Can Canadians Purchase from Costco.com online?

[scrappinginontario]

Has anyone ever tried purchasing from Costco.com online?

I just found out they are offering a $500.00 Southwest GC with no expiry for $449.00. We fly pretty much exclusively with SW so this would be a good savings for us but I have never tried purchasing anything using my Canadian Costco card from Costco online in the US. I have used my card without problems in the store but this scenario would be new to me.

Any experiences others can share?

Thanks!

 

[Starwind]

Yes, I created a costco dot com account and associated my Canadian Costco membership number to it.

I have been able to purchase physical items using a US credit card and shipped to a US address.

Any time I have tried to purchase an electronic gift card the transaction has initially gone through but then shortly after been canceled by Costco. I assume as part of their fraud detection systems.

 

[scrappinginontario]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience @Starwind. First challenge may be that I don't have a US credit card as I know often those are not available to those who only have a Canadian address. Hmmm....

Will keep investigating. Appreciate you sharing your experience.

 

[rella's fan]

I bought a Landrys gift card from Costco.com in August with a Canadian credit card and no problems.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I bought a Landrys gift card from Costco.com in August with a Canadian credit card and no problems.

Oh, that's great to hear! Possibly I'll give it a try. Am guessing if I try I will need to use a Visa card rather than my Costco/PC MC as I believe Visa is the card used in the US.

Your experience is encouraging @rella's fan!

 

[rella's fan]

So weird, I didn't even think of that. I don't have a Visa so used my MC.

 

[scrappinginontario]

So weird, I didn't even think of that. I don't have a Visa so used my MC.

Interesting!! I would much prefer to use my PC MC for the points!!

 

[Mikey15]

I understand a “Costco cash card” (gift card) purchased in Canada works at Costco US, and like Disney gift cards does not mark up the exchange rate. E.g. buy Costco gift card in warehouse in Canada with your MC, then use it at Costco US. The only thing I don’t know is if that would work for ordering a gift card through Costco.com.

We have ordered merchandise from Costco.com before with our Canadian membership, but I’m thinking we used a US-based Visa card for payment.

 

[CanucksRock]

I have ordered a gift card before (Nintendo) with no issue. (Was for my niece that lives in US)

Edit to add: I checked and I used my Scotiabank Passport Visa for the purchase. So Canadian Credit card. Billing Address was CDN, but for Shipping Address I used my brothers US address, although it was sent via email, so no physical product shipped.

 

[frjohnk]

wanted to bump this thread up as I spent all morning trying to buy some egift cards from costcodotcom.

Trying to get Ecards, so there isnt anything getting physically shipped.
We are going to Disneyland and thought that if we get the IHOP deal, spend $69 get $100 in value. The Uber deal $74 get $100 etc.

I have a membership here in Canada, so the first time I tried, I used both my billing and shipping address here in Canada. Cancelled.
Next I used the Anaheim hotel address as the shipping address, but kept my billing address as Canadian. Cancelled.
So I then used Anaheim hotel address as the shipping and billing address. Cancelled.
Then I tried our Visa instead of Mastercard. Cancelled.

So I figured I better chat with someone online.

Costco employee said I have to get a US membership and use a US address for the shipping part. But I couldnt use the hotel address, as hotels are not recognized, then once I get the ecards I can cancel the membership. I have a brother in law in Minnesota so I used his address as the shipping address.
So I tried that. Cancelled.

Uggh.

Then I did another chat, wondering what the heck. So this is what the employee told me to do.


Signed into my Canadian membership account, instead of trying to buy a US membership. Clicked into the US account. Loaded up 1 IHOP deal into the cart. Used my address as billing address. Used my brother in laws address and used his name for the shipping part ( I was using my name for the shipping part all the time). Went to check out And it went thru!!! Finally!

So if you have a Canadian membership you should be able to get some gift cards to help out.

 

[deedubb]

In Dec 2023, they had Disney gift cards on sale, $250 USD for $225 and you were supposed to able to buy 2 per membership, for a savings of $50 USD. In the end, I was able to puchase 20 of them over 10 separate transactions. Somewhere in there, I did have one purchase cancelled but was able to purchase many more after that.

You don't need a US credit card. Most of those purchases were on my no forex Scotiabank card, with a few of them on my USD card.