on it?
February 3rd, 2011 at 11:19 pm
It does work sorry for my comment.But you should explain better how to redeem these gift cards. Took me almost 2 hours to fugure it out.
February 5th, 2011 at 7:34 pm
I bought a 15.00 facebook credits card form Target, I want to put these credits on farmtown, how do I accomplish this task
March 12th, 2011 at 3:07 pm
[...] social games They will be gone, even before then. Facebook has been rolling out their own cards.http://www.insidefacebook.com/20…3:07pmView All 0 CommentsCannot add comment at this time. Add [...]
March 14th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
[...] (games, movies, other products and services) and a variety of ways to acquire it (you can even buy gift cards at Target). This will make it easy to make an impulse buy of a movie (whereas Netflix and Amazon at their [...]