Woolworths gift card thread

[Chicken]

These are merchant category gift cards. That's how they work.

I think you have missed the points of my post.

No one has ever claimed that the Pub & Bar gift card supports these two MCCs so that's unsurprising.

That makes sense because 5812 is one of the MCCs that the Pub & Bar gift card supports.

OK, I am now even more confident that you have missed the points of my post.

They're not random. There is, however, significant overlap between some of the merchant category codes (e.g. 5812 restaurants and 5814 fast food) which results in many businesses using one or the other (sometimes multiple). Once you realise this these gift cards become a lot less confusing

So, can you make it less confusing to us, that:
- Gongcha is OK, but Chatime is not?
- Oporto is OK, but KFC is not?

 

[VantageXL]

So, can you explain to us, so that it is less confusing to us, that:
- Gongcha is OK, but Chatime is not?
- Oporto is OK, but KFC is not?

I do believe I addressed that already:

There is, however, significant overlap between some of the merchant category codes

For the most part businesses do use the MCC that you would logically associate with them. There are exceptions but these are often in your favour (it's much more common to see a fast food place such as Oporto use 5812 rather than a traditional restaurant use 5814).

I certainly agree that it's irritating when a gift card doesn't work where you expect it to which is why for the past few months I've actually been trying to solve this very problem by building up a searchable database of all the places where these gift cards have been tested and found to work (or not work).

 

[RealtimeY]

I am sorry to say, but I think your obsession with merchant code is a waste of your own brain capacity.

If miscoded MCCs are frustrating you this much maybe you shouldn't spend your brain capacity on it. I've found the GCDB MCC lists very useful and have found places to use my cards where I wouldn't have expected to otherwise.

 

[Chicken]

I do believe I addressed that already:

Nope, you have not addressed my question at all.

Kebab shop 1 = Yes
Kebab shop 2 = No

What about kebab shop 3? Yes or no?

Sharetea = Yes
Gongcha = Yes
Chatime = No

What about Chicha San Chen? What about Kingtea? Yes or no?

If miscoded MCCs are frustrating you this much maybe you shouldn't spend your brain capacity on it.

Yes it is annoying; but I certainly don't use any brain power for it, I simply swipe regardless, and if it's declined? I use my AmEx, then MC Visa.

I've found the GCDB MCC lists very useful

It only, and can only ever, list major chains. Thing with restaurants is that they are mostly independents, so a list of chains is pretty useless. I mean unless you only ever eat at chain stores.

 

[VantageXL]

Nope, you have not addressed my question at all.

Steady on, I'm only trying to help.

If you want the most reliable experience, I'd recommend sticking to the TCN Restaurant and Restaurant/Cafe Choice gift cards because they should work at kebab shops and all of the other places where your Pub & Bar gift card was declined (5811: Caterers and 5814: Fast Food Restaurants).

However, occasionally businesses will just use weird MCCs for reasons unknown. 5499 is the most annoying one since no restaurant gift cards support it but thankfully it's not terribly common. The Chatime locations I've tested don't use it so it may just be a rogue franchisee in your case.

a list of chains is pretty useless.

And yet many of the places you tried were chains.

I do get your point, though. Unfortunately, I haven't the means to visit every independent restaurant in the country. Visa used to have a Supplier Locator tool that you could search but annoyingly they got rid of it a few years ago.

 

[jbman]

@VantageXL
I for one appreciate all the posts you make.

So be it if some don't work at some fast food outlets. Probably better for everyone to cut down on eating out as much for their health and wellbeing.

I myself have not bothered with the Food gift cards and stick with stores I see posted on the card/website.

 

[Chicken]

If you want the most reliable experience, I'd recommend sticking to the TCN Restaurant and Restaurant/Cafe Choice

I agree. The Cafe Restaurant Choice has the best acceptance, even Square terminals which reject TCN cards would accept Restaurant Choice.

The Restaurant Choice is rarely on promo thou.

The Chatime locations I've tested don't use it so it may just be a rogue franchisee in your case.

I have tried Chatime from around the Sydney CBD to out in the suburbs, none of their terminals would take TCN.

Steady on, I'm only trying to help.

I can see that, with that list (which you built?).

What I am saying is, any effort to investigate is a fruitless exercise, because you cannot reverse engineer something which is random

So be it if some don't work at some fast food outlets.

None of these are supposed to work at fast food places anyway, so we should not expect them to work.

The problem with fast food category is that so maybe cafes, not fast food places, are classified as fast food as well. Which comes back to the point I'm making : any efford to investigate is a fruitless exercise.

I'm not here to do personal attack, I'm just point out the flaws of this exercise:
- digging thru never ending rabbit hole
- creating incorrect expectations e.g. able to be used in cafes

 

[VantageXL]

From Wed 7 Oct 2026:



Another one to skip.

 

[VantageXL]

From Wed 14 Oct 2026:

Ultimate Baby & Mum gift cards can be used at Aveda, Baby Central (previously The Stork Nest), Best&Less, Bonds, Bras N Things, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Cotton On Body, Cotton On Kids, Dymocks, Ella Bache, Estee Lauder, Every Plate, H&M, Hello Fresh, Hoyts, Lorna Jane, Michael Hill, Modibodi, My Muscle Chef, Peter Alexander, Prouds, PureBaby, RedBalloon, Seed, Sheridan, Sheridan Outlet, T2 Tea, Temple & Webster, The Good Guys, The Iconic, The Memo, Toyworld, Youfoodz.

Ultimate Birthday gift cards can be used at 99 Bikes, Adrenaline, AllKinds, Amart Furniture, Anaconda, Angus & Coote, Archie Brothers, ASOS, Autobarn, Aveda, Baccarat, Ben & Jerry’s, Bessemer, Best&Less, Betta, Big Swing Golf, Blys, Bonds, Bras N Things, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Camping World, Chatime, City Beach, Commonry, Compleat Angler, Cotton On, Cotton On Body, Cotton On Kids, Crust Pizza, Donut King, DoorDash, Dotti, Dymocks, EB Games, Estee Lauder, Every Plate, Factorie, Foot Locker, Forever New, Freedom, Gift A Restaurant, Gloria Jean’s, Goldmark, H&M, Hello Fresh, Hijinx Hotel, Holey Moley, Home Hardware, Hotels.com, House, Hoyts, IKEA, Intersport, Jacqui E, Jay Jays, Jaycar, JB Hi-Fi, JD Sports, Just Cuts, Just Jeans, Kathmandu, Kikki K, Kingpin, Kogan.com, Lorna Jane, Lush, Luxury Escapes, MAC, Michael Hill, Mitre 10, Modibodi, My Muscle Chef, MyHouse, Nandos, New Balance, Oakley, Officeworks, OPSM, Pandora, Peter Alexander, PlayStation Store, Portmans, Prouds, Puma, QBD Books, RedBalloon, Rip Curl, Road Tech Marine, Robins Kitchen, Roblox, San Churro, Seed, Shein, Sheridan, Sheridan Outlet, Smiggle, SportsPower, Star Car Wash, Strike Bowling, Sunglass Hut, Supre, Swarovski, T2 Tea, Temple & Webster, The Bavarian, The Body Shop, The Good Guys, The Iconic, Timezone, Total Tools, Toyworld, TripGift, Typo, Uber, Uber Eats, Unison, Village Cinemas, Weber Store, Webjet, Youfoodz, Zing, Zone Bowling.

Ultimate Celebrate gift cards can be used at 99 Bikes, Adrenaline, AllKinds, Amart Furniture, Anaconda, Angus & Coote, Archie Brothers, ASOS, Autobarn, Aveda, Baccarat, Ben & Jerry’s, Bessemer, Best&Less, Betta, Big Swing Golf, Blys, Bonds, Bras N Things, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Camping World, Chatime, City Beach, Commonry, Compleat Angler, Cotton On, Cotton On Body, Cotton On Kids, Crust Pizza, Donut King, DoorDash, Dotti, Dymocks, EB Games, Estee Lauder, Every Plate, Factorie, Foot Locker, Forever New, Freedom, Gift A Restaurant, Gloria Jean’s, Goldmark, H&M, Hello Fresh, Hijinx Hotel, Holey Moley, Home Hardware, Hotels.com, House, Hoyts, IKEA, Intersport, Jacqui E, Jay Jays, Jaycar, JB Hi-Fi, JD Sports, Just Cuts, Just Jeans, Kathmandu, Kikki K, Kingpin, Kogan.com, Lorna Jane, Lush, Luxury Escapes, MAC, Michael Hill, Mitre 10, Modibodi, My Muscle Chef, MyHouse, Nandos, New Balance, Oakley, Officeworks, OPSM, Pandora, Peter Alexander, PlayStation Store, Portmans, Prouds, Puma, QBD Books, RedBalloon, Rip Curl, Road Tech Marine, Robins Kitchen, Roblox, San Churro, Seed, Shein, Sheridan, Sheridan Outlet, Smiggle, SportsPower, Star Car Wash, Strike Bowling, Sunglass Hut, Supre, Swarovski, T2 Tea, Temple & Webster, The Bavarian, The Body Shop, The Good Guys, The Iconic, Timezone, Total Tools, Toyworld, TripGift, Typo, Uber, Uber Eats, Unison, Village Cinemas, Weber Store, Webjet, Youfoodz, Zing, Zone Bowling.

Ultimate Everyone gift cards can be used at 99 Bikes, Adidas, Adrenaline, AllKinds, Amart Furniture, Anaconda, Angus & Coote, Archie Brothers, ASOS, Autobarn, Aveda, Baccarat, Ben & Jerry’s, Bessemer, Best&Less, Betta, Big Swing Golf, Blys, Bonds, Bras N Things, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Camping World, Chatime, City Beach, Commonry, Compleat Angler, Cotton On, Cotton On Body, Cotton On Kids, Crust Pizza, Donut King, DoorDash, Dotti, Dusk, Dymocks, EB Games, Ella Bache, Estee Lauder, Every Plate, Factorie, Foot Locker, Forever New, Freedom, Gift A Restaurant, Gloria Jean’s, Goldmark, H&M, Hello Fresh, Hijinx Hotel, Holey Moley, Home Hardware, Hotels.com, House, Hoyts, iFly, IKEA, Intersport, Jacqui E, Jay Jays, Jaycar, JB Hi-Fi, JD Sports, Just Cuts, Just Jeans, Kathmandu, Kikki K, Kingpin, Kogan.com, Lorna Jane, LSKD, Lush, Luxury Escapes, MAC, Michael Hill, Mitre 10, Modibodi, My Muscle Chef, MyHouse, Nandos, New Balance, Nike, Oakley, Officeworks, OPSM, Pandora, Peter Alexander, PlayStation Store, Portmans, Prouds, Puma, QBD Books, RedBalloon, Ribs & Burgers, Rip Curl, Road Tech Marine, Robins Kitchen, Roblox, San Churro, Seed, Shein, Sheridan, Sheridan Outlet, Smiggle, SportsPower, Star Car Wash, Strike Bowling, Sunglass Hut, Supre, Swarovski, T2 Tea, Temple & Webster, The Bavarian, The Body Shop, The Good Guys, The Iconic, Timezone, Total Tools, Toyworld, TripGift, Typo, Uber, Uber Eats, Unison, Village Cinemas, Weber Store, Webjet, Youfoodz, Zing, Zone Bowling.

Ultimate Her gift cards can be used at Adidas, Adrenaline, AllKinds, Anaconda, ASOS, Aveda, Best&Less, Big Swing Golf, Blys, Bonds, Bras N Things, City Beach, Commonry, Cotton On, Cotton On Body, Dotti, Dymocks, Ella Bache, Estee Lauder, Factorie, Forever New, Freedom, H&M, Hoyts, Intersport, Jacqui E, Jay Jays, JD Sports, Just Jeans, Kikki K, Lorna Jane, LSKD, Lush, Luxury Escapes, MAC, Modibodi, New Balance, Nike, Ninewest, Oakley, OPSM, Pandora, Peter Alexander, Portmans, Puma, QBD Books, RedBalloon, Rip Curl, Roblox, Seed, Sephora, Shein, Sheridan, Sheridan Outlet, SportsPower, Sunglass Hut, Supre, Swarovski, T2 Tea, Temple & Webster, The Bavarian, The Body Shop, The Iconic, Unison, Village Cinemas.

Ultimate Him gift cards can be used at 99 Bikes, Adidas, Adrenaline, Anaconda, ASOS, Autobarn, Best&Less, Big Swing Golf, Bonds, Camping World, City Beach, Compleat Angler, Cotton On, Dymocks, EB Games, Factorie, Foot Locker, Freedom, H&M, Home Hardware, Hoyts, Intersport, Jay Jays, Jaycar, JB Hi-Fi, JD Sports, Just Jeans, Kingpin, LSKD, Lush, Luxury Escapes, Minecraft, Mitre 10, My Muscle Chef, New Balance, Nike, Oakley, OPSM, Oxford, Peter Alexander, PlayStation Store, Puma, QBD Books, RedBalloon, Rip Curl, Roblox, Seed, SportsPower, Star Car Wash, Sunglass Hut, T2 Tea, Temple & Webster, The Bavarian, The Good Guys, The Iconic, Timezone, Total Tools, Toyworld, Uber, Uber Eats, Unison, Village Cinemas, Weber Store, Xbox, Xbox Game Pass, YD, Zing, Zone Bowling.

Ultimate Home gift cards can be used at Amart Furniture, Autobarn, Baccarat, Bessemer, Betta, Dusk, Dymocks, Freedom, Home Hardware, House, IKEA, Jaycar, JB Hi-Fi, Kogan.com, Mitre 10, MyHouse, Officeworks, Robins Kitchen, Seed, Sheridan, Sheridan Outlet, Star Car Wash, T2 Tea, Temple & Webster, The Good Guys, The Iconic, Total Tools, Typo, Weber Store.

Ultimate Kids gift cards can be used at Adidas, AllKinds, Best&Less, Bonds, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Chatime, City Beach, Cotton On Kids, Dymocks, EB Games, Foot Locker, H&M, Holey Moley, Hoyts, iFly, Intersport, Jay Jays, JB Hi-Fi, Just Jeans, Kingpin, Lush, Minecraft, New Balance, Officeworks, Peter Alexander, PlayStation Store, Puma, QBD Books, RedBalloon, Roblox, Seed, Sheridan, Sheridan Outlet, Smiggle, SportsPower, Strike Bowling, The Iconic, Timezone, Toyworld, Typo, Village Cinemas, Xbox, Xbox Game Pass, Zing, Zone Bowling.

Ultimate Students gift cards can be used at Adidas, Adrenaline, ASOS, Ben & Jerry’s, Big Swing Golf, Boost Juice, Chatime, City Beach, Cotton On, Donut King, Dotti, Dymocks, EB Games, Foot Locker, Grill’d, H&M, Holey Moley, Hoyts, IKEA, Intersport, Jay Jays, JD Sports, Just Cuts, Just Jeans, Kathmandu, Kikki K, Kingpin, Lorna Jane, Lush, Minecraft, New Balance, Officeworks, OPSM, Pandora, PlayStation Store, Puma, QBD Books, Roblox, San Churro, Shein, SportsPower, Strike Bowling, Supre, T2 Tea, The Body Shop, The Iconic, Timezone, Typo, Village Cinemas, Webjet, Xbox, Xbox Game Pass, YD, Zing, Zone Bowling.

Ultimate Teens gift cards can be used at 99 Bikes, Adidas, AllKinds, Ben & Jerry’s, Best&Less, Bonds, Boost Juice, Chatime, City Beach, Cotton On, Cotton On Body, Dotti, Dymocks, EB Games, Factorie, Foot Locker, Gloria Jean’s, Grill’d, H&M, Holey Moley, Hoyts, Intersport, Jay Jays, JB Hi-Fi, JD Sports, Just Cuts, Just Jeans, Kikki K, Kingpin, Lorna Jane, Lush, Minecraft, New Balance, Nike, Oakley, Officeworks, Pandora, Peter Alexander, PlayStation Store, Puma, QBD Books, RedBalloon, Rip Curl, Roblox, Seed, SportsPower, Strike Bowling, Sunglass Hut, Supre, T2 Tea, The Body Shop, The Iconic, Timezone, Typo, Village Cinemas, Xbox, Xbox Game Pass, Zing, Zone Bowling.

Ultimate Thank You gift cards can be used at 99 Bikes, Adrenaline, AllKinds, Amart Furniture, Anaconda, Angus & Coote, Archie Brothers, ASOS, Autobarn, Aveda, Baccarat, Ben & Jerry’s, Bessemer, Best&Less, Betta, Big Swing Golf, Blys, Bonds, Bras N Things, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Camping World, Chatime, City Beach, Commonry, Compleat Angler, Cotton On, Cotton On Body, Cotton On Kids, Crust Pizza, Donut King, DoorDash, Dotti, Dymocks, EB Games, Estee Lauder, Every Plate, Factorie, Foot Locker, Forever New, Freedom, Gift A Restaurant, Gloria Jean’s, Goldmark, H&M, Hello Fresh, Hijinx Hotel, Holey Moley, Home Hardware, Hotels.com, House, Hoyts, IKEA, Intersport, Jacqui E, Jay Jays, Jaycar, JB Hi-Fi, JD Sports, Just Cuts, Just Jeans, Kathmandu, Kikki K, Kingpin, Kogan.com, Lorna Jane, Lush, Luxury Escapes, MAC, Michael Hill, Mitre 10, Modibodi, My Muscle Chef, MyHouse, Nandos, New Balance, Oakley, Officeworks, OPSM, Pandora, Peter Alexander, PlayStation Store, Portmans, Prouds, Puma, QBD Books, RedBalloon, Rip Curl, Road Tech Marine, Robins Kitchen, Roblox, San Churro, Seed, Shein, Sheridan, Sheridan Outlet, Smiggle, SportsPower, Star Car Wash, Strike Bowling, Sunglass Hut, Supre, Swarovski, T2 Tea, Temple & Webster, The Bavarian, The Body Shop, The Good Guys, The Iconic, Timezone, Total Tools, Toyworld, TripGift, Typo, Uber, Uber Eats, Unison, Village Cinemas, Weber Store, Webjet, Youfoodz, Zing, Zone Bowling.