My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience

Posted by Felix Okoli on Tuesday January 28, 2014 at 11:35:26:

I decided to get a Naira Mastercard since I wanted to use it for online shopping at sites like Amazon. Nowadays, in Nigeria, getting dollars to fund your USD based card can be a bit expensive due to the rising value of the USD in black markets. I still wonder why Nigerian banks don't fund people's USD based cards directly using the official exchange rate rather than having people bring their US dollar anytime they want to fund their card. Anyway, since I also know that Amazon has started accepting some Nair based Visa and Mastercards, I just wanted to see if if using a Naira card directly at Amazon would offer a better exchange rate than the 170 I was getting from the black market.

I have to admit that UBA staff were horrible and slow in attending to customers. I had to collect my Naira Mastercard on day one and come back the next day to collect my PIN since the lady in question was not on her seat. The next day when I went, I still was made to wait for more than 30 mins just to collect my PIN. Anyway, since I knew it was just a first time thing, I didn't mind and wasted my time waiting in UBA branch without being compensated for it.

It seems UBA has also changed the way they issue PINs for debit cards as they no longer give you a PIN mailer instead you'd be made to type in your default PIN into their POS machine so that they'd configure that for your account. Afterwards, you can then change your PIN at any ATM. Personally, I don't fancy this new idea since people could actually forget the default PIN they entered and then end up having their ATM card seized after 3 wrong attempts.

Anyway, I finally got my Naira Mastercard from UBA after a long wait and also got the PIN which I later changed. The reason why I actually wanted this card was because I needed some alternative card for making internet payments and wanted to try UBA's product.

Visiting Amazon website
One of the cheapest thigns one can buy from Amazon is a gift card and it's a sort of credit you can buy and send to anyone, even through e-mail which then allows the person to shop on Amazon.

What I did
===========
- I Went to Amazon's gift card corner
- Select the email gift card product
- Entered a value e.g. $10 I just wanted to see the exchange rate they'd use in converting my naira to dollar
- Entered my name and set delivery to now
- Clicked on purchase
- Logged in securely to my Amazon account
- Reviewed my order
- Changed the payment method to my UBA Naira Mastercard details(I was initially using a Zenith USD card)
- Clicked on add a card
- Entered the name on card, card number and expire date(Cool. It would expire 2019)
- Clicked on add your card
- Amazon detected the card as Mastercard and also asked to choose the currency of the card(Naira or other) and I selected Naira since I wanted to know exactly how much they would exchange for me. Amazon uses a local currency exchange so you'd know how much you'd be charged in Naira before actually completing the order
- I clicked on continue
- I chose my billing address as my Nigerian address since this is the address registered for my card
- I saw the final bill in Naira and noticed that Amazon's exchange rate was actually high at 170 to a US dollar
- I clicked on Place order just to see if it would be accepted
- I got a confirmation of the order
- I got another email from Amazon telling me that my card was declined.

It seems that the UBA Naira Mastercard doesn't come activated by default for global online shopping and one might have to call their customer service to activate it even though that was not stated on the paper they gave me. Anyway, seeing that the exchange rate is still as high as what obtains in the black market, I guess, I'll forget about using it for making internet payments for now and just use it for ATM operations.

Update: My UBA Naira Mastercard now works on Amazon

Comments:

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by lemuel on Wednesday January 29, 2014 at 10:2:24:

hi, please where can i convert my naira to dollars in Abuja and can i use a gtb debit card to purchase applications and games online?? thanks

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by Felix Okoli on Wednesday January 29, 2014 at 10:2:24:

Of course you can use GTB's debit card online as long as it's a Mastercard or Visa. Just tell them to activate it for online use.

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by dada samuel on Saturday February 1, 2014 at 6:24:5:

can i use the master card of stanbic IBTC to receive money from Gtb bank.

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by Felix Okoli on Saturday February 1, 2014 at 6:24:5:

If your mastercard is a debit card, I know you can receive money into your bank account from any other bank and then withdraw it from the ATM.

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by Bukky on Sunday February 2, 2014 at 21:12:58:

Hey Felix,
I also have First Bank Naira Mastercard which I used a few times to purchase stuff from Amazon.com and other sites. However, subsequent attempts have been rejected stating that the bank could not clear the payments. This should probably be as result of US mailing address that is different from the address I used in opening the account. I was advised to call the bank, but my fear is that I don't want to give my card details to an individual I cannot see. Please do you think it is safe to go ahead and call them?

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by Felix Okoli on Sunday February 2, 2014 at 21:12:58:

You can call them but you don't have to give them all your details. You can give them the first 5 digits of the card and maybe your last transaction and cardholder name. Don't give them your CVV code and full card number. Besides, if they are still unable to help you, I think you should just get a friend or relative to get another card for you.

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by Bukky on Monday February 3, 2014 at 23:22:38:

Thanks for your response.

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by Natha on Saturday April 19, 2014 at 10:37:19:

Thank you for this post! I'm having the same problem with my card because I'm trying to purchase an item on amazon. Now I know that it's not my card that has a problem :D

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by Natha on Saturday April 19, 2014 at 10:37:19:

Thank you for this post! I'm having the same problem with my card because I'm trying to purchase an item on amazon. Now I know that it's not my card that has a problem :D

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by ilori olawale on Friday May 2, 2014 at 15:0:25:

Please i want to know if i can activate my first bank naira mastercard for online trasanction too in dollar.

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by Felix Okoli on Friday May 2, 2014 at 15:0:25:

Ofcourse you can. Just visit your bank and tell them to activate your Naira mastercard. Global online payment is what mastercards are made for.

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by steve u on Thursday August 7, 2014 at 7:41:7:

i had same experience wit uba naira mastercard, very bad customer service, d card was decline by microsoft store, even jumia.com. I quickly switchd to gtb naira mastercard and its been doin watever i askd of it

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by Sam on Wednesday September 10, 2014 at 13:18:16:

To successfully use your UBA mastercard on amazon, try setting your currency to dollar and not naira. It should work that way.

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by help on Sunday October 5, 2014 at 15:26:54:

Good aftrnoon please can i use my uba visa card to register for dollar sites .

Re: My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience Reply by Felix Okoli on Sunday October 5, 2014 at 15:26:54:

Yes you can do that

My UBA Naira Mastercard and Amazon shopping experience

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