Shopping online has become an increasingly common activity in the city, despite the classic hesitation about using our money and bank accounts on the Internet (with all the risks of spam and phishing that we can run into).Making online purchases is now very safe, especially if we rely on recommendable sites with many positive reviews, so we can use credit cards or ATM cards compatible with e-commerce without problems.
However, if we are still afraid of losing all the money we have in our bank account, we can always rely on prepaid cards, easy to use and with limited funds, so as to be able to keep spending under control and really risk the minimum (in case of data theft at most they can take the money present at that moment, without exceeding or without paying overdraft fees as on accounts classical currents).
1) PostePay Evolution
The most famous prepaid card is certainly PostePay, in particular the new generation card called Evolution.
With this card, issued by the city post office, we will be able to make online purchases and withdraw money thanks to the Mastercard and Postamat circuits.
We can also buy freely in physical stores with the POS and, if the latter is equipped with Contactless, to pay it will be enough to bring the card to the POS and we will not even have to enter the PIN (for expenses less than or equal to 25 euros).
This card has a dedicated IBAN (so that it can receive and make transfers) and can be quickly recharged at the post office, in Sisal betting shops, at Postamat ATMs and by another PostePay, with variable commission costs (minimum € 1).
To issue the card, just go to a post office and make the payment of 5,00 euros + 15,00 minimum top-up on the card.
The annual fee of the card is 10,00 euros and we can deposit on it up to 30.000,00 euros, but we must take into account the withdrawal costs: free from Postamat ATMs, 1 euro from authorized post offices, 2 euros from bank ATMs enabled, in Euro cities and countries and finally 5 euros from an enabled bank ATM, non-Euro countries + 1,10% of the amount.
We can get more information on the PostePay Evolution card and activate it by visiting the site here -> PostePay Evolution.
2) Letter Hype
One of the best alternatives to PostePay is certainly Hype, a service that offers a rechargeable card with a Mastercard circuit with which we can make any type of payment (including Contactless on enabled POS) and an IBAN enabled to receive bank transfers, so that it can be quickly recharged from a bank or postal current account.
We can consider it a prepaid card designed for young and very young people, since you just need to be 12 years old to register one: it offers very low deposit limits (maximum € 2500) and a low limit for withdrawals from ATMs (€ 250 per day) plus it allows you to send and request payments to friends present in address book, so as to be able to keep the accounts in case of parties or gifts in common.
The Hype card allows you to withdraw for free from any ATM in the city and in the world (without commissions), supports Apple Pay and Google Pay and there are no activation costs or monthly or annual maintenance costs (we will not pay any fees).
If interested, we can register and obtain the Hype card directly from the site here -> Letter Hype.
3) PayPal letter
Among the best prepaid cards that we can use online there is also the prepaid card signed by PayPal, which works completely independently of the PayPal account (even if it can be linked to it).
With this card we will be able to make online purchases in the city and in the world thanks to the Mastercard circuit, we can recharge it quickly through a PayPal account (with instant transactions), by bank transfer (thanks to the IBAN) and in the Lottomatica betting shops.
However, the costs are numerous compared to the past (when it was the best card ever): top-ups to the card have a cost of 1,10 euros for top-ups of less than 150 euros and 2 euros for amounts equal to or greater than 150 euros (for all methods provided).
We can withdraw at participating Lottomaticard points of sale (at a cost of € 1,90), at bank ATMs in the Euro area (at a cost of € 1,90 per transaction) and make free withdrawals only at ATMs of the Banca Sella Group.
If we are still interested, we can view all the conditions of the card from here -> PayPal letter.
4) Genius Card
One of the best prepaid cards issued by a famous and solid bank is Genius Card, the card issued by UniCredit Banca that allows you to buy online and in physical stores thanks to the support of the Mastercard circuit.
This card supports Contactless technology to pay on POS enabled without entering the PIN (up to € 25), it provides a zero monthly fee for Under 30s (otherwise € 1 per month), we can withdraw for free from any Unicredit ATM and we can pay cash on it by postal or bank transfer, in Unicredit banks (without commissions), by crediting the salary and by top-up at Sisal offices (with variable commissions from 50 cents up to € 2).
The only auxiliary costs are for withdrawals from other ATMs: in the city the cost is € 2, while abroad it is € 2 (at UniCredit and other banks in the euro area) and € 5 + 1,75% of the amount withdrawn (at UniCredit and other banks in the non-euro area).
We can view the conditions of use and request the card from here -> Genius Card.
5) SuperFlash Intesa
Another very good prepaid card that we can activate for online purchases is Intesa SuperFlash, issued by the Intesa SanPaolo group.
With this card you will feel like you have a real current account: we can credit your salary or pension, make transfers in the city and in Europe, domicile your bills and fees and advanced protection against fraud.
The monthly fee is € 2,24 (€ 26,90 annual fee), we can withdraw free from Intesa Sanpaolo Group ATMs, while to withdraw from other ATMs in the city the commission is € 2 (€ 5 for ATM withdrawals abroad).
We can also top up the card from the Intesa Sanpaolo Group ATMs (with another card of the same Group), or in Intesa branches (top-up fees 1 €.
If interested we can activate the prepaid card here -> SuperFlash Intesa.
6) What a Pocket Bank Account
Among the cheapest cards that we can activate, there is certainly the card issued by Che Banca together with the Pocket Account.
This is one of the few cards to support the double payment circuit (Mastercard and PagoBancomat), we can customize the color of the same at the time of release, pay in online and physical stores even with Contactless POS (without PIN up to € 25), have free wire transfers, credit salary or pension thanks to the IBAN, home utilities, pay MAV, RAV, F24, bills and telephone top-ups and we can also recharge it through an advanced ATM or in the branch, without commissions.
With the Che Banca card we can pay and withdraw in Euros without costs, both in the city and in Europe (any ATM); for withdrawals in currencies other than the Euro, a fee of € 3 is applied.
With this card we can keep up to € 50.000 and a monthly fee of € 2 is required.
If interested we can activate the card from here -> Pocket Account.
7) Letter Webank
Among the most convenient cards to use for online purchases, the Webank KJeans card certainly stands out, a very young card that offers an IBAN to receive any bank transfer (including salary), buy all over the world at Mastercard affiliated merchants, pay "contactless" in authorized stores (without PIN up to € 25), customize the daily usage limits distinguished between ATM withdrawals, purchases in physical stores and online purchases, enable, disable or customize your card for Websafe online purchases and customize the PIN code of your card as many times as you want.
There is no monthly fee, we can deposit up to € 2.500 and ATM withdrawal costs are very cheap (50 euro cents in the city).
If interested we can activate the card from here -> Letter Webank KJeans.
8) Widiba card
Another convenient prepaid card is issued by Widiba, which stands out from the competition thanks to the great customization offered and very consistent advantages, including the double payment circuit (Maestro, Mastercard, Visa and Bancomat of your choice).
With this ATM card we can choose from 34 styles, take advantage of advanced ATMs to pay cash and checks, make contactless payments and receive SMS notifications with each payment.
There are no monthly payment fees, we can also take advantage of the Maxi withdrawal option (up to € 1550 at ATMs) and not pay any commission costs to ATMs in the city for withdrawals over € 100 (for smaller amounts, € 1 is paid for operation).
If we are interested we can check the conditions of this card from here -> Widiba card.
Best prepaid cards to buy online without risk
