Hulu payment

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Scottfour

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#183897 2-Nov-2015 21:39

Howdy,

How are people paying to use hulu now they block the use of non US credit cards or paypal accounts?

I've got access via unotelly and Netflix and world sports via sling are working nicely, just not hulu.

Thanks,
Scott.

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#1419298 2-Nov-2015 21:55

I use my Air New Zealand OneSmart card.

reven

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#1419319 2-Nov-2015 22:06

had the same issue trying to pay for hulu last week. found a gift code on ebay for about USD$20 for 12 months sub or 8months no ads sub.

worked a treat and now have 8months no ads, so much cheaper than normal sub.

theres lots of ebay listings, just look for one with a user with lots of positive feedback and you should be fine.

weera2500

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#1419383 3-Nov-2015 00:06

Hi Scott, Sorry I haven't got an answer for you but if you dont mind me asking, could you please share how do you access World Sport through Sling? Do you make an account with Sling directly or through World Sport? Do you need a US postal address and/or a US credit card to sign up? Do you need a special gadget other than a Smart TV with Internet access? I have Unotelly and use it to access Netflix US version. Many thanks.

jonathan18

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#1419488 3-Nov-2015 09:04

reven: had the same issue trying to pay for hulu last week. found a gift code on ebay for about USD$20 for 12 months sub or 8months no ads sub.

worked a treat and now have 8months no ads, so much cheaper than normal sub.

theres lots of ebay listings, just look for one with a user with lots of positive feedback and you should be fine.

Thanks for this post - I purchased one of these gift cards this morning after reading about it here.

I've been tempted to get Hulu Plus since they put out the ad-free option (we were just so put off by having to watch ads previously), but it just didn't seem worth the full cost - I've paid about $31 for what will be an eight month sub, so that's less than $1 a week.

Apparently one can purchase and apply multiple cards to extend the sub further out, which I may do while these cards are at such a reasonable price (is this what they historically sell for?).

littleheaven

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#1419497 3-Nov-2015 09:22

I definitely recommend getting an Air NZ OneSmart Card, if you have the opportunity. I use it for Hulu and for US and UK iTunes. It has a USD wallet so I just need to remember to transfer funds to it every now and then. Extremely useful.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

jonathan18

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#1419716 3-Nov-2015 12:23

littleheaven: I definitely recommend getting an Air NZ OneSmart Card, if you have the opportunity. I use it for Hulu and for US and UK iTunes. It has a USD wallet so I just need to remember to transfer funds to it every now and then. Extremely useful.

I agree it's a useful card to have, especially as there's no cost attached unless there's money in the account (otherwise it's $1 a month, I think?), but Reven's suggestion regarding using gift cards is a far more cost-effective way (edit: as in well under a quarter of the cost) of paying for Hulu Plus.

The following's based on the commercial-free option:

Gift card = NZ $32 for 8 months = $4 a month or $48 a year

Standard pay-as-you go arrangements = US $12 = (currently) NZ $17.80 a month or $213.60 a year

I'll use my OneSmart card for occasional purchases off iTunes (eg for movies not yet released in NZ), but think the gift cards are a far better way to pay for Hulu Plus; I look forward to re-setting up my account tonight and seeing what's on there these days...

littleheaven

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#1419750 3-Nov-2015 12:52

jonathan18:
littleheaven: I definitely recommend getting an Air NZ OneSmart Card, if you have the opportunity. I use it for Hulu and for US and UK iTunes. It has a USD wallet so I just need to remember to transfer funds to it every now and then. Extremely useful.

I agree it's a useful card to have, especially as there's no cost attached unless there's money in the account (otherwise it's $1 a month, I think?), but Reven's suggestion regarding using gift cards is a far more cost-effective way (edit: as in well under a quarter of the cost) of paying for Hulu Plus.

The following's based on the commercial-free option:

Gift card = NZ $32 for 8 months = $4 a month or $48 a year

Standard pay-as-you go arrangements = US $12 = (currently) NZ $17.80 a month or $213.60 a year

I'll use my OneSmart card for occasional purchases off iTunes (eg for movies not yet released in NZ), but think the gift cards are a far better way to pay for Hulu Plus; I look forward to re-setting up my account tonight and seeing what's on there these days...

Thanks for the breakdown. I agree, if just using it for Hulu, then the gift card would be more economical. I must check them out. For overall use with other accounts, the OneSmart is pretty handy still.

Edited to add: So if I have a Hulu subscription and I purchase one of the gift cards and redeem the code, that will cover my sub for the year, and they'll just stop debiting my OneSmart card until the end of the gift period (8 months or 1 year)? If so, I may well do that. Just been made redundant so need to save all the $$ I can!

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

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jonathan18

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#1419798 3-Nov-2015 13:24

littleheaven: Edited to add: So if I have a Hulu subscription and I purchase one of the gift cards and redeem the code, that will cover my sub for the year, and they'll just stop debiting my OneSmart card until the end of the gift period (8 months or 1 year)? If so, I may well do that. Just been made redundant so need to save all the $$ I can!

Some (a number? all?) of the eBay listings for these cards said it could be applied to either an existing or new account, so I can't see why not... someone with experience with this may know exactly how it'll work in practice. What happens if you remove the credit card details from your account, just to be sure it wouldn't deduct from the card? Another option is just ensuring the card doesn't have enough in your US wallet to pay for Hulu Plus.

Be aware that most of the listings I saw on eBay were for six or 12 months, but only a handful of the 12 month ones expressly said they could be used for eight months of the ad-free service; I'm not sure if this is just an omission in the description of the others, but I was sure to select one that mentioned the commerical-free option to ensure it'll work.

I also elected to buy one from a seller based in the US; I saw some of them were China-based, which made me somewhat suspicious when they're offering passes to a US-based SVOD service!

littleheaven

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#1419805 3-Nov-2015 13:32

jonathan18:
littleheaven: Edited to add: So if I have a Hulu subscription and I purchase one of the gift cards and redeem the code, that will cover my sub for the year, and they'll just stop debiting my OneSmart card until the end of the gift period (8 months or 1 year)? If so, I may well do that. Just been made redundant so need to save all the $$ I can!

Some (a number? all?) of the eBay listings for these cards said it could be applied to either an existing or new account, so I can't see why not... someone with experience with this may know exactly how it'll work in practice. What happens if you remove the credit card details from your account, just to be sure it wouldn't deduct from the card? Another option is just ensuring the card doesn't have enough in your US wallet to pay for Hulu Plus.

Be aware that most of the listings I saw on eBay were for six or 12 months, but only a handful of the 12 month ones expressly said they could be used for eight months of the ad-free service; I'm not sure if this is just an omission in the description of the others, but I was sure to select one that mentioned the commerical-free option to ensure it'll work.

I also elected to buy one from a seller based in the US; I saw some of them were China-based, which made me somewhat suspicious when they're offering passes to a US-based SVOD service!

I've picked up a 1 year pass from a seller in Texas. I don't need the ad-free one so it should be all good. I looked on Hulu help and it said to go into my existing account and choose the redeem option, which I can't find on my phone, but that might be a mobile site issue. I don't have the code yet anyway. Will report back when I do!

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

reven

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#1419809 3-Nov-2015 13:42

I believe all the 12 month ones can be used as 8 months pass. I can also change to showtime with my credit, but the period is reduced.

so I believe it works as credit, hulu 1 year === whatever hulu normally costs for the year.

I might load up 3 years of no subs, due to the prices... might be cheaper after black friday though...

jonathan18

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#1419826 3-Nov-2015 13:49

reven: I believe all the 12 month ones can be used as 8 months pass. I can also change to showtime with my credit, but the period is reduced.

so I believe it works as credit, hulu 1 year === whatever hulu normally costs for the year.

I might load up 3 years of no subs, due to the prices... might be cheaper after black friday though...

What difference does changing to Showtime provide? Ie, does it add access to Showtime in addition to Hulu Plus, or is it instead of? And what degree is the reduction in the period covered if one does change to Showtime?

And, given there are already Showtime programmes on Hulu Plus, does taking up Showtime simply get access to these earlier and/or a wider range of programmes?

Thanks!

reven

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#1419830 3-Nov-2015 13:54

jonathan18:
reven: I believe all the 12 month ones can be used as 8 months pass. I can also change to showtime with my credit, but the period is reduced.

so I believe it works as credit, hulu 1 year === whatever hulu normally costs for the year.

I might load up 3 years of no subs, due to the prices... might be cheaper after black friday though...

What difference does changing to Showtime provide? Ie, does it add access to Showtime in addition to Hulu Plus, or is it instead of? And what degree is the reduction in the period covered if one does change to Showtime?

And, given there are already Showtime programmes on Hulu Plus, does taking up Showtime simply get access to these earlier and/or a wider range of programmes?

Thanks!

I knew someone was going to ask :P

Just logged in, and it works out to be 5months down from 8 months if I add showtime.

This is as well as hulu plus without ads.

You are adding SHOWTIME to your subscription today.

Your credit expires on March 20th, 2016.

notice how it says credit expires, that's what makes me believe it treats the year sub as a credit on your account and lets you add no ads option and showtime, so should work with any hulu gift card (I only tried it using a ebay auction that specifically said it though)

Makoura

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#1419886 3-Nov-2015 14:45

This seems an incredibly good deal. Some might say too good to be true? I mean if Bestbuy has six months for $46USD I'm a bit worried these will just get cancelled anyway by Hulu. Any one used these for a length of time? I see a few people in the past have said this is a scam but nothing recently.

littleheaven

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#1420003 3-Nov-2015 16:33

Makoura: This seems an incredibly good deal. Some might say too good to be true? I mean if Bestbuy has six months for $46USD I'm a bit worried these will just get cancelled anyway by Hulu. Any one used these for a length of time? I see a few people in the past have said this is a scam but nothing recently.

I've just redeemed my code. Hulu accepted it fine and my subscription now says that it's renewing in December 2016 which is when my OneSmart card will next be charged. It does seem too good to be true, so we'll see how long it lasts. The card value was apparently $100 which gave me 12.5 months.

Edited to add: Just did some Googling and there are reports that these tend to get cancelled after a few days because they were purchased with stolen credit cards. Eek. I hope that is not the case with mine. I don't really care about losing the $30 but I would be mortified if I'd purchased a stolen product. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

reven

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#1420041 3-Nov-2015 16:57

littleheaven:
Makoura: This seems an incredibly good deal. Some might say too good to be true? I mean if Bestbuy has six months for $46USD I'm a bit worried these will just get cancelled anyway by Hulu. Any one used these for a length of time? I see a few people in the past have said this is a scam but nothing recently.

I've just redeemed my code. Hulu accepted it fine and my subscription now says that it's renewing in December 2016 which is when my OneSmart card will next be charged. It does seem too good to be true, so we'll see how long it lasts. The card value was apparently $100 which gave me 12.5 months.

Edited to add: Just did some Googling and there are reports that these tend to get cancelled after a few days because they were purchased with stolen credit cards. Eek. I hope that is not the case with mine. I don't really care about losing the $30 but I would be mortified if I'd purchased a stolen product. It will be interesting to see what happens.

that's why I only bought one from a seller with high feedback. its just the grey market, I buy lots of games that way. People buy things cheap (I'm sure hulu do discounts on these things through Target, black fridays etc) people then sell these for more but still at great discounts.

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