As you may already know, a Walmart Gift card is one of a couple of gift cards (the other being Specialty Gift Cards) offered by Walmart that you can use to shop in authorized outlets across the US and the District of Columbia, from the comfort of your home. For standard gift cards, you can either have a physical or digital gift card.
If you own a Walmart gift card and want to use it for an online purchase, all you need to do is:
- Make sure that you are signed into your Walmart account
- Add products to your shopping cart
- Proceed to checkout
- Confirm your delivery details
- And then in Payment Method, select Gift card
- Enter your gift card number and PIN and click on Apply Gift Card
- And then enjoy the difference that applying the gift card has made to your total bill
But many users are reporting that when they try to apply the gift card details on their purchase, they get the error message “Gift Card Not Working – Awaiting Payment”.
And it’s hard to make sense of this error message: awaiting payment from whom and to whom? Does it mean that the gift card is not funded? Or does it mean that Walmart is unable to receive payment from the gift card? Or could it be that the gift card details are wrong…or even fake?
You need not wonder anymore. In this article, I will explain in detail all the possible causes of the error message, “Gift Card Not Working – Awaiting Payment”, and provide simple solutions to each possible scenario.
Why Is Walmart Gift Card Not Working?
1. No Or Insufficient Balance On Card
The most common reason why you may see this error message is because you do not have any funds in your gift card. It could be that you have exhausted the funds and forgot, or the gift card was never funded in the first place. The latter can happen when you purchase the card from a third party. More on that later.
In any case, when your Walmart gift card is not working, the first thing to do is check your Gift Card balance to confirm whether you have funds there in the first place.
Fix – Check Walmart Gift Card Balance
To check your Walmart Gift balance, follow the steps below:
- Go to this Walmart web page – walmart.com/account/giftcards/balance?povid=giftcardsCP_skinnybanner_checkyourbalance
- Enter your gift card number in the Card Number field
- Then enter the 4-digit gift card PIN in the PIN field
- Then, click on Check Balance
- For a physical gift card, scratch off the silver coating on the back of the card to reveal the last 4 digits of the 16-digit card number, and the PIN
- For an eGift card, you will find the PIN in the confirmation email when you received the eGift card
- If you don’t have a PIN for some reason, you’ll need to exchange your gift card for one with a PIN. You can easily get this done at any Walmart Store in the US.
2. Card Not Activated
Another common reason why your Walmart gift card may not work is because the card is not activated.
When someone buys you a gift card or you buy one yourself, it is activated automatically. But, if the gift card is worth $250 and above, or if they have purchased 25 gift cards and above, they would need to have the cards activated. Walmart will send them an email about activating the gift cards.
So, it is possible that you own one of such cards and the card was not properly activated. That’s why you get the error message saying that the card won’t work.
Fix – Have The Sender Check Card Activation
Contact the person who sent you the gift card and ask them to confirm the activation status of the card if:
- The card is worth $250 and above
- They purchased at least 25 cards at the same time
They should check their mail and follow the instructions from Walmart to activate the card.
If you purchased the gift card yourself, then that makes everything a lot easier. Simply follow the right processes in the mail sent to you buy Walmart to activate the card and get it working again on Walmart.
3. Wrong PIN or Card Number
This is a case of making a mistake, which we all do. When you are trying to apply a Walmart gift card on an online purchase, you must enter the gift card number and PIN for a secure payment.
When the payment fails, it is likely that you either entered the wrong card number or PIN. In that case, you simply need to re-enter the details with care this time and make sure everything is correct.
Fix – Confirm Card Details Are Correct
What you need to do at this point is simply reconfirm the card and PIN details and retry purchase. I already showed you earlier how to find the details on a physical and eGift card.
For an eGift card, you could simply copy and paste to ensure greater accuracy.
4. You Bought A Fake Card
There are several third-party online outlets that sell Walmart gift cards. And many of them offer attractive discounts. So, many Walmart shoppers fall for this.
However, you must know that none of these third-party outlets are authorized by Walmart. Absolutely none. And anyone that claims to be, is already fraudulent.
Many of them sell fake or empty gift cards, so you should never consider them as an option. Here is what Walmart have to say on the subject:
“Walmart Gift Cards may be used as personal or business gifts, but may not be used in connection with any marketing, advertising or other promotional activities (including without limitation via websites, Internet advertisements, email, telemarketing, direct mail, newspaper and magazine advertisements, and radio and television broadcasts)
Use of Walmart’s name, logo, trade dress (including any image/likeness of the cards) or trademarks (or those of any of its subsidiaries or affiliates) in connection with the purchase or use of Walmart Gift Cards is strictly prohibited. Furthermore, the use of Walmart Gift Cards in any manner that states or implies that any person, website, business, product or service is endorsed or sponsored by, or otherwise affiliated with, Walmart or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates is prohibited.”
So, when you purchase a Walmart gift card from any outlet other than Walmart or its authorized outlets, you risk buying a gift card that not only may not work but is also a breach of Walmart times. And that’s another likely reason why you may get the error message that says that your Walmart gift card is not working.
Fix – Purchase Walmart Gift Cards From Walmart And Authorized Stores Only
Walmart does not have any authorized online third parties to sell its gift cards.
- The only places authorized by Walmart to sell its eGift cards are Walmart.com, PayPal.com, and Sam’s Club Online.
- For physical cards, you can get them at Walmart stores and at Sam’s Club Stores.
Anything outside of this is unauthorized and you risk buying a fake or used gift card.
5. You Are Using Your Card Wrongly
Another reason why you may get the Gift Card Not Working – Awaiting Payment error is because you are just not using the card in the right ways. Every service has terms and conditions under which it is delivered to the end user.
If you are trying to use a Walmart gift card in a way that is against Walmart gift card terms and conditions, your payment will be rejected, and you will get error messages like the one described in this article.
Fix – Use Walmart Gift Cards The Right Way
I am going to outline detailed guidelines on the use of Walmart gift cards, so you’re sure that you’re doing nothing wrong on your end.
- You can only use your physical Walmart gift card in the US. That is, any of the 50 states of the US, as well as the District of Columbia. You cannot use a Walmart gift card in Puerto Rico, other US territories or anywhere outside the US.
- You cannot use the eGift card at any merchant including internet, mail or telephone order merchants outside the US or the District of Columbia.
- You cannot use the card at a merchant that requires Card imprints
- Some merchants may require that you register your card at walmartgift.com before making a purchase with the card. When this is the case, you must ensure that the information you provide during the registration is the same as you provided to the merchant, or the card will not work.
- You cannot use the gift card for recurring bills or gambling
If you have followed the fixes described in this article and the issue persists, contact Walmart support here. Click on the Chat With Us option to start a conversation with an agent.