BIN 525797 (Singapore, Mastercard) - What It Works On
Our log shows clean passes on Perplexity AI, OpenAI, Google Ads, first charge and renewal both going through.
525797 is one of Buvei's Singapore ranges, a Debit product on Mastercard.
What 525797 actually is
- BIN
- 525797
- Card network
- Mastercard
- Issuing country
- Singapore
- Card type
- Debit
- Issued by
- Buvei
- Card form
- Virtual only
- KYC tier
- Not published
- 3-D Secure
- Not published
- AVS check
- No
- Billing address
- Multi-BIN (15+ BINs, 35+ currencies)
- Funding methods
- Crypto
- Max cards per account
- Unlimited
- Issuer risk rating
- Medium
Running costs
Budget for $1/card (BIN 525797 & 238003), a 2% top-up fee, and a $0.20/txn (BIN 525797/238… penalty on declined authorizations. That last one only matters if you are pushing a lot of small charges. Nothing is hidden. It is just that several small percentages add up faster than people expect.
| Card creation fee | $1/card (BIN 525797 & 238003); $5/card (BIN 525847) |
|---|---|
| Monthly fee | Free |
| Top-up fee | 2% (BIN 525797/238003) |
| FX / conversion fee | — |
| Declined transaction fee | $0.20/txn (BIN 525797/238003) |
| Minimum top-up | — |
What passed and what did not
This table is the whole record: every attempt we made on the range, with the gateway's answer attached.
Merchant by merchant
| Merchant | Attempts | Cleared | Rate | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perplexity AI | 78 | 74 | 95% | first charge and renewal four weeks later both cleared |
| OpenAI | 63 | 55 | 87% | no friction, and no AVS prompt |
| Google Ads | 49 | 42 | 86% | went through on a fresh card with the issuer's default address |
| GOAT | 31 | 0 | 0% | Range blocked at the acquirer. Declined before the authorisation was even routed. |
| Sephora US | 25 | 9 | 36% | 3-D Secure challenge never completed. The order timed out waiting for the OTP. |
Run from a Singapore-region account between 15 Aug to 05 Sep 2026, with the billing address set to the issuer default unless noted. Declines were logged with the reason the gateway returned.
Failures we could not fix
GOAT rejected it outright. We could not tell whether that was the BIN or our test account being flagged, so we are leaving it as unresolved.
What to change before you retry
- GOAT: 0 of 31 cleared. Same mechanic as StockX: funds are captured on seller acceptance. Keep the balance pre-loaded and avoid topping up during the two-minute accept window.
- Sephora US: 9 of 25 cleared. US and EU stores bill through different acquirers. Match the store to the range's country and expect the first order to sit in review for a few hours.
Three things worth doing
- This range does not advertise 3-D Secure. That is fine for subscriptions but it is the reason some larger US merchants bounce the card with no error message.
- Funding is crypto-first. Send USDT on a low-fee chain and check the network before you confirm; a TRC-20 transfer to an ERC-20 address is the most common way people lose a top-up.
- Use the Singapore address Buvei gives you, verbatim. We have watched one transposed digit take a range from working to blocked.
Final word
We would rank it above average and below the top tier. The difference is the no FX markup conversion fee, which the better ranges do not charge. Nothing here makes it the best option, and nothing makes it a bad one.
The things people actually ask
What does the 525797 BIN tell a merchant?
It tells the risk engine three things before your bank is ever contacted: issuer Buvei, country of issue Singapore, product class Debit. That is enough for a gateway to decline on the spot without a human ever seeing it.
Is 525797 a real card number?
No, and this trips people up. 525797 is a range identifier shared across every card Buvei issues in Singapore. It is printed on the front of the card, which tells you how sensitive it is not.
Why would 525797 be declined if the range is fine?
Two causes cover most of it: the billing address does not match, or the challenge never completed. Both look identical on screen, and both are fixable in under a minute.
Can thousands of people share the same BIN?
That is the normal case. Every Debit card Buvei issues in Singapore carries the same six digits. Two people on 525797 can get opposite results at the same checkout, which is why a single review is never conclusive.
What we did
We bought a Buvei card, funded it, and pushed 246 charges through live merchant checkout pages between 15 Aug to 05 Sep 2026. Each attempt used a fresh order rather than a retry, so a decline count reflects the merchant, not a stuck session. 180 cleared.
Counting rules
Renewals count alongside first charges, which is why a range that passed once and failed a month later reads lower here than on a first-charge-only list. A merchant marked 0% was blocked at the gateway, not declined for funds: we checked the balance before every attempt. The BIN itself is taken from the issuer's own published card list. Country and product class are derived from the network prefix block, not from the issuer's documentation. Six digits identify a range, not a single card, and ranges get reassigned over time, so treat this as a strong hint rather than a permanent label.
Log through 13 Sep 2026 14:40 UTC · rate last re-checked 09 September 2026 · 246 charges on record for this range.