The only thing I know that has a fee is if you want a visa card which you can use everywhere. Most digital stores (Nintendo, Lyft, Amazon) want you to purchase the gift card because it locks you into their ecosystem. Some will even give you a discount on a gift card because they get the money now for nothing, and can invest that. The company also wants you to buy a gift card because there's always some percentage that goes lost and unclaimed, so that's free money for them.