5 min
Choosing your blockchain network
The network changes the cost and the wait more than the asset sent does. Figures compared, and a method.
01 Guides
Paying the ad networks with a virtual card.
It is the first use our customers name, and the one that fails most often. Not because virtual cards are refused as a matter of principle — they are not — but because three causes of decline coexist, and none of them is announced.
In brief
Yes, a virtual card pays for Google Ads, Meta and TikTok. Three things make accounts fail: a prepaid BIN refused with no reason given, a card country that does not match the billing country, and a balance that runs dry mid-campaign. The first two are settled before you start; the third is bounded with a per-card limit.
The essentials
- Cards accepted
- yes, generally
- Decline possible
- no reason displayed
- Card country
- often imposed
- One card per account
- recommended
- Test advised
- $50
Why ad networks are difficult
An advertising platform advances money: it runs the ads first and bills afterwards. It therefore carries a risk of non-payment, and it protects itself by filtering payment methods at the door. A prepaid card, by construction, allows no overdraft — which is exactly what gets in the way of an advertiser who would like to spend beyond their balance mid-month, and exactly what reassures one who wants to bound their spend.
Cause 1 — the prepaid BIN refused
Some accounts refuse prepaid BINs. Not all of them, not systematically, and rarely with a message that says so. The payment fails, the card is marked invalid, and nothing explains why. There is no public list of accepted BINs: policies vary from one account to the next, from one country to the next, and change without notice. It is the only one of the three causes nobody can anticipate — hence the advice to test with a small top-up before putting a budget behind a card.
Cause 2 — the country does not match
Many platforms require the card's country of issue to match the advertising account's billing country. An account billed in Ireland with a US card will be refused, and the message will talk about an "invalid payment method" rather than about the country. That is where the choice of issuing region genuinely matters: it is the only parameter you can act on before the account even exists.
Cause 3 — the balance runs dry
A live campaign draws down continuously. If the balance runs out, the next charge is declined, and most ad networks suspend delivery after one or two failures — sometimes flagging the account, which takes longer to undo than a top-up does. This risk is in no way specific to virtual cards, but it shows up faster with a prepaid balance than with a bank direct debit mandate.
One card per advertising account
This is the practice that avoids the most trouble. If a network suspends a payment method — it happens, including wrongly — the other campaigns keep running. Each card's monthly limit also bounds the spend per account, which is a more reliable guard rail than a reminder in a calendar. Our virtual cards being free and unlimited, there is no reason to share one across accounts.
When a payment is declined
The transaction ledger shows the exact reason for every decline: insufficient balance, limit reached, card frozen, 3-D Secure code not confirmed, blocked merchant category. If the reason is "declined by the merchant" with nothing further, the cause sits on the ad network's side, and the only useful action is to try the other issuing region. A decline costs nothing: we do not charge for payments that fail.
We cannot guarantee acceptance. No provider can, and any that claims otherwise is lying: the decision belongs to the ad network, it comes with no reason given, and it can change on an account already running. What we can do is let you choose the issuing region and charge you nothing when a payment fails.
→ The other guides
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