Prepaid cards guide for businesses: A flexible way to reward and pay people
By Abby Quillen●6 min. read●Feb 26, 2026
Prepaid gift cards are becoming the go-to solution for business disbursements because they offer a practical and convenient way to deliver rewards and payments. Executives see gift cards as the top reward format for incentive programs — with 61% expecting growth in the incentive gift card market in the coming years, 35% anticipating steady usage, and only 4% foreseeing a decline. Prepaid cards are also a leading choice for research incentives, customer promotions, payouts, and other bulk reward programs.
While prepaid cards offer clear advantages, purchasing and distributing them at scale comes with operational questions that generic gift card guides don't answer — like where to source cards, how to get them to thousands of recipients efficiently, and whether you need reloadable cards or not. This guide walks through each of those questions so your team can build and manage a bulk prepaid card program that actually works.
Why businesses are turning to bulk prepaid cards
Driven in part by business adoption, the U.S. prepaid gift card industry is growing rapidly, with a market size of $234.14 billion and an expected compound annual growth rate of 7% over the next four years.
The growth of gift cards reflects a broader shift toward card payments and away from cash and checks during the past decade. From 2016 to 2023, the percentage of cash payments dropped from 31% of total payments to 16%, while check payments dropped from 7% to 3%. At the same time, the percentage of credit and debit card payments expanded from 45% to 62%. The trend is clear: consumers increasingly favor card payments.
For businesses, brand-specific gift cards typically fall short. When your recipient pool is diverse — across departments, geographies, or demographics — a store-specific card can feel limiting or irrelevant. General-purpose prepaid cards, like those issued by Visa® or Mastercard®, solve that problem. They work across a wide range of merchants, can be delivered digitally at scale, and offer near-cash flexibility without the compliance headaches that come with actual cash disbursements.
Where can companies buy prepaid cards with nationwide (or worldwide) distribution?
The "where to buy" question is really two questions: where do you source the cards, and how do you get them to recipients? For small programs, those two things might be the same step. At scale, they're not.
Here are the three main approaches businesses use.
Buy physical cards in-store
How it works: Your team purchases prepaid cards at a grocery store, big box retailer, or online retailer, then mails them individually to recipients.
Best use cases: Small, infrequent sends for occasions like milestone anniversaries, bereavement gifts, or other events where a physical package carries more meaning than a digital delivery.
When to consider other options: For larger programs, digital gift cards offer clear advantages for scale, cost, and convenience. Anything beyond a handful of cards per month becomes manual and hard to track.
Order cards directly from card networks
How it works: You source physical or digital bulk prepaid cards through the card network itself, via a licensed bank or card issuer. You're responsible for compliance, reporting, and distribution.
Best use cases: If your company has a distribution system in place and in-house compliance experts, this option can work for managing a large-scale prepaid program.
When to consider other options: If you need to send gift cards at scale and your company lacks the necessary systems or compliance resources, working with a third-party distribution platform may be a better fit.
Use a distribution platform
How it works: A gift card distributor manages the entire process of purchasing, sending, and tracking digital and physical bulk prepaid cards.
Best use cases: If your business sends several batches of gift cards every month or manages gift cards for multiple kinds of rewards or incentive programs, it makes sense to work with a distribution platform. The right gift card distributor can help you send cards at scale while providing security, ensuring tax compliance, and enabling tracking. Platforms like Tremendous offer prepaid rewards cards with instant digital delivery as well as physical cards, with distribution to 230+ countries and regions.
When to consider other options: If you're sending a small, one-off batch and don't need automation or tracking, buying in-store may be sufficient. If you have the in-house capacity to work directly with a card network, that's also a viable path.
What's the difference between reloadable and non-reloadable prepaid cards for business use?
This distinction matters more than it might seem and it's one area where a lot of businesses overcomplicate things.
Reloadable prepaid cards (sometimes called general-purpose reloadable, or GPR, cards) allow businesses to add funds to the same card multiple times. They work well for recurring use cases like employee payroll or gig worker payments that need to be replenished regularly. But they come with ongoing compliance and reporting requirements. You'll typically need to maintain an active account with a card issuer or bank partner, manage balance tracking, and handle ongoing oversight. Activation fees are common.
Non-reloadable cards are loaded once with a fixed amount. Once the balance is spent, the card is done. For one-time incentives, rewards, and payouts, this is almost always the better option. There's no ongoing account to maintain, no reload management, and compliance requirements are simpler. The tradeoff that recipients can't reload the card themselves is rarely a concern in business reward contexts.
If your program is issuing incentives or one-time payouts, start with non-reloadable cards. They're simpler to manage and require less infrastructure to support.
What tools support bulk distribution to thousands of recipients?
Sending a handful of cards is straightforward. Sending thousands, across multiple programs, every month, is a different challenge. The pain points that emerge at scale are predictable — and solvable, with the right platform.
Manual work that doesn't scale
Building spreadsheets and manually coordinating delivery for hundreds of recipients is time-consuming and error-prone. Look for platforms that support:
CSV upload: Format a spreadsheet with recipient details (name, email, reward amount, message) and upload it. The platform handles issuance and delivery.
API integration: Connect your CRM, HR platform, or other software directly to the distribution platform. Predefined triggers automatically send rewards based on specific actions — like an employee hitting a tenure milestone.
Integration challenges
Manual handoffs between systems create delays and mistakes. The right platform offers multiple integration paths depending on your team's technical resources:
Direct API integration: Your developer codes custom triggers into your existing systems. Data flows directly between platforms, enabling automated reward delivery without manual steps.
Zapier workflows: A no-code option that connects your apps through Zapier. Your team sets up trigger-action workflows — for example, automatically sending a reward when a survey respondent completes a study.
Tracking and reporting headaches
Running multiple programs across different teams makes it easy to lose visibility into who received what, when. A centralized dashboard that handles both virtual and physical cards — with real-time reconciliation and exportable reports — removes the need for separate spreadsheets and manual tracking.
Fraud risk
High-volume programs are often targets for fraudsters. Look for a platform with built-in fraud prevention controls that let you set receiving thresholds for recipients, identify scammers posing as recipients, and flag recipients from suspicious countries or IP addresses.
With options for CSV uploads, Zapier workflows, and direct API integration, platforms like Tremendous streamline gift card distribution and simplify tracking for both virtual and physical cards from a centralized dashboard. Enterprise-grade security and built-in fraud prevention help ensure rewards reach the right recipients.
How do prepaid cards work for international recipients?
Not all prepaid cards cross borders. Many retail-purchased cards are U.S.-only, and brand-specific cards are often tied to the country where they were issued. If you're distributing to recipients outside the U.S., this matters.
For global programs, you need cards enabled for cross-border use with automatic currency conversion at the point of sale — so recipients aren't stuck paying foreign transaction fees or receiving a card denominated in a currency they can't use easily. You'll also want a platform that understands local regulations and tax requirements, which vary significantly by country.
Platforms like Tremendous distribute cards to 230+ countries and regions and handles currency exchange automatically, so recipients receive equivalent value in their local currency.
What should businesses consider before choosing a bulk prepaid card provider?
Once you've decided a distribution platform is the right path, here's how to evaluate your options.
Fee structure
Get clarity on every fee before you commit. Per-card fees, platform or subscription fees, campaign or upload fees, activation fees for physical and virtual cards, and foreign transaction fees can all add up. Ask explicitly about hidden costs like cancellation fees or charges for duplicate sends.
Delivery options
Find out whether the platform supports virtual delivery (email or text), physical cards, or both. If you run multiple programs with different delivery needs, a single platform that handles both from one dashboard is worth prioritizing.
Recipient experience
Your recipients' experience redeeming rewards reflects on your program. Look for a platform that makes redemption simple and flexible. With 4.5 billion mobile wallet users globally, support for Apple Pay and Google Wallet integration is increasingly relevant.
Reporting and compliance tools
Make sure the platform provides exportable reports for audits, accounting, and financial planning, along with support for tax reporting and recipient documentation collection.
Integration capabilities
Confirm that the platform supports the integration approach that matches your team's resources — API for custom builds, Zapier for no-code automation, or CSV upload for simpler workflows.
Key takeaways
Building a prepaid card program that works at scale comes down to getting a few things right upfront.
Separate "buying" from "distributing." Sourcing cards is the easy part. Distribution — getting the right card to the right person at the right time, with tracking and compliance — is where programs succeed or fall short.
Non-reloadable cards are usually the right choice for incentives and payouts. They're simpler to manage and require less compliance infrastructure than GPR cards.
The right platform eliminates the manual work. CSV upload, API integration, and Zapier workflows can automate most of what would otherwise be a time-intensive process. A single dashboard for virtual and physical cards keeps tracking manageable.
If you're sending internationally, confirm cross-border capability upfront. Not all cards or platforms support global distribution with automatic currency conversion.
Evaluate providers on the full picture: fee structure, delivery options, recipient experience, reporting tools, and integration capabilities.
Tremendous helps businesses send prepaid cards to 230+ countries and regions with fast ordering via CSV upload or API, flexible delivery options, and centralized tracking. Distributing rewards at scale is fast, free, and secure.
