Merchant-locked or single-use: which virtual card should I use?

Use single-use for anything you intend to pay exactly once — a one-off purchase or a free trial you do not want converting. Use merchant-locked for anything recurring, like a subscription or a store you buy from often: the card keeps working, but only at that one merchant.

Last updated — July 2026 · 4 min read

The difference in one line each

  • Single-use: works for one transaction, then closes itself automatically. Nothing can charge it a second time, including the merchant that charged it first.
  • Merchant-locked: binds to the first merchant that charges it and declines everyone else, forever, while remaining usable at that merchant indefinitely.
  • Category-locked (ReVault-specific): works at any merchant within one category, such as groceries or transit, and declines everything outside it.
  • Everywhere: a general-purpose card that still carries whatever caps and time windows you set on it.

When single-use is the right call

  • Free trials. The trial starts, and the conversion charge fails. You decide to continue by creating a new card, rather than by remembering to cancel.
  • One-time purchases from a store you may never use again — the classic case for not leaving a permanent number in someone's database.
  • Any checkout that makes you uneasy. A card that can be charged once, for a known amount, removes most of the risk of being wrong about them.
  • Marketplace sellers and small independent sites, where the security posture is unknown and the relationship is one purchase long.

When merchant-locked is the right call

  • Every subscription. A dedicated locked card per subscription is the setup that makes cancellation a one-click action you control.
  • Stores you buy from repeatedly. Saving a merchant-locked card is safe precisely because the saved number is worthless anywhere else.
  • Anything with variable billing — utilities, cloud services, usage-based tools — where a single-use card would break on the second invoice. Add a spending cap and the variability stops being a risk.
  • Anything you may need refunded. A merchant-locked card that is still open is the simplest possible refund path.

The refund question, answered properly

This is the most common reason people avoid single-use cards, and it is mostly a misunderstanding. A closed ReVault card declines new charges but continues to accept credits from the original merchant, and the refund lands back in your funding balance. You do not need to reopen anything.

Where single-use genuinely is the wrong tool is partial captures and multi-shipment orders — a retailer that authorises now and charges per shipment needs a card that still works on the second charge. Use merchant-locked there.

A setup that works

  1. One merchant-locked card per subscription

    Named after the service. Cancelling becomes closing a card, and you can see at a glance what you are paying for.

  2. One merchant-locked card per store you use regularly

    Save it at checkout without hesitation. A breach there costs you one card, not an afternoon.

  3. Single-use for everything else

    Every one-off purchase and every trial gets a card that dies on contact. No cleanup, no lingering numbers.

  4. Caps on anything that could grow

    Set the cap slightly above the current price. A quiet increase gets declined and you find out immediately, instead of on next year's statement.

Related questions

  • Can I get a refund on a single-use card after it closes?

    Yes. A closed ReVault card refuses new charges but still accepts credits from the merchant that originally charged it, and the money returns to your funding balance. You do not need to reopen the card or contact support to receive a refund.

  • What happens if I use a merchant-locked card at the wrong store?

    The charge is declined. The card binds to the first merchant that successfully charges it and refuses every other one after that. If you locked it to the wrong merchant, close it and create a new card — it takes seconds.

  • Do single-use cards work for subscriptions?

    No, and that is deliberate. A single-use card closes after the first transaction, so the second month is declined. That makes it perfect for stopping a free trial from converting, and wrong for a subscription you actually intend to keep.

  • How many virtual cards should one person have?

    As many as the merchants you pay regularly, plus a disposable one whenever you buy something once. In practice that is a handful of locked cards for subscriptions and frequent stores, and single-use cards created and discarded as you go.

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