Monami, a fintech startup with special focus for Middle Eastern & South Asian markets, is launching in Pakistan through Digital Gift Cards and Physical Gift Cards for variety of services including iTunes, Xbox, Google Play, Steam, Dota2, Club Penguin, Skype, Facebook and more.
Billed as “CardWalla”, service is all set to launch starting next week after which anyone would be able to buy Gift Cards for variety of online services through Bank Alfalah Internet Banking, 24/7 Convenience Stores in Lahore and shophive.com.
With time, Monami has said, more digital and offline retail partners — including Mobile Paisa, Easypaisa, MobiCash etc. and online stores will be included to make the CardWalla Gift Cards available to wider audience throughout Pakistan.
Supported Services
CardWalla, at the time of launch, will offer Gift Cards for following services:
- Amazon (USA Store): $10, $15, $25, $50, $100, $250 cards
- Club Penguin
- Facebook: $15 and $25 cards
- Gilt: 50$
- Google Play: 10$, $15, $ 25, $50 cards
- Hulu
- iTunes (USA Store): $5, $10, $15, $25, $50, $100 cards
- LoL
- Minecraft Game Card
- Netflix: 30$ and $60 cards
- Nintendo: 10$, $20, $35, $50 cards
- PlayStation Network: 10$, $25 and $50 cards
- Skype: 10$ and $25 cards
- Steam (Malaysia Store): 5$ to $60 Cards
- XBox: 15$, 25$ and 50$ Cards
- Xbox Live
How to Use Gift Cards
CardWalla gift cards will enable those without any credit or debit cards to buy apps from Google Pay or iTunes, or to buy products from Skype, Facebook advertising and so on.
So if you want to buy an app from Google Play, here’s how you go about it:
- Get CardWalla gift card from any physical retail partner of Monami, or through partner websites or through mobile app
- Use these cards on any online store/service you want to use to ‘fund your account’.
- Card denomination will be deposited into your account (Google Play for example) and any purchases will be made from that account.
- If you loaded a $10 card and consumed $6 then your account balance will be $4 and that will be sitting in your own Google Play account.
Prices
Monami is in process of finalizing the prices, but here’s how they may look like:
- $5 for Rs. 650
- $10 for Rs. 1,300
- $15 for Rs. 19,00
- and so on
Where to Buy?
As mentioned above, CardWalla Gift Cards can be bought from:
- Bank AlFalah Internet Banking
- 24/7 Convenience Stores in Lahore
- shophive.com
This list of places from where you can buy Gift Cards will grow with time. Monami said that this service is aimed for up market and they are making efforts to make these cards available at more retail outlets throughout country.
Get MCB Lite Card, it is prepaid debit card and works online. I recommend it over all the other cards
do they deduct additional balance?
i have used UBL Internet Wiz Debit Card on Google Play Store,
they deduct 1$ on every transaction, even on Declined transaction (insufficient balance)
MCB LITE CARD IS BEST OF ALL. ANNUAL CHARGES RS.300/- ANY BODY HAVING VALID CNIC CAN GET THIS CARD WITHIN A WEEK
NO HIDDEN CHARGES ONLY EXCHANGE RATE WILL APPLY OF THE DAY YOU ARE MAKING PURCHASES.
CAN BE LOADED BY ANY MCB BANK LIMITED BRANCH OR MOBILE BANKING
brother you didn’t answer my question
I asked do they deduct any additional balance on any online transaction?
For example: 2% 3% 5% etc.on every transaction
Probably a 2.5% FED (Federal Excise Duty) will be deducted from your account. Imran Bai Jee sounds like a spammer :(
For LITE card, Only Annual fee is applicable which is round about 1200, they do not deduct any other commission or fee in most cases. See their website. It has surely better service than Wiz
have you tried it on Google Play Store or Apple App Store?
some say that such cards does not work on Google’s or Apple’s Store
Dear #engr atif rates of MCB LITE has been revised i.e.Rs.300/- per annum. MCB TO MCB TRANSFER FUND UPTO 100K ree of cost fund transfer to Other banks charges Rs.20/- per transaction.
Online payment no charges.
No hidden charges revised annual fee is 300Rs.
are you MCB Representative?
if so please contact me
Hello Kamil Mirza how much you have to pay to buy this card?
which card?
UBL Wiz card
it was of a friend, not mine
don’t know how much he paid for it
if you are interested I’ll let you know
I will call UBL myself sometime later to get the info.Anyway thanks for replying.
Standard Chartered is best .. :)
Sure SC is nice. Mostly students,freelancers,entrepreneurs cannot use it, because most banks do not consider freelancing as source of income,even they are earning handsome amount.
MCB LITE CARD IS THE BEST OF THE REST IN PAKISTAN. ANNUAL CHARGES RS.300/- ANY BODY HAVING VALID CNIC CAN GET THIS CARD WITHIN A WEEK
NO HIDDEN CHARGES ONLY EXCHANGE RATE WILL APPLY OF THE DAY YOU ARE MAKING PURCHASES.
CAN BE LOADED BY ANY MCB BANK LIMITED BRANCH OR MOBILE BANKING
Dukaaan Khol loo baii jeeeee :D
Good idea U will see everywhere MCB LITE in Pakistan
@IMRAN BAI JEE. There is noting wrong in saying “Disclaimer: I am an employee of MCB”
Soon government will tax play store transactions……
so ? we as a nation pay very low taxes
Lol low taxes? Sales tax, wht tax, FED tax and whatnot. … adhey paisey tou taxes pay krney mein jaatey hein…. petrol, internet, consumer goods… tax hi tax hein…. aur ap kehte hein k ham taxes buhut kam dete hein???
Disclaimer from Alfalah. These services will be available soon not right now.
This nonsense (dis)service is destined to fail. They are charging exorbitant premium.
Business hy bhai. Pakistan mai fail hojay at. Middle east mai Shays chl jay
Dear ProPakistani Community,
We appreciate the comparison to an MCB Lite Card but that card cannot be used on iTunes stores or Netflix / Hulu. Also, it is tough to gift an iTunes card or Netflix subscription to a family member using a debit card. With our service you can obtain the voucher and give it to your loved ones.
@Kamil Mirza, we do not deduct any additional balance or per transaction unlike local debit/credit cards.
@Zawayar We have consulted tax advisors and currently these products are not applicable – we cannot comment on the governments view for the future (which means buy them up while you can!)
@fdj We charge a slight premium as we have to pay for these products in advance and also bear the currency exchange risk. It is well known the Rs. fluctuates reguarly to the $ hence the slight premium. As compared to the rest of the market CardWalla aims to keep prices low so it is convenient for it’s customers.
If there are any further questions please do not hesitate to contact us at [email protected]
This is not slight premium. Let me give you a example , you are charging a card of $10 for Rs. 1,300 which translates into 130 rupee per usd. All Credit cards from local banks charge 1 usd at a maximum of 110 ( in worst case these days ). You are charging 20 rupee per usd above it. This translates into 18% more than the local banks charge, and this percentage is not a SLIGHT PREMIUM.
Your target market seem to be the only MAJBOOR people who have no other options. Those people who use these services regularly , they will not agree to pay 18% more.
I have used it in Google Play Store in app purchases. I paid only prescribed amount no othe charges.
Hello ProPakistani Community,
We are excited about our upcoming wide scale launch in Pakistan. We have invested significantly in technology in order to make this service as safe and convenient as possible. We have a roadmap that will have our products available in over 75,000 locations across Pakistan within the next months. Our solution will allow for purchasing both online and in person with cash. Stay tuned for many exciting announcements.
With TheCardWalla, participating locations will be able to immediately and securely sell our 100% authentic gift cards. The gift card pin numbers are delivered instantly via SMS/E-Mail and are redeemable immediately at the participating international websites, gaming modules or app stores.
The gift card pricing is based upon the foreign currency face value of the gift card plus a small premium to compensate the selling merchants, network providers, etc. The higher denomination cards will have a lower premium percentage than the lower denomination cards. In addition, TheCardWalla will be introducing a loyalty program and seasonal promotions that will reward our customers.
Should anyone want to join TheCardWalla as a distributor, please contact us at [email protected] .
Thank you
TheCardWalla
It is a huge disappointment to see that we are offering over 1000+ digital currencies to Pakistanis for over 2 years now and that too at better rates and instant delivery service while we were never given a chance on this forum.
i just check your rate.for steam its better than them.i check steam because its my main interest so i will sure buy from you.
can you tell me one thing what is your delivery time for gujranwala region?thanks for your comment
If you are not given a chance for FREE , why dont you market yourself and ask for a PAID ARTICLE/POST. No one does free marketing for anyone.
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service is good, but rate difference is high!
My wiz card is just perfect for me and it does charge a dollar $ extra but if transaction fails then they also return that dollar/s in 14days approx ..
how can we add balance to Google Wallet? i want to buy space on Google Drive. My debit card wont work on google wallet
MCB LITE IS THE ONLY DEBIT CARD WORK ALSO ON GOOGLE WALLET.
have you tried it?
I just hope the steam card region works here