Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Duvall

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 29, 2008
2
0
Well, yesterday I received an 8gb iPhone 3G as a gift from my parents.

I had also received a $20 iTunes prepaid gift card to buy songs. After spending almost an hour figuring out how to make my account without credit card use, I finally got it working with my balance updated to $20. I bought an album, and a single song without any trouble and I was left with a balance of $9.02.

After messing around with my iPhone for a bit, and checking out the apps, I was interested in a few of them, but my balance was lacking enough money to purchase the applications I wanted.

Today I went out and bought a $50 iTunes card to purchase a couple apps, and save the rest when needed for a certain album.

When finished redeeming my code and updating my balance to $59.02, I attempted to purchase an app straight from my iPhone. [If you need to know, it was the 'BeatMaker' app that was up for $19.99] I wasn't low on funds, and I had no problem buying something from the iTunes store before, but when trying to purchase this app from the app store on my iPhone I got this grueling message

"You need a method of payment to purchase this item. Go to the iTunes Store on your computer and update your Billing Info" This was weird, because just yesterday I could purchase songs without trouble, but now I can't purchase an app freely.

So I tried, instead, to purcahse it from the iTunes store directly from my computer, but this time I got the message "Your credit card will be charged for this purchase.."

I didn't sign-up with any credit card information, and I cant purchase this app from both my computer and my iPhone without being forced to add credit card details to my account. I don't want to use a credit card as I don't have one, and I can't be bothered to ask my parents for theirs.

So my question; is there ANY way to purchase the apps that I want from the App store using my iTunes prepaid gift card balance? When searching through Google, and peaking at a few other people asking this question I see a lot of replies constantly saying you can, but I have no luck..

All help is appreciated.
 

nanvinnie

macrumors regular
Feb 23, 2007
180
0
I'm sure you can use your prepaid card. I got a prepaid card from my sister and once I redeemed it all of my itunes purchases were deducted from the card. not sure why yours is asking for credit card info. but i do have my credit card info on my itunes account. maybe you just need it so you're verified or something.
 

Opie

macrumors 6502a
Jun 17, 2008
784
1
If you download from your iphone it uses your credit card info. The only way it will deduct from your pre paid account is if you download it from your computer. i also have had this problem for a while. i would download songs directly from my iphone and i would get on my account and when i got on my computer my account balance would be the same. I just figured i got lucky and didnt get charged. That was until my wife called me one day asking what all the $1.08 charges were. Then i put it all together. if you figure out a way around it i would greatly appreciate it. i have tried and tried.
 

DreamPod

macrumors 65816
Mar 15, 2008
1,265
188
It works fine for me to order from my phone - it uses the prepaid account first before hitting credit.

Anyways, the problem here is Canada - for some reason Canada can't use prepaid cards for Apps, only songs and movies/TV shows. In the US we can use them fine, which is why some people say it works and others say it doesn't.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.