I know there's the OV chipcard for travel, but the empty card itself cost money. Then I have to top-up the travel value.
How about the GVB 1 day card that cost 7.50? Does it mean I have to pay for the empty card as well?
Will the GVB 1 day card works for the train from Schiphol to Amsterdam CS? Or must I use the OV chipcard?
Updated June 2019. Everything is an “OV chipkaart” now, with three types available:
Disposable OV chip cards used for day passes or 1-hour GVB tickets (and other local tickets elsewhere in the country). This “card” feels more like a ticket (it's thin and flexible) but it will work on all OV-chip card readers and you're still supposed to check in and out. A train ticket for domestic travel is also a disposable OV chip card.
NS does charge a small fee on top of the regular fare to issue a one-off ticket. The GVB does not charge any separate any fee for the card/ticket itself but for a short journey, a 1-hour ticket is typically (much) more expensive than the corresponding pay-as-you-go fare anyway.
Anonymous OV chip cards. Those cost €7.5. An anonymous OV chip card feels more like a card and can be used for pay-as-you-go travel.
Personal OV chip cards with a name and pictures on them. They are necessary to get a rail card or discount pass and can be tied to your bank account. This is not relevant for visitors obviously.
In practice this means that a day pass from the GVB (a disposable OV chip card in itself) does not need to be loaded on a separate card. On the other hand, the trains between Amsterdam and Schiphol are operated by NS and are not covered by GVB products so you need either an €7.5 anonymous OV chipcard (for pay-as-you-go travel) or a separate ticket from NS.
Unless it has changed very recently, 24h, 48h, 72h, and 96h cards are same type single use paper-with-chip cards as the single ride cards which you buy in tram.
