Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Tesco replaces its Avios-earning gift card promo with …. the same thing

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If you didn’t see Shopper Points yesterday, you won’t know that Tesco has been acting oddly.

We mentioned last week that Sunday was the last day to earn 150 Clubcard points when spending £50 on gift cards at Tesco.

This very generous deal – which allowed you to pay for a lot of your non-Tesco spending using gift cards bought in Tesco – was rarely promoted and had run for around three years.  Given that these transferred into 360 Avios or 375 Virgin Flying Club miles, it was a good opportunity to pick up some miles.  Then, out of the blue, Tesco added an expiry date to the gift card promotion.

Cue a lot of panic buying of gift cards ….

And what did Tesco replace the offer with?

“Get 75 Clubcard points when spending £25 on gift cards.”

However this offer is for a three week period only.

The offer is cumulative.  This means you earn 75 Clubcard points when spending £25, 150 Clubcard points when spending £50, 225 Clubcard points when spending £75 and so on.

This offer ends on 16th October – but you never know, Tesco might just extend it or change the amount of Clubcard points yet again …..


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (83)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • John says:

    So basically a ploy to get lots of HFPers to buy gift cards. Tesco should have paid Raffles something to come up with this.

    • Jono says:

      This! I’ve got £400 of B&Q vouchers to spend after the weekend.

    • Mr Dee says:

      Agree, but we should have known they are not going to be giving this up as I am sure it makes them revenue indirectly at least.

  • Erico1875 says:

    Its for once. an improvement. You can now earn CC points for spending in multiples of only £25

  • harry says:

    and don’t forget Tesco stores now sell Amazon giftcards

    • Mark says:

      Great, thank you.

    • Erico1875 says:

      Really?. I spend a lot on Amazon. Haven’t seen any in Edinburgh.

      • harry says:

        Amazon gcs only seem to have started appearing in Tesco this weekend – none in Truro yesterday

        gcs are replenished by a 3rd party contractor so will get stocked in ‘your’ particular Tesco as & when – but worth a look now to take advantage of the points promo

      • CV3V says:

        They will show up, seen them in a few Tescos around central Scotland already, even on the small end displays. Various denominations too. I seem to spend a small fortune with Amazon so this is an actual improvement!

        • harry says:

          how does the math stack up if you have a £4 off £40? (as I do!)

          buy £50 (for £46) = 150 T points = 360 Avios = £3.60
          Amex MR points = 50 = 50p
          Total discount = £8.10
          = 16.2% discount on your Amazon purchases/ or equiv = 1620 Avios @ 1p

        • Brian W says:

          For anyone in central Scotland, the big 24hr Tesco at the Faraday park in Coatbridge has every denomination of card you could need for every branded retailer possible. I was in yesterday and they now have Amazon ones in £10, £15, £25 and £50.

          Spent a fortune last weekend stocking up on M&S and Next, looks like I’ll be back now for a load of Amazon ones now they have appeared.

        • Brian W says:

          Harry, if its the Tesco vouchers that come in the little booklet and provide one that can be used each week, I’m pretty sure the T&C’s state they cannot be used against gift cards and the other usual things like cigarettes, lottery etc. No harm trying though but worth checking the back of the voucher.

          If its not these ones and they are valid against gift cards……do share where you got it from 🙂

        • harry1 says:

          they are valid against gcs – yes & no – till says yes – T&Cs say no – young lad/ lass says yes – old trout says no

          nae problemo using mine this morning, just saying

          indeed never had any problems using them against gcs over the last few years

        • Brian W says:

          Gotcha, I’ll give it a try using this weeks voucher. I shall avoid the old trouts and head for the spotty 16 year olds on your advice! Thanks.

        • Mr Dee says:

          You can always say that you asked customer services and they said it was not supposed to be used on the Tesco own gift cards but these are ok

    • Genghis says:

      I’m going on the hunt when back in Blighty…

    • JK says:

      And Netflix and Spotify, so you can get Clubcard points by loading up your account with them too

      • Frenske says:

        Strange you can get Netflix gift cards since they work with subscriptions and direct debits. I saw them at our local Tesco.

        Can you add gift card to your account and subscription money is simply taken off the gift card!?

        • Genghis says:

          You add the £50 gift card to your account. The £6.99 fee or whatever is then debited from this amount each month until month 8 where they’ll take the remaining gift card balance and the remaining monthly fee from your debit/credit card

        • Alan says:

          Yes, there’s no issue using Netflix ones for your subscription

  • Travel Yoda says:

    Online doesn’t take Amex. I store does.

  • Joe says:

    RE the Giftcards, Guessing when they do promos like 15-20% off, they no longer want to give away 3pts/£ as well!

    • Raffles says:

      The scheme is simply a way for Tesco to inflate their sales figures to keep their investors happy. No way do they make money giving away so many points.

      • Dom says:

        Gift card sales are never included in retailer’s published sales figures. It does not meet accounting rules for what should be classified as a sale.
        Tesco will get commission for the sale and this will be reported in other income in their accounts.
        The commission for gift cards is usually very low, only a couple of percent. It’ll almost be certainly wiped out by the clubcard points given on the offer, plus other costs, which will be at Tesco’s expense.
        The incentive for retailers to sell these is purely to get customers through the door, so they can buy other things while they are there.

        • Chris says:

          Some of the retailers whose gift cards appear in Tesco actually have schemes where commission margins paid to Tesco are actually much higher than 2-3%. This is especially true for some of the higher margin retailers (and moreso service providers) who have cards in Tesco.

          It allows these retailers to massively increase their potential footfall from a source that takes 28% of the entire grocery market share. It’s a fairly cost-effective way to drive new customers

        • Rob says:

          You don’t account for your OWN gift card sales, I agree. But why would you not account for THIRD PARTY gift card sales? That makes no sense.

          The only logic for doing that, in the electronic age, is that Tesco is not buying stock in the usual sense of the word.

          • Dom says:

            It is to do with the exchange of goods and who the contract of sale is with (IAS 18).
            Take a Next gift card. When it is sold in Tesco, no exchange of goods has taken place (as the gift card had zero value in the first place, un-activated). The transaction has created a contract between Next and the customer (not with Tesco). Tesco have just provided a service to complete the transaction and obtain the cash on Next’s behalf.

          • Johnnycl says:

            Depute the lack of impact on the P&L, I reckon the giftcard takings fall into the Kantar till read share data. This alone would be reason to want (need) to push them through to get a few bpts benefit.

        • Londonbus says:

          Remember that somewhere around 25% of gift cards are never redeemed. This “breakage” figure is guarded but makes gift cards very profitable.

          If you look at the Companies House reports for British Midland Airways after Diamond Club closed to all but credit cards BMI Limited booked a £12m windfall from breakage of points not redeemed. I suspect the numbers on gift cards are tasty too.

    • mark2 says:

      You do still get the points, but on the amount after the discount.

  • DaveP says:

    Starbucks’ T&Cs states “Any amount on your Starbucks Card may be redeemed for cash”. Am I right that if you buy multiples of £25 cards to maximise Tesco points (e.g., 10 x £25) I could then reclaim the cash by calling Starbucks listed number?

    • Raffles says:

      I’ve seen that before. It does seem to be the case, I agree.

      • DaveP says:

        Thanks, certainly worth exploring; or I could just drink loads of coffee!

        • Dave Williams says:

          Never thought of cashing them back in as I inhale starbucks but if I were you add them to the app and then try and get that refunded then its one refund rather than 10 (although Ive only seen £10 cards in store) – obviously check you can cash app credit for cash before you do this….

    • Singing Dwarf says:

      Only applies before Brexit kicks in!

      “Redemption.
      Amounts loaded on your Starbucks Card in the EU, may be redeemed by calling 0845 270 3310 and no fee is payable. You may be asked to provide proper documentation of your identity, such as your address, a driver’s licence, passport, etc, and your bank account details. Upon verification of your identity and receipt of your bank details, a refund will be made within 7 business days directly into your bank account. Amounts loaded on your Starbucks Card outside of the EU are subject to the redemption and cash back regulations of the country where the funds were loaded.”

  • harry says:

    found some Amazons this morning – used my MOCs nae problem, nice young lad

    various denominations mean you can accommodate most spend requirements – £15, £25, 3x£10, £50, £100

    • harry says:

      prepare for some fun 🙂

      these are new style cards – there’s no difference (or so it seems) between ‘8’ and ‘B’ or between ‘2’ & ‘Z’

      you do seem to get unlimited attempts at redeeming

      • Genghis says:

        Do you need some glasses in your old age, Harry? In the interim, you could try like my Dad used to do before he realised he needed glasses and hold the gift card further away from your eyes until about at arms length then you might be able to make out the letters and numbers 🙂

        • harry says:

          nope that’s with reading glasses & a strong torch beam

          I’ve put previous Amazon vouchers in with never a problem but with the new style cards, 2/4 this morning required several attempts!

          the difference in particular between 8 & B is so minimal that if you get a couple in one code you can go round in circles 🙂

          • James67 says:

            I’m visually impaired and glad I don’t have all these problems…now if only I could hit the right key on the keyboard!

    • Mr Dee says:

      Will be shifting my Amazon purchases to Tesco if they are stocking them now for a better return than Morrisons 2.5%

  • Peter Taysum says:

    Does it still work for online gift card purchase? I’ve read the T&Cs but my feeble brain can’t make head nor tail of it…

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