Buying online has become an increasingly frequent activity in Italy, despite the classic hesitation to use our money and bank accounts on the Internet (with all the risks of spam and phishing that we may incur). Shopping online is now very safe, especially if we rely on recommendable sites with many positive reviews, so we can use credit cards or debit cards compatible with e-commerce without problems.
If, however, we still have some fear of losing all the money we keep in the bank account, we can always rely on prepaid cards, easy to use and with a limited fund, so that we can keep an eye on spending and really risk the minimum (in case maximum data theft can take the money present at that time, without exceeding or without paying overdraft fees as on classic current accounts).
READ ALSO -> Best current accounts to activate online
1) PostePay Evolution
The most famous prepaid card is definitely PostePay, in particular the new generation card called Evolution.
With this card, issued by the Italian 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 just bring the card closer 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 you can receive and make transfers) and it can be recharged quickly at the Post Offices, in Sisal ticket offices, at Postamat ATMs and from another PostePay, with variable commission costs (minimum 1 €).
To release the card, just go to a Post Office and pay 5.00 euros + 15.00 minimum top up on the card.
The annual card fee is € 10.00 and we can deposit up to € 30, 000.00 on it, but we must take into account the withdrawal costs: free from Postamat ATMs, € 1 from authorized post offices, € 2 from bank ATM. enabled, in Italy and Euro countries and finally 5 euros from ATM banking enabled, non-Euro countries + 1.10% of the amount.
We can obtain more information on the PostePay Evolution card and activate it by visiting the website here -> PostePay Evolution .
2) Hype card
One of the best alternatives to PostePay is definitely Hype, a service that offers a rechargeable card with a Mastercard circuit with which we can make any type of payment (also Contactless on POS enabled) and an IBAN enabled to receive bank transfers, so that you can top up quickly from a bank or postal account.
We can consider it a prepaid card designed for young and very young people, since it is enough to be 12 years old to register one: it offers very low deposit limits (maximum € 2, 500) and a low limit of withdrawals from ATMs (€ 250 per day) in more allows you to send and request payments to friends in the address book, so you can keep the accounts in case of shared parties or gifts.
The Hype card allows you to withdraw for free from any ATM in Italy and in the world (without commissions), supports Apple Pay and Google Pay and there are no activation 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 present here -> Hype card .
3) PayPal card
Among the best prepaid that we can use online there is also the prepaid card signed PayPal, which works completely independently of the PayPal account (although it can be linked to it).
With this card we will be able to make purchases online in Italy and in the world thanks to the Mastercard circuit, we can top it up quickly via PayPal account (with instant transactions), by bank transfer (thanks to the IBAN) and in Lottomatica ticket offices.
The costs are however numerous compared to the past (when it was the best card ever): top-ups to the card present a cost of 1.10 euros for top-ups less than 150 euros and 2 euros for amounts equal to or greater than 150 euros (for all the methods provided).
We can withdraw at participating Lottomaticard points of sale (at a cost of € 1.90), at ATMs in banks in the Euro area (at a cost of € 1.90 per operation) and make free withdrawals only on the ATMs of the Banca Sella Group.
If we are still interested, we can view all the conditions of the card from here -> PayPal card .
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 enabled POSs without typing the PIN (up to € 25), provides a zero monthly fee for Under 30s (otherwise € 1 per month), we can withdraw free of charge 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 the Sisal offices (with commissions ranging from 50 cents up to € 2).
The only ancillary costs are for withdrawals from other ATMs: in Italy the cost is 2 €, while abroad it is 2 € (at UniCredit and other banks in the euro zone) and 5 € + 1.75% of the amount withdrawn (from UniCredit and other banks in the non-euro zone).
We can view the conditions of use and request the card from here -> Genius Card .
5) SuperFlash agreement
Another very good prepaid card that we can activate for online purchases is Intesa SuperFlash, issued by the Intesa SanPaolo group.
With this card it will seem to have a real current account: we can credit your salary or pension, make transfers in Italy and Europe, domicile bills and fees and advanced protection against fraud.
The monthly fee is 2.24 euros (26.90 euros annual fee), we can withdraw free of charge from the Intesa Sanpaolo Group ATMs, while to withdraw from other ATMs in Italy 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 from the same Group), or in Intesa filiare (top-up fees € 1.
If interested we can activate the prepaid card here -> Intesa SuperFlash .
6) What a Pocket Account Bank
Among the cheapest cards that we can activate 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 also with Contactless POS (without PIN up to € 25), have free transfers, crediting salary or pension thanks to the IBAN, domiciling utilities, paying MAV, RAV, F24, bills and telephone top-ups and we can also top-up via advanced ATM or in branches, without commissions.
With the Che Banca card we can pay and withdraw in Euros at no cost, both in Italy and in Europe (any ATM); for withdrawals in currencies other than the Euro, a commission of € 3 is applied.
With this card we can save up to € 50, 000 and a monthly fee of € 2 is expected.
If interested we can activate the card from here -> Pocket Account .
7) Webank card
Among the most comfortable cards to use for online purchases, the Webank KJeans card certainly stands out, a very youthful card that offers an IBAN to receive any bank transfer (including salary), to buy worldwide from Mastercard affiliated merchants, to pay "contactless" in enabled 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 wish.
There is no monthly fee, we can deposit up to € 2, 500 and ATM withdrawal costs are very cheap (50 euro cents in Italy).
If interested we can activate the card from here -> Webank KJeans Card .
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 substantial advantages, including the dual 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 every payment.
There are no monthly payment fees, we can also take advantage of the Maxiprelievo option (up to € 1550 at ATMs) and do not pay any commission costs to ATMs in Italy for withdrawals over € 100 (for lower amounts you pay € 1 per operation).
If we are interested we can check the conditions of this card from here -> Widiba card .
