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We would like to give our son an XBox LIVE Gold membership. He and I both have free (silver) accounts on Xbox LIVE. Options I have found so far include:

  • Attach our Visa card to our son's account
  • Go out and buy a prepaid card
  • Buy an XBL Gold Family Pack (an expensive solution since only one person will ever use it)

I would like to attach our Visa card to only my account and be able to give our son a Gold membership as a gift. I am convinced this is possible but I fail to find a relevant link to do so.

Additional note: I would like to purchase this from my home computer. Typing with the controller has proven to be a frustrating experience.

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  • I think the prepaid card is your best option, given the situation. As I recall, the XBox Live subscription card is for a 13-month subscription.
    – user2974
    Dec 24, 2010 at 11:59
  • Just make sure you know what country you and the card are from before buying the card. i know quite some people that have american hotmails for excample so they need an american live membership. same for me, since i migrated to a diffrent country i need to get a visa/card from my original country before i can go on live. Also note that microsoft still does not support moving to a diffrent country.
    – Andy
    Dec 24, 2010 at 12:36

3 Answers 3

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I would suggest buying your son a prepaid card. You do have to remember when it runs out and buy another, but they tend to be $10-15 cheaper than buying the same amount of time through Microsoft directly. It's also much easier to stop being a subscriber, since you just don't add more time to the account - no need to figure out how to stop the automatic payments.

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  • 2
    Also note that once you add a credit card to your account there is NO WAY EVER to remove it. Whether the credit card is just inactive, or you don't want the info there anymore it doesn't matter. I will ONLY buy live time w/ pre-paid cards.
    – aslum
    Dec 24, 2010 at 17:38
  • Yep, you have to call Microsoft, have them remove your membership, wait a week, then you can remove it. Not a great experience. Then add to that if you put it onto his account and then can't access it.
    – Brok3n
    Jul 7, 2014 at 5:22
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There is an Xbox Live Family Gold pack subscription, where you can transfer points to secondary accounts. The credit card is only attached to the primary account. This is not exactly what you want, but maybe an interesting alternative.

I don't own an Xbox, so I don't have any personal experience with that.

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  • +1 @Fabian, that's the option I forgot. It's twice as expensive though if there's only ever one person playing Live. I'll edit the answer to add this information. Dec 24, 2010 at 11:41
  • Keep in mind that with a gold account you are able to watch video's like Crackle and YouTube from the Xbox with a gold membership, also internet browsing. Also, you may be somewhere else and want to message via Xbox Live, Gold membership allows this from Xbox.com. Free, no.
    – Brok3n
    Jul 7, 2014 at 5:24
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There is a bundle I once got (would link it but I'm at work) at futureshop that included a year of live (not 13 months), a headset, chat pad and some random game. It is definitely worth looking into to because the headsets always seem to break.

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