user817: I have some bitcoins which I want to use for payments in the "usual" shops around me (not accepting bitcoins, but accepting plastic cards), and in a quicker way.
Previously, I used http://metabank.ru to transfer the money to my cards (they used to promise max. 48 hours delay, but often it happened faster), but now the transfers from Mt.Gox (done by metabank.ru) take longer (and the delay is not predictable).
Are there quicker ways to use the bitcoins for payments?
Just to know that in case I need to pay for something, there is a way with a predictable short delay to use the bitcoins. For example, the delay before 6 confirmations for a transaction is not so long and predictable.
Can I load a plastic card with bitcoins or buy a "virtual" ("digital") card, and wait a predicatble short period of time before the money is available?
(I'm located in Russia, so primarily I'm looking for cards that I can use in Russia, but the question is intended to be more general.)
What will the commissions and exchange rates be for the ways suggested in the answers? What the delay will be?
Can I trust the service suggested in an answer? Are there any experience reports about these services?

user817: physical debit cards
bitcoindebit

http://bitcoindebit.net offers a physical debit card for your bitcoins.

One stores bitcoins in his account, and they are spent when one uses the card. (The account is in bitcoins.)
So, one time you will have to wait before their plastic card arrives, and then either deposit a larger amount of bitcoins to your account and spend them instantaneously at shops, or transfer your bitcoins to your account whenever you need to spend them, and probably wait for the not-so-long delay before the standard 6 confirmations of the bitcoin network (or the like).
(Open questions: What exchange rate is used then? Will there be a commission for using the card for payments in shops in Russia? What will the exchange rate from USD to Russian rubles be? Are there any experience reports about this service?)
I'm not sure they ship cards internationally... (http://www.bitcoindebit.net/order.php expects only addresses in the U.S.)
OkPay
You can open a wallet at http://okpay.com, and load it with bitcoins (Mt.Gox rate with 3% commission), order their plastic card and use it. (The wallet is in USD, or EUR, or RUR, i.e. not in bitcoins, the bitcoins are exchanged at the moment of deposit.)
There is a one-time delay for the delivery of the plastic card (and your ID and address confirmation).
Other withdrawal methods from OkPay:
Also, perhaps, it's possible to transfer from OkPay through Contact electronic money transfers to one of your existing plastic cards (I hope it's quick). (Even though my TCS bank has such an instantaneous reloading method (through Contact) and OkPay has such a withdrawal method, it seems not be possible to transfer directly from OkPay to the bank account via Contact without coming to an office and receiving cash first from OkPay, and then depositing it again. So, it's not very convenient.)
Also it's possible to transfer the money from OkPay to another system like Qiwi (which would allow to load my bank's card instantaneously) through an exchange like http://cash4wm.com (it has quite many bad reviews though 1 (in Russian), 2 (in Russian), 3 (in Russian); still, it worked for me for a small amount of money. I couldn't find other OkPay->Qiwi transfer services.)
(And there are experience reports with OkPay: 1 (in Russian).)
AurumXchange

AurumXchange (a service often mentioned together with bitcoin) offers debit cards (but one cannot pay directly with bitcoins to load them, one has to trade somewhere else to exchange bitcoins into some USD-like e-currency):


At this time we offer our Instant Load AurumXchange MasterCard for
free to our premium members. The card is shipped worldwide for free by
regular airmail, and for those users wanting a speedier delivery,
there are shipping upgrade options for an additional fee.

So, there is a one time delivery delay before you can use the card.
Western Union prepaid cards
In a thread at bitcointalk.org, they suggest to load a Western Union prepaid card with bitcoins through http://cheaperinbitcoins.com.
So you will have to wait one time for the delivery of the WU plastic card, and then you could load it with bitcoins whenever you need this.
But http://cheaperinbitcoins.com doesn't seem to work anymore.

user817: There are several services offering to buy a digital card for bitcoins (listed in a comment at bitcointalk).

http://www.btcinstant.com: offers digital cards with different prepaid values; each card can be used only at a single merchant (specified when ordering the card);
http://bitcashretail.com/visa.php:


Visa For Bitcoins BitCashLotto.com accepts Bitcoins for a digital Visa
  card! These are a great way to convert your Bitcoins into cash you can
  use today! 
We will provovide you a digital Visa card for the spot price of Mtgox
  for a Bitcoin equivalent of a $7usd service charge. Available to
  registed users only! Buy a $25USD valued card below:

But there is very little information about this offer. And there is no contact information at their website! Are there any experience reports?

(http://bitcoincashout.com: seems permanently out of stock)
(http://bitporium.com/: no such offers any more)

Since it's a digital card, there is probably no delivery delay involved in this solution. 
(And I can use the digital card at online shops, and also I can probably load another plastic card of mine paying with that virtual card, through a payment service like http://qiwi.ru, though there might be problems, because they do more verification for a card: they block a random amount, and ask to report that amount.)

user817: You can find a less automated exchange (like that one (in Russian)) and negotiate a transfer to WebMoney, and a WebMoney account can be associated with a Qiwi account, and you can reload your plastic cards through Qiwi. 
(The reloading of one of my cards, issued by Tinkoff Credit Systems bank, through Qiwi is instantaneous. So, there can remain delay with the exchange to WebMoney, and with negotiating the exchange with the person running the exchange, since it's not automated..)

Another similar exchange to WebMoney: http://www.btcwm.ru/?p=1#comments (in Russian; at work days from 8-00 till 17-00)
One more (in Russian).


817: <p>I have some bitcoins which I want to use for payments in the "usual" shops around me (not accepting bitcoins, but accepting plastic cards), and in a quicker way.</p>

<p>Previously, I used <a href="http://metabank.ru" rel="nofollow">http://metabank.ru</a> to transfer the money to my cards (they used to promise max. 48 hours delay, but often it happened faster), but now the transfers from Mt.Gox (done by metabank.ru) <a href="https://metabank.ru/delay" rel="nofollow">take longer</a> (and the delay is not predictable).</p>

<p>Are there quicker ways to use the bitcoins for payments?</p>

<p>Just to know that in case I need to pay for something, there is a way with a predictable short delay to use the bitcoins. For example, the delay before 6 confirmations for a transaction is not so long and predictable.</p>

<p><strong>Can I load a plastic card with bitcoins or buy a "virtual" ("digital") card, and wait a predicatble short period of time before the money is available?</strong></p>

<p>(I'm located in Russia, so primarily I'm looking for cards that I can use in Russia, but the question is intended to be more general.)</p>

<p>What will the commissions and exchange rates be for the ways suggested in the answers? What the delay will be?</p>

<p>Can I trust the service suggested in an answer? Are there any experience reports about these services?</p>
 817: <h2>physical debit cards</h2>
<h3>bitcoindebit</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://bitcoindebit.net" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://bitcoindebit.net</a> offers a physical debit card for your bitcoins.</li>
</ul>
<p>One stores bitcoins in his account, and they are spent when one uses the card. (The account is in bitcoins.)</p>
<p>So, <strong>one time you will have to wait before their plastic card arrives</strong>, and then either deposit a larger amount of bitcoins to your account and spend them instantaneously at shops, or transfer your bitcoins to your account whenever you need to spend them, and probably wait for the not-so-long delay before the standard 6 confirmations of the bitcoin network (or the like).</p>
<p>(<strong>Open questions:</strong> What exchange rate is used then? Will there be a commission for using the card for payments in shops in Russia? What will the exchange rate from USD to Russian rubles be? Are there any experience reports about this service?)</p>
<p>I'm not sure they ship cards internationally... (<a href="http://www.bitcoindebit.net/order.php" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.bitcoindebit.net/order.php</a> expects only addresses in the U.S.)</p>
<h3>OkPay</h3>
<p>You can open a wallet at <a href="http://okpay.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://okpay.com</a>, and load it with bitcoins (Mt.Gox rate with 3% commission), order their plastic card and use it. (The wallet is in USD, or EUR, or RUR, i.e. not in bitcoins, the bitcoins are exchanged at the moment of deposit.)</p>
<p>There is a one-time delay for the delivery of the plastic card (and your ID and address confirmation).</p>
<strong>Other withdrawal methods from OkPay:</strong>
<p>Also, perhaps, it's possible to transfer from OkPay through Contact electronic money transfers to one of your existing plastic cards (I hope it's quick). (Even though my TCS bank has such <a href="http://www.tcsbank.ru/deposit/opening-deposit/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">an instantaneous reloading method (through Contact)</a> and OkPay has such a withdrawal method, it seems not be possible to transfer directly from OkPay to the bank account via Contact without coming to an office and receiving cash first from OkPay, and then depositing it again. So, it's not very convenient.)</p>
<p>Also it's possible to transfer the money from OkPay to another system like Qiwi (which would allow to load my bank's card instantaneously) through an exchange like <a href="http://cash4wm.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://cash4wm.com</a> (it has quite many bad reviews though <a href="http://magnetic-money.ru/obmennik_86.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1 (in Russian)</a>, <a href="http://mmgp.ru/showthread.php?t=82708" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2 (in Russian)</a>, <a href="http://www.master-x.com/forum/topics/154341/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">3 (in Russian)</a>; still, it worked for me for a small amount of money. I couldn't find other OkPay-&gt;Qiwi transfer services.)</p>
<p>(And there are experience reports with OkPay: <a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=62439.0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1 (in Russian)</a>.)</p>
<h3>AurumXchange</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.aurumxchange.com/help/knowledgebase.php?article=3" rel="nofollow noreferrer">AurumXchange</a> (a service often mentioned together with bitcoin) offers debit cards (but one cannot pay directly with bitcoins to load them, one has to trade somewhere else to exchange bitcoins into some USD-like e-currency):</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<p>At this time we offer our Instant Load AurumXchange MasterCard for
free to our premium members. The card is <strong>shipped worldwide</strong> for free by
regular airmail, and for those users wanting a speedier delivery,
there are shipping upgrade options for an additional fee.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, there is a <strong>one time delivery delay</strong> before you can use the card.</p>
<h3>Western Union prepaid cards</h3>
<p>In <a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=48051.0;all" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a thread at bitcointalk.org</a>, they suggest to load a Western Union prepaid card with bitcoins through <a href="http://cheaperinbitcoins.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://cheaperinbitcoins.com</a>.</p>
<p>So you will have to <strong>wait one time for the delivery of the WU plastic card</strong>, and then you could load it with bitcoins whenever you need this.</p>
<p>But <a href="http://cheaperinbitcoins.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://cheaperinbitcoins.com</a> doesn't seem to work anymore.</p>
 817: <p>There are several services offering to buy a <strong>digital card</strong> for bitcoins (listed in <a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=50320.msg702694#msg702694" rel="nofollow">a comment at bitcointalk</a>).</p>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://www.btcinstant.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.btcinstant.com</a>: offers digital cards with different prepaid values; each card can be used only at a single merchant (specified when ordering the card);</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://bitcashretail.com/visa.php" rel="nofollow">http://bitcashretail.com/visa.php</a>:</p></li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
  <p>Visa For Bitcoins BitCashLotto.com accepts Bitcoins for a <strong>digital Visa
  card</strong>! These are a great way to convert your Bitcoins into cash you can
  use today! </p>
  
  <p>We will provovide you a digital Visa card for the spot price of Mtgox
  for a Bitcoin equivalent of a $7usd service charge. Available to
  registed users only! Buy a $25USD valued card below:</p>
</blockquote>

<p>But there is very little information about this offer. And there is no contact information at their website! Are there any experience reports?</p>

<ul>
<li>(<a href="http://bitcoincashout.com" rel="nofollow">http://bitcoincashout.com</a>: seems permanently out of stock)</li>
<li>(<a href="http://bitporium.com/" rel="nofollow">http://bitporium.com/</a>: no such offers any more)</li>
</ul>

<p>Since it's a digital card, there is probably <strong>no delivery delay</strong> involved in this solution. </p>

<p>(And I can use the digital card at online shops, and also I can probably load another plastic card of mine paying with that virtual card, through a payment service like <a href="http://qiwi.ru" rel="nofollow">http://qiwi.ru</a>, though there might be problems, because they do more verification for a card: they block a random amount, and ask to report that amount.)</p>
 817: <p>You can find a less automated exchange (like <a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=50267.0" rel="nofollow">that one (in Russian)</a>) and negotiate a transfer to WebMoney, and a WebMoney account can be associated with a <a href="http://qiwi.ru" rel="nofollow">Qiwi</a> account, and you can reload your plastic cards through Qiwi. </p>

<p>(The reloading of one of my cards, issued by Tinkoff Credit Systems bank, through Qiwi is instantaneous. So, there can remain delay with the exchange to WebMoney, and with negotiating the exchange with the person running the exchange, since it's not automated..)</p>

<ul>
<li>Another similar exchange to WebMoney: <a href="http://www.btcwm.ru/?p=1#comments" rel="nofollow">http://www.btcwm.ru/?p=1#comments</a> (in Russian; at work days from 8-00 till 17-00)</li>
<li><a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=24441.0" rel="nofollow">One more (in Russian)</a>.</li>
</ul>
