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For savvy points collectors, buying gift cards from Woolworths or Coles during special promotions can be a clever strategy for multiple reasons.
When shopping at Woolworths, you’ll usually earn 1 Everyday Rewards point for every dollar spent on groceries. One Everyday Rewards point is worth half a Qantas point. It’s a similar story when shopping at Coles, where you can earn 1 Flybuys point (worth half a Velocity point) per $1 spent.
According to the terms and conditions of the Everyday Rewards and Flybuys loyalty programs, gift cards are normally excluded from earning points (along with things like tobacco products). However, there is an exception during special promotions – and you can earn a lot more than just a point per dollar!
Every few weeks, Woolworths and Coles run special offers that allow you to earn 10 or even 20 Everyday Rewards or Flybuys points per dollar spent on specific types of gift cards. When collecting 20x Everyday Rewards points on gift cards, for example, that’s equivalent to earning 10 Qantas points per dollar.
After purchasing gift cards, you can then spend them like cash at stores that accept them.
Woolworths and Coles generally advertise these gift card bonus point offers in their catalogues, as well as at the point of sale. Note that offers may vary in different Australian states and territories.
Why buy gift cards at Woolies or Coles?
The main benefit of doing this is the extra points. But as an added perk, you might even be able to save on credit card fees by purchasing the gift card from Coles or Woolies using your credit card. You could then redeem it – with no payment surcharge – at a retailer that normally has credit card fees or perhaps doesn’t accept American Express.
Plus, if you have a credit card that awards bonus points for spend at major supermarkets, you can benefit from the bonus points earned on your credit card! Australian cards that give extra points at supermarkets include Amex Platinum Edge, Citi Prestige, CommBank Ultimate Awards and CommBank Smart Awards.
Earn triple points at the supermarket…
- Card Name
- American Express Platinum Edge
- Earn
- 1
- Signup Bonus
-
No current signup bonus
- Annual Fee
- $0 in the first year, $195 p.a.
- Read more
- Read the guide
American Express Membership Rewards Points on everyday purchases
This week: Earn 20x Everyday Rewards points on Apple gift cards
As an example of a current offer, you could earn 20 Everyday Rewards points per $1 spent on Apple gift cards at Woolworths or Woolworths Metro until tomorrow (22 August 2023). Gift cards are available in denominations between $20 and $500, and you can buy up to 10 gift cards.
This deal is available to all Everyday Rewards members. You just need to scan your membership card at the Woolies checkout – there’s no need to boost this particular offer.
For example, if you wanted to buy a new Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max for $1,899, you could buy four Apple gift cards worth a combined total of $1,899. You could then redeem those gift cards at the Apple Store.
For these gift card purchases, you could earn 37,980 Woolworths Everyday Rewards points. That’s worth $189.90 worth of savings at Woolworths or 18,990 Qantas Frequent Flyer points!
That’s more than enough Qantas points to book a one-way Qantas Business Class flight from Brisbane to Sydney (excluding taxes and carrier charges).
Other examples of Coles & Woolworths bonus points gift cards promotions
Woolworths regularly offers 10-20 Everyday Rewards points per dollar on other certain types of gift cards including “The Perfect”, “Ultimate” and “TCN” (The Card Network) gift cards.
TCN and Ultimate gift cards can be redeemed at a range of participating retailers, as shown on the card. You can redeem Eftpos gift cards such as “The Perfect” cards anywhere that accepts debit card payments, but there is a purchase fee of between $5.95 and $7.95. Because of the extra acquisition cost, the Eftpos gift cards aren’t such a good deal.
Many offers are available to all Everyday Rewards or Flybuys members and don’t require you to register for the offer. However, some offers may require you to activate or “boost” them first!
Before buying gift cards, check the terms and conditions as there may be purchase limits or you may only be able to earn bonus points up to a maximum amount. For example, there may be a purchase limit of 5 or 10 gift cards per transaction and/or a daily transaction limit with some offers. There may also be a maximum amount of points that you can earn during each promotion.
According to the terms & conditions, the bonus points might take up to 14 days to be added to your Everyday Rewards account. But many people are getting their points within just a few minutes.
Upcoming offers
From 23-29 August 2023 (starting later this week), Woolworths will give 20x Everyday Rewards points on selected gift cards including TCN Him, TCN Restaurant, TCN Active and Netflix.
Meanwhile, from 23-29 August 2023, Coles will offer 1,000 Flybuys points when buying a $50 or $100 TCN Shop gift card. If buying a $50 Shop gift card, that works out to be 20x Flybuys points – or 10 Velocity points per $1 if you decide to transfer your Flybuys points to Velocity Frequent Flyer.
Ultimate vs TCN gift cards
Note that there is a difference between the Ultimate and TCN gift cards. The TCN cards such as “HER”, “HIM” or “HOME” do not contain the word “Ultimate” on the card and are a completely different product.
If bonus points are available on “Ultimate” cards, they might not also be available on TCN cards or vice versa!
Using gift cards to make large purchases
If you needed to buy a $1,000 computer from JB Hi-Fi, for example, you could take advantage of the 20x points on TCN Him gift cards from Woolworths and purchase 10x $100 gift cards. For this purchase from Woolworths, you could earn 20,000 Everyday Rewards points (worth 10,000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points). Plus, if paying with a credit card you could earn points for your credit card spend.
When redeeming your gift cards, just beware that JB Hi-Fi staff might ask to see your ID. This is due to the large number of gift cards you’re using to make your purchase. It’s a standard fraud prevention measure.
Maximising your Everyday Rewards and Flybuys points
To earn even more Everyday Rewards points, make sure you keep an eye out for “booster” offers to earn bonus points on the rest of your shopping! Likewise, Flybuys often sends out generous targeted bonus points offers based on your previous spending patterns.
To save money at Woolworths, members of certain associations can also buy discounted Woolworths vouchers. These discounts are available through automobile associations like NRMA, RACV or RACQ, Entertainment Book, or if you hold a NSW Seniors Card. You could also save money at Woolworths with an Everyday Extra subscription.
