[STRATEGY]New Rakuten Gift Card Changes 2025: Why You Lose 3% Value Now!

Rakuten Gift Cards are Back, but Watch Out! Major Changes for Our Household Strategy

Some big news has arrived that made our family stop and rethink our spending strategy.

After a temporary suspension in November 2025, it has been announced that Rakuten Gift Cards (available at convenience stores) will resume sales on December 15, 2025.

However, the specifications have changed significantly. For our household, which relied on these gift cards for monthly payments, it is time for a serious review. Previously, we used to purchase 20,000 JPY worth of gift cards to fund our Rakuten Pay balance. Unfortunately, this method is about to become much less effective.

📌 Key Changes to the New Rakuten Gift Card

Let’s look at the features of the Rakuten Gift Cards sold after December 15, 2025.

The most significant changes are the disappearance of “Variable Amount” cards and the new Charge Rate.

Previously, if you bought a 10,000 JPY card, you received 10,000 JPY worth of Rakuten Cash (100%). With the new version, you only receive 97% of the purchase price. This means you effectively lose 3% of your money the moment you charge it.

For example, if you buy a 10,000 JPY card, you only get 9,700 JPY in your account. You lose 300 JPY in the process.

In our case, we used to charge 20,000 JPY from our Rakuten Card to “FamiPay” to earn a 1% point reward. Even if we continue using this route to buy gift cards, the 3% loss makes the overall balance negative. Unfortunately, this “reward loop” is no longer viable for those of us chasing the best deals.

🤝 What’s Next for Us? Reviewing Our Charging Method

This specification change is a turning point for how we handle our payments. The tiny “profit” we gained by going out of our way to buy gift cards at convenience stores has practically vanished.

The only time it might still be worth considering is if there is a special promotional campaign that offers rewards exceeding this 3% loss.

[Our Future Action Plan]

Since Rakuten Pay remains our primary payment service, we will continue charging Rakuten Cash directly from our Rakuten Card.

However, taking this Rakuten Gift Card nerf as an opportunity, we plan to actively search for other cashless payment services that offer better rewards without worrying about a 3% loss.

I’ll share any good information I find with you all soon!