MetaBank Releases New ‘Happy’ Gift Card Line, Alongside their ‘Everywhere’ Line

The past few months, we’ve seen a new ‘Happy’ gift card line pop up, and now Giftcardmall sent out an email officially introducing it. The cards are issued by Blackhawk and backed by Metabank. Giftcardmall is owned by Blackhawk and is the biggest distributor of gift cards in stores and online.

There’s also a familiar ‘Everywhere’ gift card line which we’ll discuss in this post.

Since deals on these have come up and will probably come up in the future, I figured it’s worth a post laying out the options and to leave room for discussion with tips and tricks as well.

Happy Gift Cards

Link to ‘Happy’ cards on Giftcardmall.com

  1. Happy Lady – Use at any Lord & Taylor, Saks off 5th, Sephora, Cheesecake Factory, Spafinder, Panera Bread or Bed Bath & Beyond location in the US
  2. Happy Guy – Use at any The Home Depot, AutoZone, Dell, Buffalo Wild Wings, Lord & Taylor, Burger King or McCormick and Schmick’s location in the US.
  3. Happy Kid – Use at any Gymboree, Jamba Juice, Rainforest Café, Regal Cinemas or Buy Buy Baby location in the US.
  4. Happy Teen – Use at any Regal Cinemas, American Eagle, Nike, Dave & Buster’s, Sephora, Jamba Juice, Barnes & Noble or Under Armour location in the US.
  5. Happy Dining – Use at any The Cheesecake Factory, Red Lobster, Bravo Brio, Texas de Brazil, McCormick and Schmick’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, P.F. Chang’s or Cracker Barrel location in the US.
  6. Happy Eats – Use at any Cracker Barrel, Dave & Buster’s, Panera Bread or Buffalo Wild Wings location in the US.
  7. Happy Bites – Use at any Peet’s Coffee, Panera Bread, Burger King, Jamba Juice or Noodles & Company location in the US.
  8. Happy Local Eats West – Use Use at any Buffalo Wild Wings, Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop, Sweet Tomatoes, Souplantation, Claim Jumper or Baja Fresh location in the US.
  9. Happy Beauty – Use at any Sephora, Spafinder, Lord & Taylor, L.A. Fitness, Sally Beauty or Ulta location in the US.
  10. Happy Bride – Use at any Bed Bath & Beyond, David’s Bridal, JCPenney or Spafinder location in the US.
  11. Happy Student – Use at any Dell, Burger King, Bed Bath & Beyond, JCPenney, American Eagle, or Aerie location in the US.
  12. Happy Her – Use at any The Cheesecake Factory, Macy’s, Panera Bread, Bed Bath & Beyond, Sephora or SpaFinder location in the US.

These cards come in fixed value amounts as well as variable load with loads up to $500.

Terms:

This Happy Card is good at any of the brands featured on the card in the U.S. Online redemption may not be available for all merchants. For questions, balance inquiry or customer service visit happycards.com or call 855-606-3494. By using this card, you agree to the Cardholder Agreement at happycards.com. Treat this card like cash; no replacement if lost/stolen. Not reloadable; no cash redemption except as required by law. Funds do not expire; if Valid Thru date has passed, call for new card. Happy Bites Gift Card issued by MetaBank®, Member FDIC; distributed and serviced by Blackhawk Network California, Inc. Covered by Blackhawk Network Patent, blackhawknetwork.com/patent.

The terms have an important qualifier indicating the gift card may not work online for all merchants. My guess is that the exclusion is for places like restaurants, and that it’ll work for places like Nike and Bed Bath & Beyond online without a hitch. We’ll see.

Our Verdict

If you see a deal on the Happy gift card line, some of the best values found here are: Home Depot, Nike, and Bed Bath & Beyond. Of course the best deal is the one you can use up.

For now we’re assuming the terms are enforced and the gift cards will only work at these select merchants, not at other merchants within the category. Let us know if you find otherwise.

I don’t know if these gift cards can be resold, e.g. can I resell a Happy Guy gift card as if it’s a Home Depot gift card? Maybe someone will try this out.

Everywhere Gift Card Line

The new ‘Happy’ line is somewhat similar to the familiar ‘Everywhere’ line which is also a Blackhawk/Metabank product and works only in select categories. Some people have also experienced these cards working in more creative places, e.g. Walmart. I’ll add in any interesting data points into the post – hopefully we can make this a consolidated post for information on these cards.

The ‘Everywhere’ line is supposed to work at all stores within the category, making it much easier to use. For comparison, the Happy Dining card only works at 6 restaurant chains while the Dining Everywhere card should work at any of thousands of eating establishments which have the credit MCC category of Dining. Both the Everywhere line and the Happy line are Visa branded cards with a card number, expiration, and CVV; however, the Happy cards are limited to select stores and don’t work in debit mode at all while the Everywhere cards work in entire categories and can function in debit mode using the last 4 card digits as the PIN.
    Chuck
  • On July 31, 2018, 13:30

View Comments (47)

  • When I noticed the Happy cards did, indeed, have 16-digit card numbers, on a hunch I put one of the numbers into one of my cashback apps, and it showed up as a Visa card number. (Which makes sense, since that network is already in place for card payments.)

    I haven’t tried it a lot of places, but in addition to miles spent for a Happy card and a discount on buying the card, so far I’ve also gotten Ebates/Rakuten cash back at JCPenney on a Happy Student card. #tripledip

    Anyone have any clue if I’m officially breaking any rules? Are straightforward prepaid Visa/MC/Amex cards precluded at all from earning rewards with any program like Shopkick or Ebates that you’ve seen?

  • The Happy Teen cards with 02/2027 expiration dates show only Barnes & Noble, Sephora, Regal, Dave & Busters, American Eagle, and Jamba Juice. Does anyone know if the older cards work at Panera, Under Armour, and Ulta as well, which are added to the 01/2028 exp cards which also have added a scratch off over the card # / CVV / exp date?

    There are also 07/2027 exp Happy Teen cards which added Under Armour but lack Panera and Ulta.

    • Oh, and also the 02/2027 exp Happy Teen cards have Nike which was dropped from the 07/2027 and 01/2028 exp cards. I am wondering if all Happy Teen cards actually work at all 10 places or if they vary by expiration date

    • the Happy cards are fee free but the everywhere variables (GE, DE, SE) have fees up to $4.95. The Movies and Fuel everywhere have max load of $100 with lower fees.

  • Currently 10-15% off at my local Safeway when added to your loyalty card. Combine with Amex Gold for 4x pts @ grocery stores!

  • Wont work in panera app bc exp date is too far out. Can use in store though. Not being able to do rapid pickup is mildly annoying.

    • Anyone figured out how to fully drain these cards at Panera? Can't seem to combine cards via the app, so any card with less than you need for your purchase simply errors out. Won't buy these again, as they are a pita to fully drain.

    • Leaving this here for the future generations. Use the desktop website to add the card to your account with Panera.

  • I have been able to use Dining Everywhere at several different supermarkets. Worked for everything sold at each supermarket, including nonfood items.

  • What's the point of these Visa gift cards? Even if the fees are waived or reduced, why buy them instead of the general Visa gift cards?

    • These cards are visa style (4xxx xxxx xxxx xxxx, 3 digit cvv, exp. date, etc) , but it will only work in specified stores, it will not work in debit mode (suppose the last 4 digit is the pin). I did a few test with the "happy guy" card.

      • Let me post more of my test result with the happy guy card. As I mentioned, it looks like visa...And issued by NetBank...

        Kroger debit mode: failed
        Kroger credit mode: failed

        Home depot store: purchased a HD gift card with the happy guy, it went through and payment showed visa

        Remember the home improvement card? I don't think the bank will make the same mistake.

        I guess these will replace those
        visa everywhere series to make ms more challenging...

        • Happy Cards $50 Value ......I had trouble using it and called customer Service ...Told them the card kept telling me it was missing a number so they issued a refund Check was to mailed Dec 11 I never received check ...Now they said I received check and cashed out Dec 26 th They are trying to RIP ME OFF ....I'am going to press this to the limit and TELL EVERYONE BUY A VISA OR MASTER CARD .....STAY AWAY FROM HAPPY CARDS....They DO NOT STAND BEHIND THEY WORDS

    • For MSers, this will be a 'hit' IF (big IF) they can be drained at WM or grocery stores just like most everywhere Visa debit GCs since they're fee free! IF these are found out to be easily drainable, I'm 100% sure the sales of these GCs will zoom up overnight. But if NOT, I don't think these GCs will last long in the market.

  • I purchased some of these last month when Safeway was doing a deal on them and was unsuccessful reloading my Amazon balance with them, in case anyone else is tempted to try that.

  • Is there a ‘Happy Ending’ gift card that works at all sketchy massage parlors?

  • I can't imagine anything Buy Buy Baby not working for Bed Bath & Beyond and vice versa. They're the same company and a gift card to either merchant works for both, similar to Sam's Club and Walmart.

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