You’re running ad campaigns, driving traffic, and testing creatives, but when you check the final numbers, something doesn’t add up. The budget is depleting faster than expected, and the ROI isn’t reaching the desired level. Where is the money going?
Let’s say you’ve launched a new offer. Everything looks perfect: creatives are tested, targeting is set, and the funnel is optimized. Traffic is flowing, leads are coming in, but the final profit is lower than expected. Why? You account for expenses like creatives, software, and domains, but one of the biggest cost factors is ad payments. And here’s one of the most overlooked insights: the money isn’t lost in failed tests — it’s lost because you’re overpaying for no reason.
Where is the budget leaking?
Imagine you’re walking down the street and see two stores. In one, a pair of sneakers costs $100. In the other, the same sneakers also cost $100, but they offer a $10 cashback. Strangely, most people still choose the first store just because the price seems the same. The same thing happens in marketing: you pay for ads but don’t use tools that could give you part of that money back. It might seem minor, but when scaled to monthly budgets in the tens of thousands, the amount becomes significant.
Cashback as an ROI Growth Tool
Cashback virtual cards for media buying work simply: you pay for ads, and a percentage of the amount is returned to you. This isn’t a bonus or reward points — this is real money that can be reinvested in traffic. A 1-3% difference in large budgets translates into a tangible competitive advantage. Essentially, it’s a hidden optimization that works effortlessly: just switch your card, and your expenses decrease.
Where to Get the Right Card?
Not all virtual cards are equally useful. Regular bank cards don’t offer cashback on ad spending, whereas specialized solutions are designed specifically for media buyers. Several services provide such cards, including Spend, eCards, and Leading Cards. Each has its own conditions, cashback percentages, and limitations, but the core benefit remains the same—reducing costs and increasing ad campaign profitability.
- Spend
The financial platform Spend.net specializes in virtual USD cards. They offer dedicated media-buying cards for popular platforms as well as cards for general online purchases. All their cards are free.
No spending confirmation is required to receive cashback — it’s automatically applied to all ad transactions. The fixed cashback rate is 2%. For other payments, Spend.net offers universal online shopping cards with a 1% cashback.
Top-up fees vary based on the user’s choice. The average deposit fee is 2%. No other financial operations incur fees.
Advantages:
- Large selection of unique BINs: 20 total BINs, with 6 unique ones minimizing declines
- Free cards: No issuance fees
- Zero fees: No transaction fees, decline fees, exchange fees, withdrawal fees, or refund fees (for deposits over $50)
- Security: 3D Secure
- Balance top-up: Cryptocurrency
- Team functionality: Create teams, assign tasks, and distribute roles. Budget analytics are available as downloadable CSV and XSL reports
- Fast registration: Sign up via Google account or email in less than a minute
- Unlimited card issuance: No limit on the number of cards
- 24/7 support: Live chat assistance
- eCards
eCards cater to large teams and high budgets. If your monthly spending exceeds $150,000, they offer customized conditions. Cashback is 0.5%, increasing to 1% for budgets over $250,000. Another nice bonus is that these cards work not only with advertising platforms but also for paying for related services. This means you can even try using them to pay for certain AI tools.
Advantages:
- Minimal fees: Only deposit and decline fees; all other operations are fee-free
- Transaction fees: 0%
- Deposit methods: Cryptocurrency
- Unique BINs: 9 total BINs, with 1 unique BIN located in the UK and Estonia
- Security: 3D Secure
- Team functionality: Easy internal operations, with a team leader managing roles and task distribution
- Simple registration: Standard online form with fast account verification
- 24/7 support: Available on Telegram
- Leading Cards
Leading Cards provides virtual cards for various online payments, not just ad expenses. To qualify for cashback, users must undergo an interview with a service manager and verify their ad spending. The cashback percentage is set individually and can reach up to 2%. Additionally, under personalized agreements, card issuance fees can be reduced from $6 to $1.
Advantages:
- Free test cards: Available under individual conditions
- Large number of BINs: Over 30 BINs, frequently updated
- Transaction fees: 2%
- Security: 3D Secure
- Team functionality: Rights and access management for different users within a team. Team leaders can transfer funds between accounts but not across teams.
- Deposit methods: Bank transfers and cryptocurrency (4.2% fee)
- Registration: Create a Leading Cards wallet and complete standard account verification
- 24/7 support: Available on Telegram
How the game changes;
Let’s say you test some of these cards and integrate cashback virtual cards into your strategy.
What happens next?
- Your marketing budget effectively increases by 2-3% without additional investment
- You gain a competitive edge over those not using cashback cards
- You can test new hypotheses more aggressively without worrying about profitability
Conclusion
Media buying isn’t just about traffic and conversions — it’s also about financial strategy. Optimizing your budget isn’t only about lowering bids or changing your audience; it’s about leveraging tools that work in your favor. Cashback virtual cards are one such tool.
Choose Spend, eCards, or Leading Cards and start testing cashback cards today!
